UCI wants teams to boycott Paris-Nice

Bro Deal

Here we go again. The UCI tried this last year.

"The UCI trusts that, recognizing the seriousness of the situation, the teams will refuse to take part in Paris-Nice, as, regardless of the sanctions to which they would be subject, such participation would compromise the image and stability of cycling."

http://www.velonews.com/article/72868

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"You are like the wind and I like the lion. You form the tempest. The sand stings my eyes and the ground is parched. I roar in defiance but you do not hear. But between us there is a difference. I, like the lion, must remain in my place. While you like the wind will never know yours." -- Mulay Hamid El Raisuli, Lord of the Riff, Sultan to the Berbers, Last of the Barbary Pirates

thoughtforfood

This should go over as well as City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's Gold

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If this van is a'rockin, don't come a'knockin

Frigo's Luggage

ASO doesn't need the UCI. On the other hand, the UCI is a glorified dart league with the ASO races.

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We are all made of stars.

TheDarkLord

Saw this on CNN (maybe there is something similar in velonews or other cycling news websites)

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http://edition.cnn.com/2008/SPORT/0...eref=rss_latest
Paris-Nice will go-ahead say organizers


The Paris-Nice race will go ahead next month under its own rules despite opposition from the International Cycling Union, which wants teams to boycott the event.

UCI president Pat McQuaid sent a letter to all professional teams Monday explaining why it will not oversee the 75-year-old race organized by French group Amaury Sports Organization, which also owns the Tour de France.

`Despite the hostile positions taken by the UCI president, Paris-Nice will take place as planned from the ninth to the 16th of March,' ASO said Tuesday in a statement. `And will be organized according to the technical rules of the French Cycling Federation, in application of the French law.'

That would make the FFC responsible for overseeing doping controls if the UCI withdraws its anti-doping officials. The UCI could also threaten to keep ASO races outside of its proposed scheme of anti-doping passports.

The rift could also jeopardize the Tour de France, with the UCI threatening to withdraw anti-doping regulators from the sport's marquee event if organizers and French cycling authorities do not hold their events under the UCI's jurisdiction.

The UCI and ASO have been increasingly at odds, with the dispute escalating at last year's Tour.

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The good thing is that ASO is not yielding to the bullying of McQuaint. I hope he gets kicked out of the cycling sport somehow. IMO, he is the number one enemy to pro-cycling today.

micron

ASO doesn't need the UCI for testing, they've broken no rule by inviting who they want and, at the end of the day, which races would riders sooner ride and win - the Olympics and Worlds or Paris-Roubaix/Giro/Tour de France?

Pat McTwat is playing a very stupid game - there's no love lost between the UCI and WADA, the latter having an extremely low opinion of the former, and if Heiny's lapdog keeps it up he'll get cycling thrown out of the Olympics for being run by an imbecile. If the UCI don't do the testing, the French federation will and transmit the results direct to WADA, who can take any sanctions to CAS if needs be.

limerickman

Paris-Nice was there long before the creation of the UCI.

One hopes that Paris-Nice will also be there long after the demise of the UCI.
Good riddance to it.

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.."But finally the last thing I’ll say to the people who don’t believe in cycling, the cynics and the sceptics. I'm sorry for you. I’m sorry that you can’t dream big. [I]I'm sorry you don't believe in miracles. You should believe in these athletes, and you should believe in these people. I'll be a fan of the Tour de France for as long as I live. And there are no secrets" - this is a hard sporting event and hard work wins it - Armstrong 2005 TDF
morelike hypocrisy.

leestevens

A question to all who may know the answer or have an idea. In Aus, Cycling Aust. comes under the UCI, if they 'demise' would the organisations ( i assume it is the same in other countries also) just be left on thier own, to create their own rules? I suppose no one really knows but it seems this may be the path world cycling is taking.
The way i see it is the UCI has nothing, ASO have all the races and if they were to form an alliance with other race organizers, that would put the UCI in a difficult position. ASO etc could sign up all Pro Tour, cont. teams and invite whoever they want. UCI look to me to be quite powerless without the ASO.

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leestevens@


http://www.riverlandcyclingclub.com/

micron

Quite honestly, ASO couldn't make a worse job of it than the UCI. They have the races and also the developmental races, they have the Etape du Tour and the new Etape de Legende for the cyclosportives, they'd be supported by WADA and they'd attract sponsors confident that they could find their arse with both hands when asked to govern the sport.

Frigo's Luggage

Lim, You know McQuaid. Is this in line with his personality? Seems as if he is trying to injure one of the great races in the sport just to grab some power for the UCI. Do you think he is running the show or does Hein still make his presence known?

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We are all made of stars.

Bro Deal

One thing I have noticed about McQuaid is that he seems to be politically tone deaf. He reminds me of tin pot dictators who are completely unused to dealing with a free press, so they make all sorts of proclamations that are bogus on their face, not understanding that they look foolish.

__________________
"You are like the wind and I like the lion. You form the tempest. The sand stings my eyes and the ground is parched. I roar in defiance but you do not hear. But between us there is a difference. I, like the lion, must remain in my place. While you like the wind will never know yours." -- Mulay Hamid El Raisuli, Lord of the Riff, Sultan to the Berbers, Last of the Barbary Pirates

Crankyfeet

Am I missing something? What planet is everyone on? Do you think that ASO can govern cycling? ASO don't give a tinker's cuss about the sport of cycling or anti-doping. ASO care about the promotion of their events. They will never be recognized by national cycling organizations as the administrator of the sport and/or the administrator of national cycling organizations. IMO, the problem is not getting rid of the UCI because they are crap... the problem is fixing the UCI and fixing the system so everyone is on the same page working together and not in conflict. That means getting UCI out of any ownership of events, keeping the Protour - which ASO need to be a part of, and standardising and uniting a full frontal assault on doping. The UCI should get a share (or tax if you like) of the GROSS of a Protour sanctioned event, and there should be independent monitoring of all lab testing, perhaps by WADA. The UCI have to be held accountable for testing procedure and compliance.


Yes the UCI have governed the sport badly in the past, but the growth of doping was a gradual phenomena where just about every vested interest in the show of pro cycling events wanted to sweep it under the carpet, except perhaps the public. Festina and OP have put an end to this in-house charade of cover-ups.

It costs a lot of money to run a year round anti-doping program. For it to be effective, a lot more money than is being spent now. Unless it becomes impossible to dope without huge risks of detection, doping will continue.

We need to change the system, change the UCI, and get rid of doping. ASO are not going to do that if they have sole power over pro-cycling. If you want to see what happens to a sport when promoters get sole power over governance, watch WrestleMania XXIV on March 30th.

Okay...I'm not the most experienced viewer around here, and I am aware I might be missing an important factor, because I can't comprehend the viewpoint of ASO as righteous advocators, and the UCI (or any independent sporting administrative body) as being worthy of annihilation. So fire away.

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Originally posted by Frigo's Luggage...

"[Calling him] 'dickcheese' is the insult of a master. Some people work in oil, some people work in clay. He [thoughtforfood] works in profanity. Open your mind and enjoy its beauty."

whiteboytrash

Agreed and bring back the Penond Super Prestige Trophy !!!

thoughtforfood

As much as I detest the UCI, I have to say that I am with Cranky on the ASO thing. They really are a bunch of tools. They were as complicit in the doping as anyone IMO. They want us to believe that somehow they were the innocent bystanders to this whole mess, but the reality is that they knew just like everyone else knew, and what they knew was that the pink elephant in the middle of the room is a needle junkie.

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If this van is a'rockin, don't come a'knockin

limerickman

Don't know if Hein is pulling the strings re.McQuaid.

But knowing Pat as I do - I cna tell you he's got an ego.
And given the fact that he's UCI President - I reckon that he reckons that the UCI hold more aces than ASO, Unipublic etc.

(years and years sgo - when we had two cycling associations over here, the McQuaids, Pat's father and Pat himself, were always looking to amalgamate the two associations, "for the benefit of Irish cycling" as they used say. For the benefit of themselves, in reality).

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.."But finally the last thing I’ll say to the people who don’t believe in cycling, the cynics and the sceptics. I'm sorry for you. I’m sorry that you can’t dream big. [I]I'm sorry you don't believe in miracles. You should believe in these athletes, and you should believe in these people. I'll be a fan of the Tour de France for as long as I live. And there are no secrets" - this is a hard sporting event and hard work wins it - Armstrong 2005 TDF
morelike hypocrisy.