No overlap between races, only 120 race days per year and a system of relegation and promotion. In the revised reform plans that UCI president Brian Cookson presented yesterday in Oudenaarde, he confirms his intentions to make radical changes. "Yes, there has been resistance. But in 2017 we will do it."

The WorldToyr includes all the major one-day races and the three grand tours and comprises 153 race days. Brian Cookson wants to reduce it to just 120 days. The big question is: which races will be removed? There seems to be two options: either the current WorldTour stage race will be shortened or one-day races will be removed from the calendar.

Tom Van Damme, president of the Belgian Cycling Federation and president of the UCI Road Commission, has proposed to have three grand tours of 18 days and that some existing stage races follow the example of Canada by replacing the national tour by two one-day races.

The reduction of the WorldTour calendar makes the race organziers nervous. At the moment, everyone is doing their best to hold onto the spot in the elite division. Giro president Mauro Vegni describes shortening a grand tour as "castrating your best product."

To solve the problems, Cookson introduced the Challenge Tour yesterday, a brand new series that will be related to the WorldTour like the Europe League is related to the Champions League. Like the WorldTour, the Challenge Tour will have 120 race days and also consist of 16 teams. Every year, one team is relegated from the WorldTour while the best team from the Challenge Tour will be promoted to the WorldTour. Ethical criteria - like doping problems - could lead to relegation.

By introducing the new level, the UCI wants to make the first division more attractive and achieve the ultimate goald: a smaller, more logical WorldTour with no overlaps like it is currently the case with races like Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico.

"There has been resistance," Cookson told Het Nieuwsblad. "But with the flexibility we have, this system will be in place in 2017."