TDF back on World Tour calendar

Paris - The Tour de France, the Tour of Spain and a series of Spring Classics are back on the World Tour calendar, it was revealed Friday as organisers and the international cycling union (UCI) resolved their differences.

Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO), the main operators in the cycling world, in February withdrew their events including the Tour de France and the Vuelta a Espana from the WorldTour calendar from 2017.

ASO took the decision in opposition to UCI reforms "characterised by a closed sports system".

Ongoing concerns about the cycling elite being too closed off to new teams have been appeased by the UCI proposing to extend the number of elite teams and also to provide a financial safety net for those teams relegated to the second tier.

"Everyone who represents the future of cycling is now on board," UCI president Brian Cookson said after a meeting in Geneva on Thursday.

At that meeting the ASO agreed to reinstate the French and Spanish tours, and the one day races Paris-Nice, Paris-Roubaix, Fleche Wallonne and Lige-Bastogne-Lige onto the WorldTour calendar.