VPV and Clásica to stay WorldTour

The Vuelta Ciclista al País Vasco and the Clásica San Sebastián have both gotten their WorldTour licenses extended, the UCI revealed today.

Both races ran into trouble earlier this year when it was unveiled that the races' budgetary shortcomings threatened their existence. Eventually a new sponsor, Basque banking group Sabadell Gipuzkoano, stepped in and saved them from extinction, and today's news mean they'll stay a part of the UCI's top tier until 2016.

Samuel Sánchez of course won the latest edition of the País Vasco, whilst Philippe Gilbert triumphed on San Sebastián's sea side last year. Euskaltel is yet to come out tops in Spain's only one-day WorldTour event.