UCI

As seen on cyclingnews.com

Flecha mechanic

My latest piece for cyclingnews.com is online to read. This time it’s the subject of fines. Every evening the Tour de France puts out an official communiqué with the full results and classification for the day but this also includes a medical bulletin of the riders who visited the race doctor during the stage as well as a list of any riders, team staff and others on the race who were fined for the day.

The list of fines varies, it’s usually small infractions like “urinating in public” and team officials being made to pay for giving their riders a tow. You might not realise it but it’s actually illegal for a team mechanic to lean out of the window and conduct mobile repairs, everything has to be done by the roadside and when stationary.

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Variable rules for Contador and Kolobnev?

Kolobnev
At least his saddle is horizontal

Alexsandr Kolobnev has “suspended himself” from competition but I suspect the decision wasn’t taken that freely. After all, here’s the UCI’s press release on the matter:

The UCI Anti-Doping Rules do not provide for a provisional suspension given the nature of the substance, which is a specified substance. However the UCI is confident that his team will take the necessary steps to enable the Tour de France to continue in serenity

You don’t need to be Nico Machiavelli to realise the first sentence contradicts the second, that Kolobnev is free to continue under the rules yet the UCI is waiting for his team to take the “necessary steps”. Or more poetically, to throw Kolobnev down the staircase.

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Enforce a rule or scrap it

Radioshack team car

There’s a mini-fuss at the moment over some of the UCI rules. Specifically rule 1.3.014 requires the saddle to be level:

1.3.014 The saddle support shall be horizontal. The length of the saddle shall be 24 cm minimum and 30 cm maximum.

Only during the season some riders have been using a tilt on their saddle. Some prefer this position naturally but there are biomechanical gains possible for a time trial where the rider tips the nose of the saddle down. When turning a big gear they can push against the saddle as they push down on the pedals. If it helps, think of it like doing a leg press when you’re seated, if you want to push big weights whilst seated then it helps to do it with your back against something. In years past some riders have gone to extreme examples which have since been banned.

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UCI could relax minimum bicycle weight

Weight weenies t-shirt

The UCI could amend its rule on the minimum weight for bikes. Rule 1.3.019 has stated “the weight of the bicycle cannot be less than 6.8 kilograms“. Now this might be changed.

The news comes from trade website BikeBiz.com after editor Carlton Reid had been invited to Switzerland to discuss changes to the technical rules set by the governing body.

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Turning good news into bad

This should be the positive story of the day. The UCI and AFLD working together, the sport’s governing body and the French anti-doping authorities have a deal to help ensure doping controls in the upcoming Tour de France are effective and thorough. Just what we needed to hear. Only a little bit of careless talk … Read more

Germany, Europe’s largest consumer market

German riders are having a very good season. Andre Greipel’s a dependable winner and this year Tony Martin’s confirmed his abilities whilst neo-pros John Degenkolb and Marcel Kittel have been highly impressive. And if you want a tip, look out for a guy called Tino Thömel.

Germany isn’t quite Europe’s premier cycling country but it is certainly Europe’s biggest country. It’s got the largest population with 81 million inhabitants and the continent’s biggest GDP too. Put simply it’s big and it’s rich and for a sport that rhymes with commerce, where teams are named after companies and brands, it’s a key market. Germany is hard to ignore.

ARD
ARD to ignore

Only that’s exactly what the UCI is doing. It’s refusing to do interviews with German broadcasters ARD and ZDF. For context, switch on a German TV and “channel 1” is ARD. Hit the remote and next comes ZDF. These are broadcasting giants and the German equivalent of Britain’s BBC, CBS in the US or ABC in Australia.

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It’s impossible to treat Contador normally

Sword of Damocles

The Sword of Damocles is an ancient Greek fable that tells of a sword suspended by a horse’s hair above the head of Damocles, a courtier in Athens. At any moment the hair could break and the sword will plunge towards poor Damocles. It’s a tale that says the threat of something looming over us can be as disturbing as the act itself, that we would be unable to live normally with this threat to our life literally hanging over us.

That’s exactly where Alberto Contador is today. With the positive tests for last July still unresolved, there is a giant question mark over him and it could land on his head sometime soon. Faced with this the UCI has issued a communiqué asking that everyone treats him normally… but the very fact that Contador is the sole subject of a press release proves things are not normal.

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So how did the Italians manage to stop Riccò?

Ricco

The reality soap opera that is Riccardo Riccò public life might be tiring. In the latest episode, today his comeback is over before it even started. After announcing a deal to ride for the discreet Meridiana-Kamen team, today brings news that he’s been temporarily suspended “on grounds of health” by the Italian authorities. But if you’re tired of  Riccò, stay with me as this is more a story about local federations having the power to stop a rider from racing if they feel it’s in a rider’s interest.

I got an email from a reader asking why the UCI couldn’t stop him yet the Italians have. Here’s an explanation…

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The pot of gold at the end of the rainbow

UCI rainbow stripes

Irish legend says you’ll find a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Only more rational people know you can never reach the end of a rainbow because it is an optical effect dependent on the viewer’s standpoint.

But there’s an exception to the rule: the UCI has trademarked the rainbow colours associated with the world championships. Any use of these colours on bicycle parts, clothing and more has to be licenced. Payment must be made to the UCI. A genuine way to find gold at the end of the rainbow stripes.

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Trouble in Switzerland?

I’ve got a lot of US readers these days and one difference between Europe and the US is the popularity of soccer. It’s the biggest sport in Europe and by some way. The other day I scanned the front page of Italian sports daily La Gazzetta Dello Sport and the front page story was the possible transfer of a player called Andrea Pirlo from one club to another. A stage win by Contador in the Giro didn’t merit as much attention, despite the race being owned by the newspaper. In short, the potential recruitment of one player was deemed more newsworthy than a crucial stage of the country’s biggest bike race.

Sepp Blatter
Blatter doesn’t like the sunlight

Soccer, or as it’s known here, football, is governed by FIFA. The international body is based in Switzerland, the same country is also home to the International Olympic Committee, as well as the Court of Arbitration for Sport and of course, cycling’s UCI. FIFA has long had, shall we say, a louche reputation. Despite millions and millions of European fans, many of whom live for the sport with a tribal fervour, the governing body has often appeared like a club run for the benefit of its executives who cite “globalisation” and bringing the sport to a wider audience as their noble goal. Sounds a bit familiar, eh?

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