The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) – the governing body of cycling – categorizes teams into three divisions. The first division, consisting of the top 18 teams, is classified as UCI WorldTeams, and competes in the UCI World Tour. The second and third divisions, respectively, are the ProTeams (formerly known as Professional Continental teams) and the Continental teams.
A UCI ProTeam is an organisation created to take part in road events open to UCI ProTeams . . . [and] is known by a unique name and registered with the UCI in accordance with the provisions below.
The UCI ProTeam comprises all the riders registered with the UCI as members of the team, the paying agent, the sponsors and all other persons contracted by the paying agent and/or the sponsors to provide for the operation of the team (manager, sports director, coach, paramedical assistant, mechanic, etc.).
Each ProTeam must employ at least 20 riders, 3 team managers and 5 other staff (paramedical assistants, mechanics, etc.) on a full time basis to be eligible for the whole registration year.
ProTeams compete in the UCI Continental Circuits, which are divided into five continental zones: Africa, America, Asia, Europe, and Oceania.[2] Sometimes, teams are also invited to participate in UCI World Tour and UCI ProSeries events, usually through wildcard invitations, although they are not eligible to win points in the World Tour rankings.
A UCI continental team or UCI women’s continental team is a team of road riders recognised and certified by the National Federation of the nationality of the majority of its riders to take part in road events on the international calendars.
A UCI Continental team or UCI women's continental team will comprise riders who may or may not be professional, in the elite and/or under 23 categories. It must have minimum 10 riders for UCI continental teams, 8 for UCI women’s continental teams and a maximum of 16 riders for both categories.
However, a UCI continental team shall also have the right to add up to 4 riders specialising in other endurance cycling disciplines (cyclo-cross; mountain bike: cross country; track: points race, scratch, pursuit, omnium) as long as the riders in question are among the top 150 of the last final UCI individual classification.
Continental teams, the third division of the UCI cycling pyramid, compete almost exclusively in the UCI Continental Circuits while sometimes getting wildcard invitations to UCI ProSeries events as well.
