Astana, The New Pawn...

I'm going to continue my rant about the exclusion of Astana from the Tour de France and the Giro. Only because yesterday, we went and shot 5-Stand which is similar to Sporting Clays, but you don't walk around. 5 of us went, including one of the blue men, Zach. It was cold, but a lot of fun. I don't have pictures to share, because we were all in different stands taking turns. I won't write anymore about it, until maybe the end of this post.

As for Astana... Here's a good article I pulled off of Yahoo! written for the Associated Press about the UCI fighting for Astana to participate in the Tour de France this year, namely for Alberto Contador.

For those who don't know, the UCI (Union Cycliste Internationale) is the recognized governing body for professional road cycling. They are the people who "accredit" the different teams for their rankings. Simply put, the top teams are called "Pro Tour" teams, only 18 of them exist. Below them are the "continental pro squads" which are then broken up by continent, Europe, Asia, America, etc.. As a comparison, the "Pro Tour" is to Major League Baseball, as "Continental Squads" are to minor league baseball. Although "Continental" teams are not farm teams for the "Pro Tour", but now I'm typing to many quotes and it's getting more complicated than it needs to be.

Astana is one of the 18 Pro Tour teams. In years past, the UCI had a "Pro Tour Series", in which all 18 Pro Tour teams were automatically invited to a series of races over the season, and individual riders were awarded points for placing in said races. A couple of the Pro Tour series races were the spring classics, of Paris-Roubaix, and the Amstel Gold Race, as well as the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia. At the end of the season, whom ever had the most accumulated points was considered the winner of the Pro Tour Series, which also guaranteed any team he rode for next year would be automatically elected as a Pro Tour team.

I don't think the Pro Tour Series exists this year, I didn't pay much attention in the off season to the news, but with the exclusion of Astana from many of what used to be Pro Tour Series events, I'm thinking it's not happening this year.

For the last few years, there has been an on going battle between the UCI and the ASO (who produce the Tour de France among other Pro Tour Series events, and are also the ones not inviting Astana to any of the races) over control of the races. UCI, the governing body has in place the Pro Tour teams, the cream of the crop, if you will, of professional cyclists. They say, these teams should always be invited to the premier races of the season.

But the ASO, wants control of which teams are in their races. Last year (2007), ASO was able to exclude one Pro Tour team, Unibet, from all their races. Unibet was sponsored by an online gambling website, and since the French government prohibits advertising for gambling not controlled by the state, ASO said Unibet couldn't ride any of their races (most of which are in France) because they would be violating French law. Almost believable. Unibet did everything in their powers, including removing their sponsors name from the jersey and instead replacing it with a question mark. But the ASO wouldn't budge. The UCI and the ASO went round and round and eventually the ASO won out, and Unibet never raced in France.

Unibet is now defunct. The sponsors pulled out because it was to much hassle for little or no advertising during the season. Is this really the best thing for cycling? Driving out sponsors?

This year's Unibet is Astana, the new pawn in the power struggle between the UCI and the ASO. The UCI grants them a Pro Tour license, and gives them a vote of confidence for cleaning up and walking the straight and narrow. But ASO gives Astana the big thumbs down, pointing at events in the past which causes them to say, no.

The article states that the UCI is considering taking legal actions against the ASO for the exclusion of Astana from the Tour de France. The power struggle continues, and Astana has to sit and wait.

I don't think what the ASO is doing is good for the sport. It's a critical time in cycling. Sponsors are leaving in droves. T-Mobile pulled out this year after sponsoring a team since the early 1990's, because they were tired of the politics. Discovery Channel pulled out last year, and a sponsor couldn't be found to replace them so the team had to be folded. The number one team of last year, had to fold! Teams exist because of sponsor funding. If I was a sponsor and I was about to sink millions of dollars into a team, I'd certainly want them to ride in the biggest races of the season to maximize my exposure. But if I can't get a guarantee because the races organizing body (think ASO) may change it's mind because of events that happened in the past, then why would I want to sink money into the sport?

Bad choice ASO, bad choice.

Pro Tour teams still exist. But it seems to no longer give the teams any added benefits. They can be excluded from all the big races during the year because the ASO, doesn't want them in their sandbox.

On a couple of positive notes, the entire country of Kazakhstan, supports Team Astana. The president of Kazakhstan stated that he will not pull the plug on the team, and honor the contract through at least next year, when, if the ASO is telling the truth, and the team rides a clean season, they will be invited back to the Tour de France.

Also Levi Leipheimer, is leading the Tour of California after a heroic ride over the toughest mountain stage of the tour.

Stay tuned for updates if the UCI goes to court.

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