Divorce in the Kingdom: Omega, Lotto and Gilbert

Not all marriages last. Today came confirmation of a split in the Kingdom of Belgium between Omega Pharma and the Belgian lottery, Lotto. Both are long term sponsors of pro cycling. Omega boss Marc Coucke is a big fan of the sport and cycling is the most popular sport in Belgium, meaning the state lottery is almost obliged to get involved.

Reynders + Gilbert
Reynders and Gilbert: a classic "politician with sportsman" pose... or is there more to it?

But there’s a twist, as explained by Greg Ienco of Cyclisme Revue. Lotto is effectively under the control of Belgian politician Didier Reynders. He’s perhaps the top representative of the Walloon region, being both deputy prime minister and finance minister. Plus as there’s still no government, he was also an informateur, a role appointed by the King to help form a government but like others, couldn’t get a parliamentary majority in place. Put simply, Reynders is big in Belgium.

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The Giro d’Italia is bigger than Everest

Swiss scenery

Let’s play word association. When I say “Switzerland”, what do you think of? Punctual trains, chocolate, hard currency and secret bank accounts? Cheese, cows and yodelling?  I bet mountains are an obvious thought, whether for the skiing or the postcard images of lush Alpine pastures. So when you think of the Tour of Romandie, you tend to think of a stage race for climbers. Romandie is the French-speaking area and like the whole Swiss confederation it has plenty of mountain passes.

More precisely the 2011 Tour of Romandie has 6,100 vertical metres of climbing (~21,000 feet). Despite several first category cols and plenty more other climbing, whether categorised or not, this is not the most mountainous edition of the race. Still, there are six days of racing with the prologue and you can’t escape the hills. But all this is less than one single day of mountain madness in the upcoming Giro d’Italia.

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Pineau attacks the UCI’s point system

It’s the UCI’s points system that’s ruining everything. Teams think about finishing sixth or ninth instead of playing to win but maybe finishing tenth. They say the race radios are killing off panache, but the points system does just that. You play it defensive. Those are the words of Quick Step’s Frenchman Jérôme Pineau in … Read more

The UCI’s new private business

There’s a new Swiss sports event management company called Global Cycling Promotions SA. Big deal you might say, after all there are many sports promotion businesses around the world. But there’s difference here: GCP is owned by the UCI.

UCI logo

It’s a curious situation where the governing body owns a private promotion business. There’s no mention on the UCI website, at least I’ve had a trawl, used the UCI search feature and checked via google too where there’s only a press release that mentions Alain Rumpf’s dual role, as both UCI official and “Global Cycling Promotion Director”. Here’s hoping the UCI website gets updated and that the accounts are published too.

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Team rankings: UCI conspiring against riders?

UCI plans

I’ve long wondered about the UCI ProTeam licence criteria. They rely on four pillars: sporting, ethical, financial and administrative but it’s a grey area. One example, we’ve seen teams like Pegasus can push back administrative deadlines whilst all along there’s no money secured. Or take the ethical component, it’s very hard to enforce, a suspect team can only really get ejected if senior management are directly implicated in scandal and even then it’s possible to keep the team going if the management changes, we saw this with Astana in the past.

Secret rankings
The sporting element of a team is determined by a points-based ranking system that has been kept secret… until now. Even teams and their sponsors did not know what was involved but lobbying by the teams has made the UCI open a bit here, after all teams trying to convince sponsors need to know the rules of the game, rather than sending off the paperwork and crossing their fingers that they’re ok. I’ve found this secrecy very odd and it’s something team managers openly criticised.

What’s interesting is that the UCI has given the scheme’s details to the teams. And a great scoop by Cyclingnews.com’s Daniel Benson and Stephen Farrand means they can reveal the way this works. The piece refers to the UCI saying:

The UCI has always refused to reveal the complex tables and points scales used to award the licences, claiming riders would use them when negotiating their contracts.

Just imagine that, a rider with points being able to negotiate with their team! This reticence by the UCI suggests the poor rider is a long way down the pecking order.

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Slow connection

A boring note but I’m travelling abroad lot for work at the moment and at home France Télécom has decided to unplug my phone line, including internet access, following a “technical problem”. They don’t seem to know when this will be fixed, just that there is a “technical problem”. They’ve bungled something but still enjoy … Read more

Gilbert stamps his foot

Philippe Gilbert’s long been a vocal critic of doping. From the early days with FDJ to the present, when he fronts a video campaign for the Walloon regional government’s anti-doping campaign.

If you’re wondering what he’s saying, it’s “Hello, I’m Philippe Gilbert. Cycling is my whole life. I’ve been passionate about it for 15 years and a pro for nine… Be strong, respect the rules and your win is without doping“.

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Italian Cycling, Part I: The Ape

Piaggio Ape

You might have heard of Piaggio, the Italian scooter manufacturer and its “Vespa” model. Two wheeled transport is very popular in Italy, especially with smaller 50 and 125cc engines. The countryside is often hilly, towns and villages are never far away, and frequent good weather all combine to make this mode of transport very practical and suitable.

If vespa is Italian for wasp, then note ape means bee, you say “ah-peh”. It’s this that gives its name to the Piaggio Ape, a three wheeled scooter with a flatbed at the back. These are quintessential Italian. Modern pizza is everywhere and partly an American invention; talking with big hand gestures is common all round the Mediterranean. No, I think the Ape is something you’ll find in Italy and nowhere else.

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On Philippe Gilbert

Gilbert Liege

I’ve rarely seen a race like Sunday’s Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Philippe Gilbert started as the race favourite… and Belgium’s favourite star too. Warm weather brought big crowds to the roadside but they’d come to see their son shine.

When the Schleck brothers attacked the move looked useful but only Gilbert went, the others seemed unable to follow. Given nobody else would let Gilbert get a gap but all the same, the move didn’t look devastatingly powerful on TV.

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Communication breakdown

UCI

For a subject that started as a spat over the use of two-way radios in races the breakdown in communication between the UCI and the major teams is not without its irony. The teams say radios are crucial for safety and strategy, but communication between teams and the UCI is broken down.

Earlier this week the majority of top teams walked out of a meeting with the UCI. For me this was a theatrical stunt which won’t fix anything. For the team representatives no doubt it was too much to sit though a lengthy session only to find the issue most relevant to them… hardly merited a mention.

Worse, things are now speeding towards disaster. The teams, via their AIGCP group, have hired a London-based public relations company. You don’t engage an agency like this just to distribute emails, they are there to help position the AIGCP and in PR-speak to “shape the debate”. But it should be noted too that the UCI has also quietly hired a PR agency too.

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