UCI

New UCI Points System for 2015

Giro d'Italia

The UCI have brought out a new system of points and rankings for 2015. The main ranking is the “UCI World Classification”, a rolling ranking of riders of all categories based on performances over the previous 52 weeks as opposed to each season or calendar year. Within this there are big changes to the allocation of points across races, for example all three grand tours are now treated equally.

All this is buried in a PDF listing modifications to the rulebook but below is a summary of the changes along with the new points scales.

Update Sunday 25 January: the UCI has scrapped the introduction of this scheme for 2015 following protests by teams upset at the sudden introduction. It should be back for 2016 but until then the old system applies: calendar year, more points for the Tour de France etc.

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Happy New WADA Code

Denis Menchov, race stealer

A new year and it’s straight into the heavy stuff with the revised WADA Code for 2015. It brings stronger anti-doping rules, like a four year ban, and is now in effect. Here’s a summary of the changes.

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Race Radios Banned

Race Radios

In recent years race radios have been a key part of team tactics in the big races, many times we’ve seen riders cup their ears to better hear a message relayed from the team car. Now in-race communications will be banned for all road races in 2015 according to a new UCI rule.

All change? Or just a new round of protest between the teams and the UCI and a test of authority for President Brian Cookson?

Update: radios won’t be banned. The UCI is promising to update the rulebook early in the new year and radios will once again be allowed.

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Who Speaks for the Riders?


That’s Luca Paolini and Manuel Quinziato in discussion with officials from the Giro d’Italia following the treacherous circuit around Bari where riders were sliding over the road. It’s often difficult to know who speaks for the riders and there are regular calls for a rider union, a collective body to protect and strengthen the rights of professional cyclists. Only this exists already, it’s called the CPA and every pro is compelled to pay for it. Only few seem to know about it.

As the sport reorganises there’s an alphabet soup of acronyms, each fighting for competing interests. There’s the UCI itself then race organisers like ASO and RCS who themselves are part of the AIOCC, a lobby group for race promoters. There are the teams, the employers, who form several groups for example their collective lobby is the AIGCP and many also subscribe to the MPCC and there’s the newly created Velon too. Will the riders and their union have a say too?

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The ISSUL Performance Criteria

Astana team

What’s the good news of this week? One improvement is the new audit of the Astana team by the Institute of Sport Sciences of the University of Lausanne (ISSUL) imposed by the UCI as a condition of its licence. As well as the investigation audit which will be finished by February, the team has to sign up for a wide-ranging set of “operational requirements” for the whole year.

The ISSUL guidelines imposed on Astana aren’t just a mechanism to save the team’s licence. Instead they’re set to become a core part of the proposed UCI cycling reforms, compulsory for all teams in a few years. They cover a lot of territory from job insecurity to coaching with the twin themes of doping and money. An article in L’Equipe does a great job in explaining some of these changes and here are some of the highlights.

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Spot the Difference

Look closely at the two screengrabs from La Gazzetta dello Sport and see what’s different. Sure see one is more pink, the font is different and the picture changes. But the headlines about Michele Ferrari and a €30 million web of suspect payments and pro cyclist contracts are the same. So what is the big difference? Time.

The first image is from 2012 and the second is from Thursday. Having read both stories they’re almost the same, only the 2014 version has just a bit more detail on the payments and drops more names. Why has the same story come back again?

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10 Roadside Repairs

Jussi Veikkanen FDJ

It’s a big week month for pro cycling with the exposition of sweeping reforms by the UCI expected in the coming days. We will see what emerges but there’s talk of redesigning the calendar and revising the league system of the World Tour. If half of this appears it could amount to the most significant changes for a quarter of a century.

But ahead of radical reform, what about some quick fixes, administrative equivalents of a roadside repair? Here are ten tidy tips that could be done in days…

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Velon Means Business

Velon

11 of the World Tour teams have linked up to create a company Velon. It’s the public launch of a private project that’s been on the go for at least 18 months under the label of Project Avignon.

We don’t have much to go on. Today has seen a co-ordinated media campaign to mark the launch, it’s gone from a project to corporate reality. Whether it now goes from a start-up to an established business will be the more interesting story to follow.

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Astana’s Licence Review

Alexandr Vinokourov

The UCI swung into action today following a third positive case involving a rider from Astana, promising special review of the team’s World Tour licence for 2015.

The rider involved is Ilya Davidenok, normally a rider on the subsidiary Astana Continental team but promoted to the main team as a stagiaire. It’s yet more awkward news for the Kazakh team but if it’s embarrassing their licence is probably safe for 2015.

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Oleg Tinkov’s Indecent Proposal

Oleg Tinkov
Oleg Tinkov’s offer of a million Euros to ride all three grand tours has grabbed a lot of attention. It sounds good but anyone brave enough to take up the challenge could well finish the year out of pocket. It’s madness… but he does have a point.

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