New UCI president, same old problems for the WorldTour. The season-long series that David Lappartient inherits from Brian Cookson is bloated, convoluted and failing to capture the imagination of the cycling watching public in any meaningful way, while teams and organisers are rarely on the same page. But what does the new man in the hot seat in Aigle propose to do about it?
For the duration of Cookson’s presidency, the WorldTour stakeholders – the UCI, the race organisers, the teams, and the riders – were locked in a seemingly interminable round of talks on reform, based around vague concepts of growth and stability. They came out the other end with a WorldTour inexplicably expanded to an unwieldy 37 events, but at a continuing impasse regarding pressing issues such as revenue sharing.
Into the breach steps Lappartient, who deposed Cookson at the UCI Congress in Bergen in September. The Frenchman’s cordial ties with ASO mean that the governing body’s relationship with the Tour de France should be less adversarial than at any point over the past 20 years – but can that help to build a commercially successful top flight structure? And do Lappartient’s pledges of increased stability extend to the Women’s WorldTour and its teams?
ADVERTISEMENT
Cyclingnews spoke with the new incumbent on his vision for the WorldTour.
Cyclingnews: To your mind, what is the purpose of the WorldTour, and is it fit for that purpose in its current format?
David Lappartient: For me, the WorldTour – or the ProTour, as it was before – was implemented with the idea of having a worldwide sport, because cycling was more focused in Europe. I think it was a good idea to make cycling a more worldwide sport, and I think we now have some stronger teams and organisers, and the salary for riders is much better. So cycling is more important, more widespread and more worldwide than in the past, but I think that the economic model of our sport is still not very strong.
Grand Tour Plans
The future of women's cycling
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://ift.tt/2iL343e
No comments:
Post a Comment