OK, I still don't have time to do this right, but against better judgment I'm doing it anyway. ASO versus the UCI. For starters, I have no connections to big-league cycling, and really don't know what I'm talking about. I just read stuff in the cycling "press," the same as most of you, and form my own misguided opinions. Then blog about it. I try to resist, because sports fans are among the most obnoxious creatures on Earth, which is why I try to focus on being a real sportsman rather than a fan, most of the time...
Why does McQuaid have so much time to talk to cyclingnews? Simple - he has nothing else to do. The UCI is irrelevant. Until a few years ago, it appears they did nothing at all, other than go along for the ride on the backs of the race promoters. Now they do drug testing, and we've all seen what a great job they do at that. Zero competence, and even less integrity. And don't talk about being cycling's connection to the Olympics. Olympic cycling? Please. They even screwed that up too, taking out the kilo and other marquis track events in a ploy for TV ratings. Beyond that, we all know Olympics are minor compared to races like the ones ASO puts on.
Which brings us to the heart of the matter. The ASO are race promoters. Now here's a place where I might be more qualified to comment. Think of them as your local bike race organizers. They took risks, they courted sponsors, they suffered through the lean years, and lo and behold, they built the biggest, most successful, best known bike race in the world. Did the UCI contribute anything? I doubt it. How much does the USCF contribute to our local promoters? Just a little. I'd propose the ASO et al succeeded in spite of the UCI rather than because of them. So there's the problem. They succeeded.
We all know what happens to successful promoters. While when promoters have problems and bad times, racers, fans, and sanctioning bodies alike are quick to abandon them and move on to someone more attractive, when promoters succeed, ahh, that's when the fun really starts. They start getting called greedy, and everyone has their ideas about what they're doing wrong. The ASO was enormously successful, so much so that they started buying up all the other big races, and making those better too. The UCI started to realize that since it was adding practically zero value to the sport, the UCI could easily be replaced. What to do? How about form an alliance with the only other essential aspect of the sport -- the teams themselves. Let's unionize them, and strike back against these greedy, successful promoters who've worked for decades to make this sport into what it is. Our union - let's give it a catchy name like "The Pro Tour" will leverage our collective power and take a bigger slice of the promoter's hard-earned pie for ourselves. And as an added bonus, as the union organizer, the UCI will again be relevant and the drunken bureaucrats can keep their lofty positions. Hell, we've even already got Union in our name...
Fucking bullshit. Viva ASO for sticking to their guns. Promoters need more love.
All right, but what about Astana and poor Levi? Are they just pawns in the struggle, like Unibet was? I don't think so, not this time. Someone else, I forget who, has already noted this is about keeping Bruyneel out. Well, let's think about why the ASO might want to do that. We all know the dope testing system of the past decade has completely lacked integrity at all levels. Going back to the "leaked" Armstrong samples which were EPO tested years after being taken, with the alleged positive results released to the press, that was when the Armstrong/Bruyneel suddenly went from darlings to duds with the organizers of the Tour. All the Lance Lovers will have to forgive my lack of exhaustive investigation here, but hell, this isn't Cosmo's blog, so you aren't even getting a link. I'm in no better position than you to determine the validity of the test results, but we all know they were not admissible even in the kangaroo court of cycling drug control. But what about the people at the ASO? They ARE in a position to know a lot more than you, me, and the press about this matter. Maybe they're convinced the results were positive. Then throw in all the other riders linked at one time to Bruyneel who have been implicated and in some case proven to have participated in doping scandals. Like I said, I am in no position to separate the truth from the fiction here, but the ASO is.
Criminals walk away from justice every day because the evidence against them wasn't strong enough to convict. The prosecutors, victims, judges, and others close to the cases know the perp was guilty as sin, but there's nothing they can do about it. But they sure as hell don't have to invite the hoodlum over to the house for their next Grand Boucle. Thanks for reading.
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