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10 December 2005

Grand Tour Organizers Press Release, 10 December ...
11 December News ...

Grand Tour Organizers Say "Ciao" to ProTour

The Grand Tour organizers are leaving and taking their races with them. Yesterday in Paris the Grand Tour organizers, RCS (Giro d'Italia), ASO (Tour de France) and Unipublic (Vuelta a España), announced that their races would not participate in the ProTour for 2006. The Grand Tour organizers also stated that they would be taking other races they operate with them, a list that includes many famed classics: Paris-Nice, Tirreno-Adriatico, Milano-Sanremo, Paris-Roubaix, La Flèche Wallonne, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Paris-Tours and Giro di Lombardia. (read the Grand Tour Organizers Press Release, 10 December

A tidal wave has been building between the UPTC and the organizers of the Grand Tours since last year, but had gathered strength after the Tour de France route announcement in October. The main concern of the Grand Tour organizers is losing control of their historic races to the newly formed UPTC. ASO and RCS Sport lead the charge against the UPTC, and for good reason, they organize a large number of cycling's famed races.

You can imagine that the UCI ProTour Council (UPTC) must be doubled-over with pain because their ProTour project has now lost significance. UCI President, Pat McQuaid, continued to put up a tough front, "The organizers need to come off their fence and make compromises, or no progress can be made." The Irishman, echoed the hard-line attitude of UPTC President, Vittorio Adorni, who a month ago (10 November, Brussels) threatened to kick the Grand Tours out of the ProTour calendar if they did not meet the UPTC's demands.

Patrice Clerc, president of ASO, does not believe in the potential of the newly formed ProTour. "Maintaining for 2006 the agreement we had for 2005, in other words a status quo, does not make sense because the situation was only a transition aimed at reaching an overall agreement in the ProTour, which the UCI are now saying they will not come up with," said Clerc, representing the other Grand Tour organizers.

So what does this mean for the 2006 Grand Tours? They will now have greater freedom at accepting or rejecting wild-card teams. Also, to encourage participation, the organizers have stated they will offer a trophy for the overall team winner of all three Grand Tours (€600,000 to the winner and €2 million overall). There will also be an appearance fund (valued at €100,000) for teams that participate in all three races.

Now we can await a reaction from the UPTC, who will need to beef up their schedule if they wish to keep the white ProTour jersey a worthy goal. Hopefully both sides will work out an ideal solution that is good for the teams and riders, as well as the overall growth of the sport of cycling. As they say in Italy, "Vediamo". Keep your browser locked to BiciRace.com for more updates.

Read:
Grand Tour Organizers Press Release, 10 December
Giro Organizers Make Hand Gestures towards UPTC, 28 November
ProTour Council Says No to Semi-Stages (and Ghisallo), 16 November
UPTC says End of Year for Grand Tour Organizers, 15 November
2006 Giro d'Italia Route Unfolded, 12 November
2006 Tour de France Route Revealed, 27 October

Quick-Step Train in Bari

Quick-Step will train in southern Italy from 12 to 16 December. The entire Blue-Grey Belgium squadra will base themselves in Bari (Puglia) while getting in some warm training.

Affairs kick off on Monday, when Tom Boonen and Paolo Bettini hold a press conference at Bari's city hall. Following a question and answer session the World Champion, Boonen, and the rest of the boys will line up for press photos. The five days will be an important time for the new members to introduce themselves. Over the winter the team took on some big names, including: Francesco Chicchi, Matteo Tosatto (from Fassa Bortolo), Juan Manuel Gárate (from Saunier Duval-Prodir), José Rujano (from Selle Italia-Colombia, after Giro 2006) and Serge Baguet (from Davitamon-Lotto).

Read:
In The 2006 Quick-Step Mix, 22 October

Olympic Torch by Bettini

Paolo Bettini, 2004 Olympic Road Race champion, will be one of the torchbearers for the Torino winter Olympics. The touch is making its way from Roma to Torino for the upcoming Olympics (10 February). Il Grillo's day with the touch will come on 13 December at 14:00 near his home town of Cecina in Livorno.

The Olympic champion will carry the torch while on his bike, over a route of 5K from Fattoria Carli to Piazza Libertà, then to Cecina (Toscana). Bettini is dusting off the Time bike he used to win Olympic gold in Athens over one year ago, he will use this machine for the procession.

"To carry the Olympic torch is a huge honor," explained Il Grillo. "I will ride in my region, where I became the racer that I am today. The Olympics still remain the most prestigious victories of my career."

Read:
Di Luca and Bettini Awarded, 29 November
Bettini Plans Early Season for Flanders, 1 December

Kirchen Rules Luxembourg

Kim Kirchen has been voted Luxembourg's sportsman of the year by his countries sporting press. The Fassa Bortolo rider was nominated along with Fränk Schleck (Team CSC) and Benoît Joachim (Discovery Channel). The honor was bestowed on Kirchen for his overall win of Tour de Pologne (plus stage 7), stage 4 of Settimana Coppi e Bartali, GP Chiasso and Trofeo Laigueglia. Next year look for Kirchen winning in the pink colors of T-Mobile.

Read:
The Coming and Goings of T-Mobile, 5 October
Kirchen, Mazzoleni and Honchar to T-Mobile, 24 August

9 December News ...