ASO vs. UCI - The feud continues

By Jessica | Permalink | No Comments | February 22nd, 2007 | Trackback

From the VeloNews coverage of today’s stage four down in a very wet California:

The heat is building up in the row between cycling’s governing body and race organizers with the UCI asking teams to boycott this year’s Paris-Nice.

Spokesmen for several teams say UCI president Pat McQuaid has sent a letter pressuring them to skip the prestigious event due to the UCI’s dispute with race organizer ASO, which also runs the Tour de France.

UCI rules deem that all ProTour teams must be invited to ProTour events. However, ASO refused to send an invitation to Belgian-Swedish team Unibet.com.

“It is clear that in this situation no ProTour team can take part in Paris-Nice,” McQuaid is said to have written in the letter.

However, it seems that the UCI will have a tough job persuading the teams to follow its dictum. The French team Cofidis already has ruled out boycotting the March 11-18 event.

General manager Eric Boyer said team management was thinking of its sponsors “and above all for our riders, who are there to ride and certainly not to be held hostage over a conflict between the international federation and the organizers.”

Emphasis added.

UPDATE: Just found an excellent analysis of things over at Podium Cafe (perhaps my favorite new cycling site - not that it’s new, but it’s new to me).

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