It is far from certain that TJ Sport will be part of the WorldTour next season. The Chinese successor of Lampre-Merida was not among the teams who received a license from the UCI due to the need to do more paperwork. Furthermore, the team cancelled the training camp in December, according to a report from Velonews .

"It's a very delicate time and the situation is evolving," officials of the squad told Velonews.Sponsorship Manager Mauro Gianetti has traveled back and forth to China to finalize the paperwork.

“There’s some concern, yes, at least until we get the OK from the UCI,” sports director Mario Scirea told VeloNews. “We have to work for 2017 and leave the rest in the hands of Saronni (general manager, ed.)  It’s not that he just decided to sign riders and then sit back and do nothing. He has contracts in hand.”

After it became known that TJ Sport had still not received a license, the team announced that they had asked for more time.

“We were assured that it was only a bureaucratic problem, so we are planning for 2017 as normal. Today, 10 or so cyclists visited a doctor for needed check-ups some they can receive their racing license,” Scirea added.

The deadline to submit the appropriate documentation to the UCI is December 15.

However, insiders have told Velonews  that they are worried that the whole TJ Sport project will never get on the road like the teams of Pegasus and Sony Ericcson. In addition, ateam manager of another team tells that that he has been approached by agents of TJ Sport riders to ask about any free spots in case the Chinese team falls apart.