Their announcement follows the first Professional Cycling Council meeting of 2016, with the governing body revealing that events from four continents have applied to receive the top level racing status.

It follows the UCI’s reforms of men’s professional road racing, approved by their ruling Management Committee during the Road Cycling World Championships in American city Richmond last September, following a two-year consultation process.

Under the reforms, due to come force in 2017, a limited number of new races are due to be added to the WorldTour calendar, following an assessment of the strengths of the existing season, with the aim that further high quality events will reinforce its position as the sport’s elite-level competition.

Events were offered the opportunity to apply for a three-year licence to be a WorldTour race, which will also be the same period the 18 WorldTour teams would be granted their racing status for.

In addition to the new events, existing races would be registered on a three-year basis with the UCI having previously stated they would use the “existing calendar as a base”.

“We strongly believe that with the reform of men’s professional road cycling there is a great opportunity to grow the UCI WorldTour with a number of new events, and create an environment where new investment can come into the sport,” Brian Cookson, the UCI President, said here where he is attending the UCI World Track Cycling Championships, which started today. 

“We are delighted to welcome such strong interest from around the world for the 2017 UCI WorldTour and beyond and the fact that we have had so many applications spanning four continents is testament to the growing strength of the UCI WorldTour brand.

“I am convinced that the addition of new high quality events will help the UCI WorldTour re-inforce its global profile as the elite series of cycling, and look forward to working with the current UCI WorldTour events, new entries and teams to develop our sport.”

A total of 28 events make up the 2016 WorldTour calendar, inluindg races organised by Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO), the highlight of which is the Tour de France.

ASO informed the UCI in December that they would opt to register their events for the second tier Hors Classe (HC) status for 2017 season, rather than the top tier WorldTour, in protest at the UCI’s reforms.

Currently their events, such as the Tour de France and Paris-Roubaix, are part of the WorldTour calendar for the forthcoming season which require them to invite all 18 of the WorldTour teams to the events.

By registering their events for the HC status, however, ASO would have greater freedom to pick and choose the teams they invite to the races.

The UCI believe their reforms will encourage stability to create further investment for growth and provide stronger structures to ensure cycling's credibility, and despite ASO’s position have vowed to push through the changes.