Katusha given UCI WorldTour licence after appeal is upheld by the CAS

Katusha have been granted a WorldTour licence for the 2013 season after the Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld their appeal against being denied top-tier status.

The upholding of the appeal does throw up complications, however, not least that there are now 19 UCI WorldTour teams rather than the usual 18. At best, this will result in races being reorganised in order to accommodate an extra team; at worst, it could see one of the 18 licenced teams lose their WorldTour place, or smaller teams lose their wildcard invites to the races that have already finalised their start lists. Responding to the ruling, the UCI said in a statement: "The UCI acknowledges the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) decision to uphold the application of Katusha Management SA to be registered as a UCI ProTeam for the season 2013. "The UCI will now evaluate the consequences of this ruling and will communicate further in coming days, as soon as such evaluation has taken place."