Is the UCI prioritising “self-preservation over growth”? Rapha CEO hits out at “ineffectual” governing body as cycling clothing brand reissues ‘roadmap’ to reform

The UCI has failed professional cycling “structurally and commercially” by prioritising “self-preservation over growth”, Rapha’s CEO Fran Millar has claimed.

Millar’s hard-hitting take on what she describes as the “ineffectual governance” of cycling’s governing body comes as Rapha reissues its ‘roadmap’, the clothing company’s “blueprint” for the future of the sport.

First published in 2019, the Rapha Roadmap – which among other things heralded the advent of EF Education-EasyPost’s ‘alternative calendar’ and the season-long Rapha Super-League in the UK – was released in its updated form on Thursday to coincide with the deadline for the UCI’s consultation on pro cycling’s future.

In February, the UCI launched its consultation inviting cycling’s key stakeholders, including groups representing teams, race organisers, national federations, and riders, to submit their views on “key topics” such as the sport’s economic model, the calendar, participation rules, fan engagement, safety, and the “credibility of sporting results”.

“Several reforms implemented in recent years have helped to promote the development of road cycling (internationalisation, new events, the growth of women’s cycling, etc.),” the UCI said at the time.

“The aim now is to continue this positive momentum collectively, in a spirit of dialogue and shared responsibility, under the auspices of the UCI.

“At the end of the consultation phase, the UCI will engage in in-depth discussions with the various stakeholders and partners concerned, with a view to developing a stronger, more attractive and sustainable model for men’s and women’s professional road cycling.”

However, in her foreword to the 2026 edition of the Rapha Roadmap, Millar – the former Ineos Grenadiers CEO who returned to cycling with Rapha in 2024 after a spell at clothing brand Belstaff – criticised the UCI’s attempts at reform over the years, claiming they have allowed the sport to “stagnate”.

“I have spent practically my entire adult life in professional cycling. I am someone who has watched, loved, argued with and advocated for this sport from almost every angle,” she wrote. “And over those decades, the view has been remarkably consistent – a sport that is beautiful and historically rich but one that has been failed structurally and commercially.

“What struck me most coming back to cycling after four years is not how much has changed, but how much hasn’t. When I left my role as CEO of the Ineos Grenadiers, the sport was debating reform. I returned to find the debate had gone backwards – and that is deeply depressing.”

Millar pointed out that the issues identified in Rapha’s original 2019 roadmap were still being highlighted by the UCI in February when the governing body launched its consultation, including “revenues that don’t reflect the sport’s popularity and a commercial model so dependent on external sponsorship that teams operate on the edge of financial viability”.

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“But the sport also has an ineffectual governance system that often seems to prioritise self-preservation over growth,” she continues.

“The questions haven’t changed. But the answers haven’t been implemented. And the sport can no longer afford the delay. We are living through times of extreme and rapid societal and technological change.

“Sports that understood this early and built a content strategy, data infrastructure and interactive communities have grown. Sports that didn’t have watched their audiences age, fragment, and their commercial value stagnate.”

Millar argued that “growth and tradition are not enemies”, pointing to Formula One and Premier League football as sporting entities that modernised and succeeded without abandoning their heritage (some devout followers of those sports may disagree).

“The growth in the popularity of women’s professional sport has shown what is possible,” she continues. “The Women’s Super League, the NWSL, the Hundred, the F1 academy, and the Women’s Rugby World Cup are all examples of what can happen when the people running those sports stopped making excuses about audience size and started making the content that grows one.

“These sports didn’t wait for permission or for someone else to solve their issues. They built the case, proved the demand and now the money is following.

“We are reissuing the Rapha Roadmap because the UCI’s consultation represents another opportunity for action to change this sport. We don’t claim to have all the answers. What we have is an honest love for this sport and a genuine belief in its potential. And nearly two decades of experience watching it fail to realise that potential for entirely avoidable reasons.

“The time for endlessly debating and re-diagnosing the problem has passed. This consultation is an opportunity for action and change. I sincerely hope the UCI use it this time.”

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Meanwhile, in an essay detailing their reasons for reissuing the roadmap, its authors, the Outer Line’s Steve Maxwell and Joe Harris, along with cyclist and writer Joe Laverick, criticised the “chorus of negativity” that has greeted previous attempts at reform.

“This kind of mutually destructive bickering over the size of their slice of the pie rather than building a larger and more profitable pie always sets the sport back further,” they said.

The new Rapha Roadmap, like the last one, is broken up into various key proposals, such as shortening and streamlining the racing calendar, transforming how teams are run and funded, tackling the sport’s reputation for viewers by making it “easier to follow”, and enhancing its coverage, including online.

The Roadmap also tackles cycling’s association with doping and scandal – and how to modernise its reputation for casual fans – while calling for revenue to be diversified and a stronger link to be created between the top of the sport and its grassroots.

One proposal, highlighted by its authors, involves moving the Women’s WorldTour to a closed-league, franchise-based model.

“At the time of writing, there are 15 World Tour licenses available and only 14 World Tour teams,” they said. “This alone demonstrates that the sport is not big enough to contemplate a promotion-relegation system. A closed league would allow teams to hold licences that provide economic predictability and therefore long-term stability.

“It would also create the first step toward a wider league system, and hopefully, the eventual opportunity for revenue sharing. Once participation in the top tier of the sport is guaranteed, teams and sponsors can plan beyond currently short sponsorship cycles.”

The full version of the new Rapha Roadmap is available to download here.

road.cc has approached the UCI for comment.