DirtyWorks said:
You guys are missing the other half of the story.
A bunch of Yankees are getting good start positions out of collecting points in the U.S. and they are unable to stay anywhere near that position in a World Cup event. Meanwhile, the Euros riding tougher races and starting behind Yankees. I generally agree. If the Yanks were collecting points then racing at about that position at a World Cup, then I don't think there would be as much complaining from other World Cup racers.
As it is, with the exception of Tim Johnson's World's ride last year, the Yanks did badly when they visited World Cups.
As a consequence of Yanks gaming UCI points, the UCI picked some rules to enforce and these series will be punished as a result.
I maintain that USAC's on it's way to killing another growing niche in the U.S. UCI wants it that way.
There are a lot of people who are upset that the points system isn't reflective of the ability of racers ... that is a different argument to the one of the series being banned, but I will address both.
First, the UCI points are skewed on BOTH sides of the pond. On the US side the races start early in the year and are full of double weekends with an occasional mid-week UCI. In the time you could race only 3 very stacked UCI's in US you could do 9 UCI races in the US at same time.
Now on the other side of the pond you have a Euro scene which last a full two month longer than the US scene, so the euro guys won't have all those points built up until a bit later in the year. On top of that you have the "World" Cup races of the UCI which have HUGELY skewed points verses other events. I mean, just getting listed in the results of a World Cup gives you 5 points. And this series is full of events that are all withing 10 hours driving (less one in Spain) with most (4) being within 2 hours of most places in Belgium.
So, yes the UCI ranking is skewed at the moment, but come the end of the year it will be balanced.
And to address the "problem" of the starting positions. How many riders have taken advantage of the better starting positions in World Cups? Very few (Johnson, Driscol, Powers) are the only ones that come to mind. Even recently it was only Johnson at the Koksijde World Cup. They aren't affecting the race any worst than other riders with a good start position.
Why gang up on the Americans when you have guys like Christoph PFINGSTEN,
http://www.uci.ch/templates/BUILTIN-NOFRAMES/Template3/layout.asp?MenuId=MTU2MTc&LangId=1, who is in the first/second row at most World Cups, comes out in the top 5 after half a lap and then goes on to finish toward the mid to back of the pack at a World Cup (27, 33, 57th). His points are from lower level events in Germany and the Czech Republic ... should they not be counted? Christoph is just one example ...
The UCI wants cycling to grow world wide, but in doing so have forgot they are a GOVERNING body and not a PROMOTING body ... they have created a mob-like system where they control the points, the rules, the value of events and give THEIR events more value to force the riders to show up. I don't think the UCI does everything wrong, but they do make some series lack of judgement at times.
Now back to the series issue. From what I know it's going to be the overall series that is banned, not the individual races. This may mean a few of them are lost, but not all of them. After their one year ban they will be back (I think it's to harsh a punishment for the series).
That's my take on the situation ...
Gregg Germer
... but is it good for our sport, yes ... because it will force Euros to do what North Americans have had to do every year; fly across the pond in search of points and help increase the level of the races. Morey did it this year (earning 182 points along the way) and I think soon enough more will follow.
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