The State of Bicycle Racing - Part II

by John Lieswyn
(Winner, 2002 Nature Valley Grand Prix)

(See Part I here)
So, the ASO says their Tour de France and all their other marquee events will be held outside UCI rule. Is it because the UCI's late but much vaunted doping passport system isn't viewed to be strong enough? I doubt that the French Federation (FFC) can do better. It comes down to an absolute refusal to accept the UCI's system of purchasing a license and a guaranteed entry into the Grand Tours and major events. That system forced ASO and their colleagues to allow in riders whom they suspected may be involved in illegal activities, and then they were proven right as those same riders nearly destroyed their race, their livelihoods. And now the threats are reaching the level of affairs of state and potentially will embroil and tarnish parts of the sport relatively unrelated to the ASO-UCI brouhaha. Why is this important to us "Down Under"? Because we want to see our top Aussie and Kiwi riders demolish the competition at Beijing- we don't want to see the UCI suspend some of the top competitors simply because their French compatriots showed up to work one day at a non UCI sanctioned event. There may have been lots of patriotic chest pounding when the USA walked away with half a dozen cycling golds in 1984, but as a long time teammate of two of those medalists I can say they had far less pride in having beat only half the world's best.