ASO say “non” to UCI

UCI seeks new funding for its race promotion activities

Last year saw the Tour of Beijing run for the first time. A unique race, one major difference was they way it was organised and promoted. To summarise the UCI, cycling’s governing body, set up a corporate venture called Global Cycling Promotions (GCP) to run the race.

GCP caused all sorts conflicts of interest. Instead of governing the sport from above, the UCI became an economic agent alongside many it seeks to regulate. One minute the idea was to globalise the sport, the next it was to generate income for the UCI. Plus it turned out GCP was created after the UCI siphoned money paid into a fund in the name of the top teams to use as the businesses seed capital, a fact which irritated several squads.

Now the UCI is seeking to bolster GCP. It was been approaching various sources asking them to subscribe to the business in order to provide additional capital. A report by Bloomberg suggests the UCI has approached ASO, the company behind the Tour de France. Only ASO said non. As a result the UCI is pitching to wealthy individuals to see if they will invest. Bloomberg’s report is notable for four reasons:

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The pain in Spain

The Spanish economy is set to shrink this year, continuing the funk it has been in since 2009. Unemployment is over 20% and climbing. Set against it’s no wonder that several races are under threat in Spain.

Pro cycling depends on government funding and corporate budgets and across Europe times are tough. But not for all.

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Italy’s backwards shoemakers

Bear with me a minute as I’m not saying Italians shoemakers are old fashioned. Instead here’s a quick explainer on cycling shoemakers Sidi and Gaerne and their surprising similarities.

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The early season training camp

Having asked for your questions about the sport, one subject that came up was the timely subject of team training camps. I’ve covered the pre-season training camps and to summarise these are often more about logistics and team building than anything else, where riders and staff get issued their clothing and measured for bikes and maybe do a survival course or other team-building exercises.

But right now many teams are gathering to ride together ahead of the upcoming season. Some of course have been racing in Australia but in recent weeks most European teams have been assembling in Spain and Italy to ride together. Here’s a look at what’s involved.

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Like father, like son?

I’ve covered the subject of father and son riders before (here and here) but last weekend Italian newspaper La Gazzetta Dello Sport had a feature on Miguel Indurain and his son Miguel. The five times Tour de France winner is enjoying watching his son progress on the bike and after some promising results in the cadetes category he moves up to the juniors (U-18) with CC Villavés , the club that brought his father in to the sport, as well as Team Sky’s Xavier Zandio.

These pairings are common and there are more, listed below. But can a child inherit their father’s champion abilities or not?

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Tour Down Under shorts

Willunga

The race is far from over and tomorrow’s stage finish on Willunga Hill will change everything, more on this in a minute. Before this I wanted to look around the race and see what’s what, from TV coverage to photofinish “controversy” and the Wouter Mol fan club.

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André 2004

I’ll let the picture do most of the talking. Look at the star rider of amateur team TEAG Team Köstritzer, the one given the seat in the middle and holding the bike. It’s André Greipel.

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Will Clarke, the one that got away

Sport often celebrates the “little guy” winning and Will Clarke’s win in Stage 2 of the Tour Down Under fits this script. I’m hesitant to label a rider like Clarke “little” because he’s an elite athlete – and tall too. So far his career has been a story of breakaways, in more ways than one.

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National champion jerseys

With the 2012 season under way all the top teams have unveiled their colours. Amongst these team colours are the national champions jerseys. Just as the world champion wears a jersey with the “rainbow bands”, national champions get their special jerseys.

The winner of the annual national championships gets to wear a jersey that represents their country for the year. It’s usually a variation of the national flag or colours. For example you’ll see the French champion in a big blue, white and red tricolore jersey. But in recent years the design has started to change, moving away from a flag turned into a jersey into a more normal team jersey with just hint of national colour. Here’s a more detailed look at the how and why.

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