Brent Copeland and Bahrain-Merida are very confident they will be in the WorldTour in 2017, but would like the UCI to allow 18 teams to ride in the top tier, rather than 17.

“The license situation is good,” Copeland, the team’s GM, told VeloNews. “All the registration process is moving forward as we planned. We don’t have definite answers from the UCI, none of the teams do because we are all going through the same process waiting on the license commission.”

Much has been made of Dimension Data’s lack of WorldTour points, whilst Bora-hansgrohe and Bahrain have both ecured some points with new signings. It looks like Dimension Data will be the team that misses out at the moment.

“Points-wise, we are there with Bora. The problem is that it becomes a race to see who’s going to get enough points to get the 17th spot because one team will be left out. Leaving it at 18 teams is the fairest for everyone. No one wants Dimension Data put out of the WorldTour just because of this rule. At the same time, no one wants important sponsors like Bora and Bahrain – Merida to be left out. What would it change for cycling if there are 18 instead of 17 teams?”