Cycling Column: UCI President Pat McQuaid may find out today if the organisers of cycling's three biggest stage races - the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a España - will participate in the ProTour next season or withdraw from the series. The race organisers had a meeting in Paris yesterday to decide their strategy. They have called a press conference for today, at which it is possible either an ultimatum will be given or they will announce their decision to pull out.
Disagreement has existed for several months between the UCI and the race organisers over conditions relating to the ProTour, a new superleague comprising 20 teams and 27 top-ranked events, which was introduced at the beginning of the 2005 season.
This tension was heightened at the recent unveiling of the route for the 2006 Tour de France, when criticism of the UCI by the Tour organisers led to dialogue being broken off between the two sides.
The race organisers' main disagreement relates to their accusation that the ProTour is a closed series, with no system of promotion and relegation.
McQuaid says this is not an issue, pointing out that many licences are up for renewal over the next few years and new teams can therefore apply.
Even if today's press conference announces an official withdrawal from the ProTour, McQuaid has said the series will continue regardless.
The ProTour would, however, certainly lose prestige if it doesn't include all of cycling's biggest events.
The organisers of the three so-called Grand Tours also run many other events such as Paris-Nice, Paris Roubaix and the Dauphiné Libéré. Replacements would be found for these should they withdraw but, in the short term at least, new races would lack the history and tradition of the others.
Ireland has three riders on ProTour teams. However, the Cofidis team of Nicolas Roche plus the AG2R squad of Mark Scanlon and Philip Deignan would be relatively unaffected if there is a split on the ProTour issue, as both French squads should still get invites to the Tour de France and other races.
