It is with great interest that I, and perhaps many in cycling, have read the latest UCI media blasts about the state of the nation. In cycling, that is. According to the UCI, the sport of cycling is robust.
Clubs are growing in numbers, budgets are bigger for continental, pro-continental and pro-tour teams, and salaries have grown 30% in 3 years.
On reflection, when considering my own career and the state of cycling at that time, I would have to conclude that I disagree.
Yes, the figures look good. But teams and races alike are struggling. In fact, a rider used to be able to forge a successful and lucrative career in the many smaller European teams that operated in my day.
There were so many more of them and so many more races.
Interesting, too, are the current difficulties some race organizers are facing at the moment.
Global economic problems aside, the sport would appear to be in crisis given the difficulties race organisers are having in raising funds. Races with historic pedigrees as old as the sport itself are in trouble.
In Spain, some events look like falling over due to a lack of sponsors.
Despite the anomalies, the UCI is continuing to push the globalisation envelope, and in so doing, crowding the season, making it more and more competitive for the organisers of traditional races to gain access for the pro tour licenses that guarantee an event’s success.
Resources are limited for the teams and race organisers: riders are complaining, sponsors are withdrawing. Yet, a second pro-tour licensed event has been announced in China.
According to rumour, perhaps fact, the UCI is generating huge amounts of funds from these new events.
Additionally, this event is also being organised by the UCI.
One has to question where the money is going and at the same time the direction in which the UCI is taking the sport. Is it for the best?
Hopefully funds raised will trickle back to the struggling events and the struggling clubs.
History, unfortunately, shows that any funding at the top level of sports management and infrastructure tends not to filter down to the local and club level.
The UCI report is also interesting in light of the difficulties that Bob Stapleton had in his failed attempts at trying to capture sponsors for his world number one team, HTC Highroad. In these global times, the team could not run as a financially viable business entity.
This could shed some light on why teams are considering races other than UCI organised events, where they get a share of the profit.
The successful Leopard Trek would have faced the same peril if owner Flavio Becca didn’t save face and join forces with Radioshack. With names like Schleck and Cancellera on his payroll, it would have been a blow to the business egos if the marriage between the teams didn’t occur.
Additionally, it is hoped the marriage is a long lasting one and doesn’t suffer the fate of many new relationships given the strong egos involved.
In Australia, we have seen unprecedented growth in cycling over the last generation. I take some pride in where we are at the moment, but I also have grave doubts over the direction of the sport globally and locally.
GreenEDGE may be pushing into the global cycling market, but the likelihood of an all-Australian team succeeding in the short term is remote given the current economic conditions.
Sponsors are hard to find and the UCI has determined a very high price tag for a team to purchase a pro-tour license.
The conditions are tough for a team to satisfy the stringent UCI requirements, with teams and riders spread very thin indeed, and it would seem many are unhappy, looking to other options.
Perhaps the UCI is taking some positive steps in generating interest in the sport in China.
But the question remains: is this for China or the UCI, and how is cycle racing being developed in China below the world tour level?
On the World Tour circuit there is little room for new teams, wild card entries, out-of-the-blue shocks, or brave new talents.
There is only an expectation of drama, drug scandals, extraordinary delays in resolving them, and threats that a team that has been allowed to race or trade with a rider under investigation should now lose its license given the banning of that rider.
How is it possible that a team like Saxo Bank should face such uncertainty?
Surely a license should not have been granted, or points accumulated by Alberto Contador not included in the licensing process, while Contador was under drug investigation.
I suspect it is high time that the UCI took a step back from the accolades that they dole out to themselves and take a long hard look at the sport that I love and reconsider their current strategies.
The sport is booming, but where?
Perhaps the UCI, Cycling Australia, and GreenEDGE have got it wrong. Maybe we should be focusing on generating passion and local support for our Australian riders here in Australia.
A pro-tour race in Australia is a start, but our best local riders can’t race in the Tour Down Under unless they are in a pro-tour team.
Our best local team, the winner of the National Road Series each year, can’t race in the Tour Down Under for political reasons.
Surely the team that wins the national road season here in Australia should automatically qualify to ride in the Tour Down Under.
It is great to see GreenEDGE men’s team receive their first European win. A win is a win and a great boost for a team’s confidence.
Hopefully other podiums will follow and the press will give more than a passing mention of the women’s team, which is currently outperforming the men in terms of results.
This is first in a new series of columns for The Roar by Phil Anderson, a former Australian professional racing cyclist and the first non-European to wear the yellow jersey at the Tour de France.
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