Tour of Hangzhou added to WorldTour

[El Pistolero]

And you can't just keep increasing the amount of WT races for obvious reasons...

 

[issoisso]

Tour Down Under.......Tour of Beijing.....Tour of Hangzhou......wonderful.
Maybe they'll consider making the Tour of My Backyard a world tour event. It is, after all, just a question of how much money I throw at the UCI.

 

[Sander2012]

“It is a natural step for cycling which is currently enjoying a period of huge growth worldwide,” UCI president Pat McQuaid said in a statement issued by the governing body late on Friday afternoon. “This will generate great visibility for teams and riders and can be expected to give a big boost to cycling. The injection of funding directly benefits the sport with financial returns from the new races re-invested into cycling and also profiting teams and other stakeholders down the line.

How is cycling enjoying a period of huge growth worldwide? Races in Asia hardly attract any visitors, a very succesfull team like HTC-Highroad couldn't find a new sponsor, Leopard-Trek merged with Radioshack, GreenEdge hasn't found a main sponsor yet etc.

 

[Michele]

Probably they forgot to mention that it's their "own cycling" (business) which is having a huge growth.

 

[hrotha]

Of course it's not about promoting cycling in Asia, but about giving a boost to the races they control. They're using their position as the UCI in a fraudulent or at least morally repulsive way to compete unfairly with other organizers.

The UCI can't both decide the calendar and organize events, just like they can't promote cycling and tackle antidoping at the same time. It's a very elemental conflict of interest.

 

[El Pistolero]

Of course it's not about promoting cycling in Asia, but about giving a boost to the races they control. They're using their position as the UCI in a fraudulent or at least morally repulsive way to compete unfairly with other organizers.

The UCI can't both decide the calendar and organize events, just like they can't promote cycling and tackle antidoping at the same time. It's a very elemental conflict of interest.

Isn't Tour of Beijing organised by ASO? It seems to me that they're just trying to please ASO(and collect more $$) and one day it will bite them in the ass.

 

[AntonioRossi]

Isn't Tour of Beijing organised by ASO? It seems to me that they're just trying to please ASO(and collect more $$) and one day it will bite them in the ass.

Exactly. China is only lucrative because it offers a lot of money. The UCI needs to realize that Beijing was not that big of a success. Money wise maybe, but it was just a lame WT race. Why not improve that race first and then add a second WT race in China in a few years. Patience is not a word in their dictionary. The UCI can't "globalize" the sport like that with adding a new WT race every year in China

 

[Michele]

Isn't Tour of Beijing organised by ASO? It seems to me that they're just trying to please ASO(and collect more $$) and one day it will bite them in the ass.

The UCI did not name the race organiser in the press release, but its own organising entity GCP (Global Cycling Promotion) is already responsible for the Tour of Beijing.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/season-ending-tour-of-hangzhou-added-to-worldtour-calendar

By doing this they are really forcing the teams to get out of UCI control.

 

[meandmygitane]

It could be great or it could be horrible, it depends on the parcours and the numbers of fans on the roadside. I just hope it won't be short days on flat roads with minimal audience.

Don't make it a "easy race", calculated to let domestic teams have a shot at the win, break out of the mold.

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

So to conclude, this race could be fantastic. But past experience tells us that the UCI will make the parcours resemble something like 5 consecutive days around the Hangzhou's CBD. Such a pity...

This.

China is a large, and scenic country, with obviously a lot of growth potential for the sport, (financially too). But that doesn't mean the UCI will handle it well. It's mostly likely going to be just another spot on an already crowded calendar, and miss out on showcasing the area. And a race that the big names either won't enter, or will only as training.

 

[Carlo Algatrensig]

I might be wrong on this but the UCI seem to forget that by and large the sponsorship of cycling teams is still very parochial. Most teams are sponsored by orgnisations that only have a presence within there own country or a few other neighbouring countries. How many of the World tour teams sponsors currently have a commercial presence in China? I'm happy to be corrected but it cant be that many so why would they want to partake in an event in China unless it produced coverage back in their home territory which based on the enthusiasm shown by most on this forum it wouldnt.

 

[Panda Claws]

Saxo Bank should really just let their riders peak for this and Beijing. Might yield them enough points to stay in the WT.

 

[The Hitch]

Saxo Bank should really just let their riders peak for this and Beijing. Might yield them enough points to stay in the WT.

lol nice one.

 

[El Pistolero]

Contador was banned before that rule that said you can't earn points after a 2 year ban for an additional 2 years. So he'll still be able to earn points for Saxo. So I've heard at least. And that's how it works in real courts, but I wouldn't be surprised to see the dictator like sport tribunals neglect this. Probably out of stupidity. Contador's lawyers will have a field day when the UCI tries to enforce this rule upon him. He'll definitely appeal to the European court of Human Rights then and WADA/TAS/UCI know very well Contador would win the case and get all his results from 2010/2011 back.

 

[simo1733]

So Asia deserves another World Tour event.It may suprise people to know that the Asian Cycling Championship is on at the moment.I don't think it even has a website and the results are impossible to find.

 

[Kazistuta]

How would a court victory give Contador hos '10+'11 results back? It's only a matter of future (= next two years) points.....

@Topic:

 

[pastronef]

http://www.twitter.com/christianmeier Pais Vasco now in trouble? At some point couldn't the UCI step up and help save some races?

no, dear Christian, UCI is busy promoting some unknown chinese race, in late october!

 

[Libertine Seguros]

I urge you all to follow Christian Meier. He is one of the most consistently reasonable voices in the péloton.

 

[pastronef]

after today's great race and winner (Omloop H.N.)

http://www.twitter.com/festinagirl Racing like this proves that, whatever the UCI might think, the sport's spiritual home is on the roads of Europe

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

Spain is a zombie country, half a pace behind Greece. It's a miracle they kept funding bike races this long.

 

[hrotha]

Spain is a zombie country, half a pace behind Greece. It's a miracle they kept funding bike races this long.

Except that Spanish races were disappearing left and right years before the current crisis started.

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

Except that Spanish races were disappearing left and right years before the current crisis started.

I didn't say it was a cause. It just means I can't blame them, I'm not surprised and I expect it to go much further.

If I was a tax payer clinging on to my job, paying for millions of unemployed, I wouldn't want to pay for a bike race.

 

[hrotha]

Fair enough then - although you'd be surprised to know how many people here still want to organize the Olympic Games

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

Fair enough then - although you'd be surprised to know how many people here still want to organize the Olympic Games

They're welcome to take ours.

 

[pastronef]

http://www.uci.ch/templates/UCI/UCI2/layout.asp?MenuId=MTUyMjQ&LangId=1

still no mention of the race in the UCI World Tour calendar 2012


"During its two day meeting the PCC approved the principle that a change could be introduced to the 2012 UCI WorldTour Calendar, with the addition of a new event in China. The five stage event would run from Wednesday to Sunday during the week following the 2012 Tour of Beijing. Called the “Tour of Hangzhou”, it would be held in the area surrounding Hangzhou, a city with a population of 8.7 million in Southern China. [....] The Tour of Hangzhou must now apply to the Licence Commission for a UCI WorldTour licence in order to complete the administrative process"

http://www.uci.ch/Modules/ENews/ENewsDetails.asp?id=Nzg1NQ&MenuId=MTI2Mjc&LangId=1&BackLink=/templates/UCI/UCI7/layout.asp?MenuId=MTI2Mjc&LangId=1