McQuaid defends UCI’s role as Tour of Beijing looms

The bitter war over race radios has overshadowed other simmering issues, such as the question of whether it’s appropriate for the UCI to get into the race ownership game in the first place.

Pro races have traditionally been funded and organized by private companies looking to make money off sponsorships and TV rights or or non-profit entities underwriting a race budget to promote a region for tourism or business development. Early races were often used as marketing tools to drive newspaper sales, but many of those races, such as the Dauphiné Libéré or Midi Libre, have either been swallowed up by ASO or closed altogether.

In Europe, the top end of the sport is dominated by the Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) and RCS Sport, two privately-owned media conglomerates which own or control most of the major European races between them.

ASO owns the Tour de France, part of the Vuelta a España as well as Paris-Nice, the Critérium du Dauphiné and other one-day classics such as Paris-Roubaix and Liege-Bastogne-Liege, among others, while RCS Sport owns the Giro d’Italia, Tirreno-Adriatico and Milan-San Remo.

The UCI has often been at loggerheads with these two powerful media groups. The protracted battle over the ProTour project dating back to 2005 was seen in large part by ASO and RCS Sport as a run at their profits by the UCI as well as an attempt to take control of their properties.

Under a cease-fire reached in late 2008, which saw the exit of contentious ASO boss Patrice Leclerc, tempers have cooled considerably between cycling’s governing body and ASO and RCS Sport. The UCI has since redirected its efforts beyond Europe to target potentially lucrative projects in the developing world.

McQuaid said the UCI is not looking to erode the power of the major European race organizers, and said the UCI is using its clout and influence to enter emerging markets that do not have a traditional cycling background, but represent potentially huge, untapped markets for sponsorship, promotion and talent.

“In the long-term, it’s not just one project. There will be more projects in the coming years,” McQuaid said. “We are looking primarily at the BRIC countries – Brazil, Russia, India, China – because these are the four strongest, growing economies in the world. The UCI should have a presence in these countries. They have growing economies, with huge populations, with huge potential for sponsors, for talent, and potential to promote the current team sponsors in much bigger markets. It makes sense from that point of view.”

According to McQuaid, Chinese officials approached the UCI after the 2008 Olympic Summer Games with the idea of promoting a stage race in and around the Olympic facilities.

The UCI has since tapped ASO to help run the technical, nuts-and-bolts operational side of the race this week in Beijing.

“It makes logical sense to have (ASO) run the race,” McQuaid said. “The European pros expect a level of expertise they see in Europe on a daily basis. When you transfer the peloton to a country like China, it just doesn’t work with local officials. You have to have officials around the race who are used to working at that level.”

With ASO and the teams on board, it looks like the UCI’s first foray into race promotion could be a success. Who or what that Tour of Beijing ends up serving remains to be seen.

FILED UNDER: News / Road TAGS: Pat McQuaid / Tour of Beijing / UCI

Andrew Hood

Hood cut his journalistic teeth at Colorado dailies before the web boom opened the door to European cycling in the mid-1990s. Hood's covered every Tour since 1996 and has been VeloNews' European correspondent since 2002. He lives in Leon, Spain, when he's not chasing bike races.

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