ASO wants to leave World Tour in 2017

[Max Rockatansky]

They've just announced, that they have registered their races for 2017 as .HC Events.

 

[King Boonen]

Link? Is that every race?!

 

[argyllflyer]

Hope the UCI call their bluff.

ASO don't run the sport and if they want to erode their own races by weakening the field, that's their call.

 

[King Boonen]

Re:

Hope the UCI call their bluff.

ASO don't run the sport and if they want to erode their own races by weakening the field, that's their call.

Considering ASO own some of, if not the, most highly prized races in the cycling calendar I don't think we'll see a weakening of the field riding most them.

 

[argyllflyer]

Re:

And in English:

 

[May0maniac]

Honest question, Who's the lesser evil, the UCI or ASO?

 

[argyllflyer]

Re: Re:

Hope the UCI call their bluff.

ASO don't run the sport and if they want to erode their own races by weakening the field, that's their call.

Considering ASO own some of, if not the, most highly prized races in the cycling calendar I don't think we'll see a weakening of the field riding most them.

You cannot invite more than 70% World Tour teams to .HC events in Europe. Therefore if 30% must come from Pro Continental or below, the field will be weaker. Presently the TdF for example runs at 80% WT teams.

 

[argyllflyer]

I would add that ASO already have a strong bias towards French PC teams as it is when issuing wildcards, especially for the TDF - with this, they will have carte blanche to select who they like for their races and could opt for French Continental teams at the expense of some WT teams. There are presently 7 French teams outwith the WT - the whole lot could be invited to the TdF at .HC level.

 

[King Boonen]

Re: Re:

Hope the UCI call their bluff.

ASO don't run the sport and if they want to erode their own races by weakening the field, that's their call.

Considering ASO own some of, if not the, most highly prized races in the cycling calendar I don't think we'll see a weakening of the field riding most them.

You cannot invite more than 70% World Tour teams to .HC events in Europe. Therefore if 30% must come from Pro Continental or below, the field will be weaker. Presently the TdF for example runs at 80% WT teams.

That is assuming that teams remain on the World Tour, it seems this is an attempt to do away with the WT (or more likely bargain a better deal).

I suppose we could also argue over whether lower rung WT teams are really that much better than the to PC teams...

 

[argyllflyer]

Re: Re:

Hope the UCI call their bluff.

ASO don't run the sport and if they want to erode their own races by weakening the field, that's their call.

Considering ASO own some of, if not the, most highly prized races in the cycling calendar I don't think we'll see a weakening of the field riding most them.

You cannot invite more than 70% World Tour teams to .HC events in Europe. Therefore if 30% must come from Pro Continental or below, the field will be weaker. Presently the TdF for example runs at 80% WT teams.

That is assuming that teams remain on the World Tour, it seems this is an attempt to do away with the WT (or more likely bargain a better deal).

I suppose we could also argue over whether lower rung WT teams are really that much better than the to PC teams...

Well it depends - as it is now, there are 4 PC French teams, 3/4 whom (Cofidis, Europcar renamed and Bretagne Seche renamed) likely to be given wildcard entries for the Tour and they will all likely feature in the other French WT races.

But when you go to potentially inviting Continental teams ahead of WT, I disagree. Auber 93 or Lampre? RLM or BMC?

And yes of course this is about ASO throwing their weight about and moaning because they don't like the modest reforms put forward.

But I don't see much alternative being presented either.

 

[StryderHells]

Re: Re:

Hope the UCI call their bluff.

ASO don't run the sport and if they want to erode their own races by weakening the field, that's their call.

Considering ASO own some of, if not the, most highly prized races in the cycling calendar I don't think we'll see a weakening of the field riding most them.

You cannot invite more than 70% World Tour teams to .HC events in Europe. Therefore if 30% must come from Pro Continental or below, the field will be weaker. Presently the TdF for example runs at 80% WT teams.

It's not all about the TDF, look at Roubaix and tell me it not being WT would make it a weaker race with less WT teams in it, you could day the same when it comes to the Vuelta. The current WT setup can barely sustain a full roster of WT teams anyway so if this actually did happen I doubt any of the ASO races would be weaker.

 

[togo95]

Re:

Honest question, Who's the lesser evil, the UCI or ASO?

ASO I believe. Hope they would have the balls to leave UCI altogether.

 

[argyllflyer]

Re: Re:

Hope the UCI call their bluff.

ASO don't run the sport and if they want to erode their own races by weakening the field, that's their call.

Considering ASO own some of, if not the, most highly prized races in the cycling calendar I don't think we'll see a weakening of the field riding most them.

You cannot invite more than 70% World Tour teams to .HC events in Europe. Therefore if 30% must come from Pro Continental or below, the field will be weaker. Presently the TdF for example runs at 80% WT teams.

It's not all about the TDF, look at Roubaix and tell me it not being WT would make it a weaker race with less WT teams in it, you could day the same when it comes to the Vuelta. The current WT setup can barely sustain a full roster of WT teams anyway so if this actually did happen I doubt any of the ASO races would be weaker.

For P-R who would you invite in place of the WT teams? The Belgian PC teams like TSV get invited anyway. Are you going to raise the standard ditching the teams without WT cobbles specialists to invite for arguments sake Roubaix-Lille-Metropole or Auber 93?

 

[King Boonen]

Re: Re:

Hope the UCI call their bluff.

ASO don't run the sport and if they want to erode their own races by weakening the field, that's their call.

Considering ASO own some of, if not the, most highly prized races in the cycling calendar I don't think we'll see a weakening of the field riding most them.

You cannot invite more than 70% World Tour teams to .HC events in Europe. Therefore if 30% must come from Pro Continental or below, the field will be weaker. Presently the TdF for example runs at 80% WT teams.

That is assuming that teams remain on the World Tour, it seems this is an attempt to do away with the WT (or more likely bargain a better deal).

I suppose we could also argue over whether lower rung WT teams are really that much better than the to PC teams...

Well it depends - as it is now, there are 4 PC French teams, 3/4 whom (Cofidis, Europcar renamed and Bretagne Seche renamed) likely to be given wildcard entries for the Tour and they will all likely feature in the other French WT races.

But when you go to potentially inviting Continental teams ahead of WT, I disagree. Auber 93 or Lampre? RLM or BMC?

And yes of course this is about ASO throwing their weight about and moaning because they don't like the modest reforms put forward.

But I don't see much alternative being presented either.

How about Topsport, Nippo-vini, Androni etc. All likely to fight harder and animate the race more than the likes of Trek and IAM, maybe even Lampre.

Also, a massive plus in this I think, doesn't HC mean they can drop to 7 man teams? That would possibly be very interesting...

 

[StryderHells]

Re: Re:

Hope the UCI call their bluff.

ASO don't run the sport and if they want to erode their own races by weakening the field, that's their call.

Considering ASO own some of, if not the, most highly prized races in the cycling calendar I don't think we'll see a weakening of the field riding most them.

You cannot invite more than 70% World Tour teams to .HC events in Europe. Therefore if 30% must come from Pro Continental or below, the field will be weaker. Presently the TdF for example runs at 80% WT teams.

It's not all about the TDF, look at Roubaix and tell me it not being WT would make it a weaker race with less WT teams in it, you could day the same when it comes to the Vuelta. The current WT setup can barely sustain a full roster of WT teams anyway so if this actually did happen I doubt any of the ASO races would be weaker.

For P-R who would you invite in place of the WT teams? The Belgian PC teams like TSV get invited anyway. Are you going to raise the standard ditching the teams without WT cobbles specialists to invite for arguments sake Roubaix-Lille-Metropole or Auber 93?

You could argue that some of the PC/Conti teams would be strengthened if they could get into the ASO races, easier to sign riders if they think they will get a chance to ride for there own chances in all the big classics and the GT's. And as I said the WT isn't sustainable in it's current form so if teams thought they could still get invited to these races and not have to be WT then why wouldn't they drop back down to Pro Conti?

 

[King Boonen]

Re: Re:

Hope the UCI call their bluff.

ASO don't run the sport and if they want to erode their own races by weakening the field, that's their call.

Considering ASO own some of, if not the, most highly prized races in the cycling calendar I don't think we'll see a weakening of the field riding most them.

You cannot invite more than 70% World Tour teams to .HC events in Europe. Therefore if 30% must come from Pro Continental or below, the field will be weaker. Presently the TdF for example runs at 80% WT teams.

It's not all about the TDF, look at Roubaix and tell me it not being WT would make it a weaker race with less WT teams in it, you could day the same when it comes to the Vuelta. The current WT setup can barely sustain a full roster of WT teams anyway so if this actually did happen I doubt any of the ASO races would be weaker.

For P-R who would you invite in place of the WT teams? The Belgian PC teams like TSV get invited anyway. Are you going to raise the standard ditching the teams without WT cobbles specialists to invite for arguments sake Roubaix-Lille-Metropole or Auber 93?

Niether of which are PC teams... How about picking from that list?

 

[Inquitus]

Re: Re:

Hope the UCI call their bluff.

ASO don't run the sport and if they want to erode their own races by weakening the field, that's their call.

Considering ASO own some of, if not the, most highly prized races in the cycling calendar I don't think we'll see a weakening of the field riding most them.

You cannot invite more than 70% World Tour teams to .HC events in Europe. Therefore if 30% must come from Pro Continental or below, the field will be weaker. Presently the TdF for example runs at 80% WT teams.

So that means all the WT Teams couldn't get a TDF Invite if these rules were applied?

 

[Alexandre B.]

One of ASO's goals is to dismantle Velon.

Can't blame them for that.

 

[Eshnar]

Re:

Honest question, Who's the lesser evil, the UCI or ASO?

as hard as it is for me to say it, ASO. By far, actually.

 

[Morbius]

Given that ASO claim the reason for this move is to "give priority to sporting criterion" - i.e. stop the 3-year licences - here is a different question:

Who's the lesser evil: ASO or Velon?

 

[poupou]

The only question is which team can afford to miss TDF? Where will stand their sponsors?

 

[IndianCyclist]

These Gauls are crazy
Cycling is the only sport that takes 1 step forward and then 10 steps backward.
We that with the hr record with equipment reset to 1970s and now we are back to 2008

 

[Catwhoorg]

Classic brinkmanship

The Question is who is going to blink first now.

 

[Gaul 58]

If the sport is to be global we can't let three separate tours each of three weeks gobble up so much of the calendar.
So to progress and make more room for the tours in Poland, California and the like.... (i) one a year in rotation (Italy then France then Spain), or (ii) a single three-week tour that spends a week in each of the three countries (but never finishing is France as that is too tame a finish).
The message that already comes from the three of them is that their country on its own isn't big enough, what with the TDF starting in Ireland, the Giro in Poland.... they've rather shot themselves in the foot on this score.

 

[animir]

This is very bad for cycling.
With a bit irony one colud say, that if velon teams dont participate on the TDF, maybe the Giro will be the new TDF. If someone buys the Vuelta from ASO, then everybody will ride the Giro and the Vuelta and the TDF wil become a local french race, who nobody cares about. This solves also the problem with 3 too long grandtours, which makes it impossible for the best rides to compete against each other on all of them.