Originally Posted by swingaleg:
“I was surprised how many Aussies and overseas riders were in these British teams.............what level are these teams ?
You get what they refer to as Division 3 teams popping up in the World Tour races sometimes........I think there might be one in the Giro
Would these british teams be a division below that ?
The most famous name I heard was Ed Clancy from the track pursuit team who was riding”
There are 3 different levels of professional teams - World Tour, Pro Continental, and Continental. Depending on the level of the race, there are different rules about which teams can ride. The Giro, for example, must invite all the World Tour teams, but can also invite a few Pro Continental teams (Androni, Farnese, Netapp and Colnago this year).
The Tour of California is not a World Tour race, so can invite a mixture of all three levels.
The Halfords Tour Series has a few Continental teams, but the rest are a level below that. But these races aren't sanctioned by the UCI, so I guess they can invite whoever they like. Looking at their website, most of the teams seem to have one or two riders who've ridden professionally in the past... but I would guess most of them have day-jobs...