UCI Fires Back

Alright, I can't get off my soap box. Some people watch soap operas for their daily dose of drama. I seem to get my drama dose reading about the goings on in the world of professional road cycling.

On cyclingnews.com, there's an article about the UCI sending out a letter to all the ProTour teams asking them to boycott the first big race of the season, Paris-Nice. But not because Astana has been refused entry, no, it's because the ASO has gone off the deep end and have taken the race off the international racing calendar and turned it over to the jurisdiction of the French Cycling Federation.

Why does this matter? To put it simply it's a bit like martial law. It's like the governor of California deciding he didn't want to follow the rules and laws set down by the federal government of the United States, but rather apply only the laws of the state of California.

That's basically what the ASO is doing. They are saying the UCI, the governing body of cycling, are in no way in charge of Paris-Nice. The FFC (French Cycling Federation) is.

So the UCI is firing back by saying, "Fine. You don't want us involved? We won't be involved. We will take our referees, our officials, our biological passport system and leave. Good luck on make sure this race is clean and run legally. And clean and legal to a standard everyone on the ProTour circuit agrees too."

The UCI is saying to the ProTour teams, "If you agree with us, that there needs to be a standard that everyone agrees to, then don't race in Paris-Nice."

It would be almost like the Minnesota Vikings playing to their own rules when they are playing in Minnesota. Never mind the big book of rules the NFL has, we've got our own.

If the ASO succeeds, who's to stop the whole thing from unraveling? Does that mean, any race run in Italy is the responsibility of the Italian Cycling Federation? Does the Tour of California now fall on the USCF to run, and officiate? And if that's the case, does that mean AEG, the company who puts on the Tour of California, now have the right to invite whom ever they want? Well, actually, they do now, because the Tour of California is not a ProTour event. But it is on the international calendar, which is put together by the UCI.

It's a mess, and I'm excited to see what happens on day one of Paris-Nice. Who will show up?

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