Benotti69 said:
with the way a lot of teams are targeting the TdF (Sky, RS, Saxo) and the Palmeres is there a chance of a breakaway 'premier' league for cycling with these top teams concentrating on certain events and out of the clutches of the UCI?
Obviously UCI would continue but more like a 3 legged dog and no doubt some of the top teams ould run feeder teams whether officially or unofficially in the UCI....
I would prefer that the UCI gets cleaned out of its personel than a premier league in cycling, but i do think that ASO and pals would consider it if they haven't already...
Another legacy of LA and American fandom - the luxury of only having to key on one race in an entire season.
I only bring that at up as it relates to your post re a 'premier league' for procycling, that being the ASO (et al) races creating their own pro/elite component outside the UCI.
If ASO did something like that, they'd have to be willing to create their own governing body that covers everything the UCI does at the moment. I'm not sure they'd be willing to do that. You can be sure if they created a splinter faction, the UCI would say 'fine, f*ck you. you guys take care of all this sh*t, we're outa here'.
At the same time, developing riders would still be going through the UCI system. I can't see the UCI freely allowing riders a smooth transfer from thier system to the ASO's. We all know how cranky and vindictive the UCI can get.
I'll admit that ASO and their partners have a lot of power but until they want to create an entire system that can functionally circumvent the UCI, and fulfill all the roles the UCI does, the UCI still has the cycling world by the b*lls.
That's not say that the UCI doesn't need a good top-down gutting of personnel...