ASO withdraws the Tour de France from 2017 WorldTour calendar

[bcroslin]

Tour de France organiser Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) have hit back in the power struggle with the UCI for control of professional cycling by informing the international governing body that its races will not be part of the UCI痴 WorldTour programme in 2017. Instead, ASO痴 races, which include the Tour de France, Paris-Nice, Paris-Roubaix and Liege-Bastogne-Liege, and the Vuelta a Espana, will be listed in the lower HC category, which are not affected by the more stringent WorldTour rules (http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/aso-withdraws-the-tour-de-france-from-2017-worldtour-calendar/).

[Black Dog]

Business move by a business in the business of professional cycling entertainment trying to protect their business interests. The right thing to do for the sport..nope. The right thing to do for their profits, probably. Robber barons like the ASO will always win as long as the riders remain completely disorganized. Don't expect the teams to fix this, they also have their own business interests that are often not in the interests of the sport or the riders. All professional sports are a business first, second, and third, sport is lower on the list. Things don't change until everyones interest align.

[herb5998]

Yeah, if the riders union could actually agree on something, they could force the hand of all of the race organizers. But they won't, and the UCI can "create" all sorts reforms, but since they really don't have any of the power, it's just a waste of time.

[Walter]

I have always been troubled by the UCI's approach. They charge the teams huge money for a license, then force them to race many races out of a sponsor's market. This also requires the teams to have a larger number of riders and more staff (more $$$) to cover all of the required races. At the same time the UCI charges the races big $$$ to be a part of the show and generally blocks the promoters from being able to select all of the teams they may want that are local to their events. The increased costs for the teams also makes it harder to get a sponsor to cover the whole tab. There are far fewer big money sponsors. If teams are failing due to costs and a lack of sponsors, part of that blame can be placed at the feat of the UCI.

Moreover, who gave the UCI all of the power? It really creates nothing, promotes no races, and takes no financial risks (has no skin in the game), yet it calls the shots, controls the race entries, orders the teams to the races it (not the teams) gets money from (to put the races on the calendar in the first place) and takes money from everybody else in the game.

A team should be able to decide where it races (and on a limited schedule if budget or sponsor concerns dictate that) and a promoter should be able to invite the teams it wants to service its interests and sponsors.

A team may only want to race in its sponsor's market area . A sponsor may have no interest in racing out of its market (and therefore not sponsor a team at all). A promoter may want to bring local teams in to build the interest in their race and to bring in regional sponsors. The UCI model largely prevents this on a wide scale.

ASO has spent huge money building its events into the biggest in the sport. Those events have made the sport more popular. When did the UCI ever really promote a race, help get TV coverage (that really drives a sponsor's decision to play), or help a team? I have no issue with ASO not wanting to give away part of what it has built.

[Ronsonic]

Don't I remember something like this happening when the Indianapolis 500 organizers got into it with USAC. Open wheel racing finished its descent from the premiere league to a spec car show.

[herb5998]

Yeah, ASO pulled this crap a few years ago as well the last time reforms were announced


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[Walter]

Don't I remember something like this happening when the Indianapolis 500 organizers got into it with USAC. Open wheel racing finished its descent from the premiere league to a spec car show.

I think this may be an apples and oranges comparison to the cycling situation at present. In the CART/IRL deal the teams themselves were split between two different sanctioning bodies. Split field equaled a diluted show.

The split was over car specs. IRL wanted a cheaper spec formula rather than the more open and more costly CART spec. One car could not run the other series. Bike specs not an issue in this fight.

Diluted field happens in cycling only if the UCI tries to suspend teams that participate in ASO events from other non-ASO races during the season. That should not happen because ASO is not pulling from the UCI and setting up a separate race calendar. It is simply downgrading the status of its races to give it more choice in who races in them.

In the past some teams have suggested pulling from the UCI and setting up a stand alone race calendar. That would reprise the CART/IRL fiasco.

[ultraman6970]

Too much money in the middle, they wont let anybody to take this from them.

[bobswire]

Seems like the CPA (Voice of the riders) is already capitulating. Part and parcel why this sport will never find a sound workable financial solution.

http://velonews.competitor.com/2015/12/news/cpa-urges-uci-to-find-common-ground-with-aso_391577

[Formulasaab]

What is the issue here? Reading the article linked in the OP only suggests that one favors a "closed system" and the other an "open system". What does that mean?

[bobswire]

What is the issue here? Reading the article linked in the OP only suggests that one favors a "closed system" and the other an "open system". What does that mean?

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=ASO+VS.+UCI

[FlashUNC]

Inrng has a nice summation of the issues at play here.

Both sides are acting a bit childish.

[Formulasaab]

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=ASO+VS.+UCI

Thanks Bob,
A few links down in the search results there is a VeloNews article that helps.

This appears to be typical French sporting behavior. If they find themselves not winning their own "international" sporting event, they start changing the rules to favor the French.

They've been doing the same thing with the 24hours of LeMans since... Well pretty much the beginning. When the French stopped having a car that could compete for overall honors, they created new competitions within the race that they were certain they *could* win... The Index of Thermal Efficiency and The Index of Performance are famous examples.

[shovelhd]

It all comes down to who gets to control the event, the promoter or the governing body? The UCI wants to protect its teams, riders, and sponsors (read:$$$$) by dictating who gets to line up. The ASO, one of many promoters, but the owner of several marquee events, wants more of an invitational system where they get to choose who gets to line up (read:$$$$).