An agreement on reforms to men’s professional road cycling in June, which saw the Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) renege on their threat to pull their races from the WorldTour calendar, would have resulted in teams being capped at 17.

After the two-year licences had expired for the teams, under the rules, there would have been an objective to lower the number to 16 the following year, with the figure remaining at that number afterwards.

A meeting in Geneva saw the UCI and PCC agree to keep the number of WorldTour teams at 18 for the forthcoming two seasons, which prevents Dimension Data from being relegated to professional continental level status.

It has been claimed that the ambition to strengthen competitiveness at elite level will lead to a maximum of 17 teams being set in 2019, dropping to 16 from 2020.

The rolling world ranking points will now be used to determine UCI WorldTour rankings, the governing body have also confirmed.

The leading professional road cycling nation will also be based on the UCI World Ranking, with a Nations Ranking no longer set to be assessed.

Organisers of UCI WorldTour events will be given three year initial registrations, with their events requiring them to invite all teams on the WorldTour.

The teams’ participation in the events would be voluntary.

"We are pleased that a new set of UCI WorldTour regulations have been agreed," said Brian Cookson, UCI President.

"We welcome the robust changes which bring about clearer guidelines in relation to team licensing and provide greater financial stability for UCI WorldTeams, as well as expanding the series globally in a sustainable manner."

Changes have also been made to the Women’s WorldTour following its inaugural season this year.

The maximum length of WorldTour races is now set at 160 kilometres, having previously been between 120 to 140km.

For stage races, the maximum average daily distance has been set at 140km for WorldTour events, dropping to 120km for other competitions.