ProTour cycling teams, caught up in a dispute that has led to a major schism in the sport, are hoping to hold a "last chance" meeting Monday in a bid to pacify the warring parties.

The primacy of the Union Cycliste Internationale and the ProTour are being challenged by the three grand tour organizers, which control nearly half of the series’ 27-race calendar.

ASO, RCS and Unipublic respectively own the Tours of France, Italy and Spain as well as a number of other races on the ProTour calendar. Nonetheless, they have virtually broken away from the ProTour after deciding not to invite Swedish-registered outfit Unipublic - the latest ProTour team - to any of their races.

The symbolic season-opener is Paris-Nice, the so-called “Race to the Sun,” runs from March 11-18. Days ahead of the start, riders and their teams want a resolution to adispute which has become a tit-for-tat feud, which is threatening the status of Paris-Nice and even bigger events throughout the season.

On Friday the International Association of ProTour Cycling Teams (IPCT)met and demanded a round table meeting Monday with the UCI and ASO, theFrench company that owns Paris-Nice, Paris Roubaix, the Tour de France and other major events on the ProTour calendar.

The IPCT, which has yet to name a time and place for the meeting, characterized the meeting as the "last chance" to resolve the dispute.

Since the ProTour was started two years ago it has met with oppositionfrom the three major race organizers, but most notably ASO.

When the UCI recently decided, against the general wishes of the otherteams, to increase the number of teams in the ProTour from 18 to 20, the organizers were not happy. ProTour status, in theory, guarantees automatic inclusion in all of theseries' races.

But ASO responded by telling Unibet that it would not be invited toParis-Nice. RCS and Unipublic threw their weight behind ASO declaring they would also not invite Unibet to any of their races.

Then on February 24, Paris-Nice effectively became a “national” race, held under the auspices of the French federation, rather than the UCI ProTour, after ASO declared a breakaway from the ProTour.

The UCI responded by advising teams that if they took part they would be heavily sanctioned because ProTour rules prohibit teams of that status from participating in events that do not have a UCI sanction.

Despite the warning a handful of ProTour teams announced plans to honor their invitations to Paris-Nice, while others indicated that they would abide by the UCI requirement.