The International Cycling Union (UCI) has announced an expanded WorldTour calendar for 2017 that will see the series host premier level races in five countries, including Qatar, Britain and the United States, for the first time.
As a result, the annual Tour of Qatar to be held in February 2017 becomes a UCI WorldTour event for the first time in its history. The Qatar Cycling Federation had expressed the hope earlier this year that the UCI would heed its request for an upgrade to WorldTour status because that would ensure the participation of the best cycling teams from around the world.
“We have applied to the UCI to be upgraded to the WorldTour and we hope that we have a good chance because we are the first and oldest tour in the region,” QCF president Sheikh Khalid bin Ali al-Thani had said earlier.
“So if the WorldTour is coming to this area, it should come here first. We have good confidence in that. We are trying to go WorldTour to bring the level up,” he added.
The Tour of Qatar was earlier part of the UCI’s Asian circuit.
“The expanded series will consist of 37 events. Alongside the three Grand Tours, there will be 14 stage races and 20 one-day events,” the UCI said in a statement late yesterday.
A total of 10 new events were awarded three-year licenses to join a series that will take the peloton to 15 countries over a nine-month period, with the Tour Down Under kicking off the 2017 season in Australia from Jan. 17-22.
Australia will also host the first of the new events on the schedule when the riders line up for the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race on Jan. 29, a 174km one-day race in Victoria that was first staged in 2015.
 “I am absolutely delighted our vision has been realised and Australia now has its own modern one-day classic,” Evans, who won the Tour de France in 2011, told reporters.
 “And, our race will become a critical part of the season with teams and individuals vying for early season points in order to set up their entire year.”
 The RideLondon-Surrey Classic, won by Belgium’s Tom Boonen on Sunday, has also been added to the schedule, giving Britain a first event on the series, along with fellow first timers Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Turkey and the United States.
 “Alongside the prestigious events which have already proven their worth, the UCI WorldTour is enriched by the addition of some truly fantastic races across the globe. I’m delighted to see this development,” UCI president Brian Cookson added.