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By Julien Pretot
AIGLE, Switzerland, March 7 - Teams that take part
in the Paris-Nice cycle race starting on Sunday will eventually
be "worked out" of the International Cycling Union (UCI), UCI
president Pat McQuaid said on Friday.
"The UCI has made it quite clear to the teams that they
needed to be aware of the decision they make," McQuaid told
Reuters in an interview.
"If they decide to go with (Paris-Nice organisers) ASO they
have firmly taken the decision to be out of the UCI. We will
work them out of the UCI."
Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO), who also organise the Tour
de France, and the UCI have been at odds over the Tour
organisers' refusal to join the UCI ProTour due to a dispute
over who competes in their events.
"The ProTour system as it is today is completely bombed,"
McQuaid said.
"We'd start on a new system with the teams, organisers and
cyclists who wish to respect the regulations of the UCI," he
said of what would happen if teams were to be kicked out.
"What is at stake is the authority and the autonomy of the
UCI."
The week-long Paris-Nice race was dropped from the UCI's
showcase ProTour calendar over the dispute with ASO but the
organisers, in agreement with the teams and the French Cycling
Federation (FFC), decided the event would go ahead outside UCI
regulations
RISKING SANCTIONS
The FFC, its president Jean Pitallier and Eric Boyer, the
president of the Association of Professional Cycling Teams
(AIGCP), all face disciplinary proceedings because of their
backing of the event, the UCI said in a statement on Friday.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) was expected to
rule later on Friday on the dispute.
Leading teams have asked CAS if they could ride in the race
without risking sanctions from the sport's governing body.
The move to bring in CAS was made by the International
Professional Cycling Teams (IPCT), which groups teams competing
in the UCI ProTour with the exception of Francaise des Jeux.
ProTour rules state that any member team has a guaranteed
place in the biggest races of the season while ASO and Tour of
Spain (Vuelta) organisers Unipublic and Giro d'Italia organisers
RCS want to choose the teams participating in their races.
The row between ASO and the UCI intensified last month when
ASO said Astana, the team of last year's Tour de France winner
Alberto Contador of Spain, would be barred from all events they
organise, including the 2008 Tour, because of its implication in
doping scandals.
RCS, organisers of the Giro among other races, are also in
dispute with the UCI and sports events director Angelo Zomegnan
said he sympathised with ASO.
"I understand the ASO position because we are in the last
period of a long match between the UCI and organisers," he told
Reuters.
"We can't accept the abuse from the UCI anymore. It is not
my goal to know if Pat McQuaid is unhappy with us. We are
unhappy with him. The teams and riders are against McQuaid."
(Writing by Patrick Vignal, additional reporting by Mark
Meadows; editing by Miles Evans)