Russian cycling team Katusha has won its appeal to the the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to be reinstated in this year's UCI World Tour races. World cycling's governing body, UCI, had excluded Katusha from the circuit in December, leaving them at the mercy of of the organizers of the major Tours as to whether they are invited to compete or not. The CAS initially upheld the ruling in January but have now overturned that decision on appeal.

   

As a result, the World Tour this season will now feature 19 teams, instead of the usual 18, unless UCI decides to drop one outfit from its list. The controversial team, who count 2012 World Tour champion Joaquim Rodriguez of Spain and Russia's Denis Menchov in their ranks, is run by Russia's Viatcheslav Ekimov, a former team-mate of the disgraced rider Lance Armstrong.

   

In November the Association of Race Organizers warned it would only consider handing out invitations to teams which had signed up to the anti-doping charter - the Movement for Credible Cycling. Katusha had been refused a wildcard entry to this year's Giro d'Italia as they had not signed up for the Movement, but they have since done so as a probationary member.

   

"Given the urgency of the situation, the court has handed down its decision today, without giving its reasons in writing, which it will do in the coming weeks," the court ruling said.

   

Reacting to the decision, UCI issued a statement acknowledging the verdict and sstated: "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."