Just days ahead of the UCI Licence Commission hearing that will decide the fate of defending Tour de France champion Vincenzo Nibali's Astana team, the Italian Cycling Federation (FIC) president Renato Di Rocco and UCI president Brian Cookson appear to have clashed over the procedure by which Astana's WorldTour licence situation has been handled, but Di Rocco denied to Cyclingnews that there is any conflict.
According to a letter obtained by Reuters, Di Rocco questioned why the UCI Management Committee, of which he is a member, were not consulted before the UCI recommended the Licence Commission revoke Astana's WorldTour status.
"In all the mentioned cases (Olympics, women cycling) we, as management committee members, have been directly involved," Di Rocco wrote. "However, concerning the Licence Commission withdrawal of Astana this procedure was not followed. On Feb. 27 we had received only a press release which informed us the UCI requested the withdrawal of the Astana pro team (World Tour) license."
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Di Rocco seemed to suggest that Cookson was taking a unilateral approach rather than allowing the Licence Commission to make its own decisions. "We have always sustained the Licence Commission is, and must be, autonomous and independent. Why in this case does the Licence Commission not act independently?" Di Rocco wrote.
Cookson then responded, according to Reuters, explaining that the proper procedures were followed, and that the discussions had taken place between the members of the Executive Committee after a review the audit performed on Astana by the University of Lausanne Sports Institute (ISSUL) uncovered differences between Astana's licence application and the audit results.
“I’ve seen the reports in the media but there’s no dispute between myself and Brian Cookson," Di Rocco told Cyclingnews' Stephen Farrand. "I don’t know how the letters emerged in public, they didn’t come from me. It’s only a dialogue between people who are part of the same organisation. We write to each about once a week about lots of aspects. Obviously at the moment the Astana case is all over the news but I think we have a normal open dialogue. In my letter I perhaps evaluated the Astana case in a different way to Brian but I think it’s a contribution.”
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