https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles ... -innsbruck
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Richard Plugge, vice-president of the AIGCP (Association International des Groupes Cyclistes Professionels) told insidethegames:
“The teams are strongly united, and we have made this very clear to the UCI President, David Lappartient.
“This is really the last chance.
“Unless there are some changes to these proposals, we will not accept them.”
An AIGCP spokesman added: “The UCI is robbing the teams of their commercial rights while at the same time increasing the financial burden on them - it's just not sustainable.”
A meeting in Madrid on September 12 between the UCI, the teams and organisers appeared to have produced an atmosphere of accord as the reforms proposed for next year were discussed.
But a phone update from Lappartient earlier this week on the way the plans were shaping up produced a significant change of mood.
Lappartient is understood not to be pressing ahead with his floated ideas of reducing the number of teams on the men’s UCI WorldTour from 18 to 15, and reducing the number of riders in Grand Tour teams from eight to six.
The plans are also understood to involve an increase in the minimum number of riders in each WorldTour team squad, from 23 to 27.
But the key point about the teams’ wish for a new economic model, which would mean bundling rights being shared by all stakeholders, does not appear to have been addressed.
And the sticking point for the teams is the proposal to make it mandatory for teams to ride at every UCI race in order to qualify for their licence.
“Making it mandatory to compete in all races in order to earn a licence doesn’t sound like a big change, but it is,” he said.
“If we have to compete at all races, it means we have to have more riders, and we need to spend more money overall.
The Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO), organisers of the Tour de France and Vuelta, are reported to make around €60million ($70million/£54million) profit per year, with the teams claiming that they do not get a share of that.
Lappartient is due to announce his proposed reforms at the UCI’s Professional Cycling Council meeting on Monday in Innsbruck, where the UCI Road World Championships are taking place.
With six of the 12 votes coming from the UCI, and two others from event organisers, the teams are resigned to the fact that they could not vote against the plans in the meeting.
But there is speculation that, should no further alterations be forthcoming from the UCI side, the teams may consider bypassing the UCI and negotiating directly with race organisers next season.
A number of teams are also said to be considering taking the UCI to the Court of Arbitration for Sport if they feel reforms have been forced through.
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