The Tour de France could be pulled from the UCI’s racing calendar over fears about the governing body’s progress towards reforms, according to reports.
The owner of the Tour, Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO), is said to be worried about the status of the race after 2016 - meaning it could take place outside of UCI control, according to the BBC.
A source close to the UCI management committee also told Reuters that ASO sent a letter to the UCI saying it would withdraw from the 2016 calendar if the reform does not go forward
The reforms underway include fewer teams in the top flight, an effort to avoid race clashes and a big race every weekend - all matters which the UCI say are in hand.
"There is a general consensus on the direction towards which the reform should be driven," said a UCI statement.
"We are hopeful of finalising soon our discussions with all stakeholders, whether races organisers, teams, riders, around a project that will restore the credibility in our sport.
"We want to promote the sport in both existing and new markets, make the cycling season understood and attractive to fans and recognise the UCI WorldTour as part of a larger and interdependent system."
The BBC’s Matt Slater commented: “The UCI wants cycling's season-long narrative to look more like F1: a series of big races, spaced out over a year, with no overlaps, everybody there and a clear winner at the end.”
ASO owns the Tour de France as well as Paris-Roubaix and Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Paris-Nice and the Critérium du Dauphiné.
As far back as 2012 we reported how the UCI was involved in plans to shake up the road cycling calendar as part of a wider reform of the sport through a proposed ‘Champions League’.
Plans were outlined, to include a new series of races, the sharing of TV revenue, greater transparency in the fight against doping and an overhaul of the points and ranking systems.
It was said that any changes “would be phased in over a period of several years, so it is not a replacement of an old system by something new, it is an integration of existing races into a new format.”
We had a club member killed at a junction in which the driver successfully used the blinded by the sun argument. It is pretty devastating for the...
This sounds absolutely ghastly, and can only conclude that future events of this scale, scope and magnitude be sent to some grotty little market...
Unfortunately the footway adjacent to crossing zig-zags is not covered by the zig-zags. (Source ranty-highwayman when I was on Twitter some years ago)
Indeed, a close second to the Trek-Segafredo shorts with "splunk" across the back in terms of things one really doesn't want displayed on one's...
Way off the mark.... Pierre Rolland is where those really in the know are going. Competitively priced at £15.7 million as well 😂😂😂
Looks great and I need a new lock!
He knew it was unlikely, but that's not the point I'm making....
Think I'd park mine somewhere else to avoid the bike-lickers.
Van Aert (Belgian) blocked him in Paris 21 and Tom Steels (Belgian) blocks out all of tdf22....
This thread? https://twitter.com/ormondroyd/status/910244326567006211?utm_source=pock...