The big three European tours have broken ranks with world cycling governing body the UCI and decided to set their own conditions for participation outside the auspices of its ProTour circuit. Organisers of the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia and the Tour of Spain (Vuelta) said they wanted to return to a "more open sporting model" and no longer wanted to be bound by the restrictions of the UCI's ProTour. They said that in order to minimise disruption, next year's races would be open to the 18 teams with ProTour licences, but that future editions would be determined principally by results over the previous two seasons. The ProTour, which was open only to the elite cycling teams, started in 2005 with 30 races, including the big three tours, forming part of the circuit.

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