The Professional Cycling Council (PCC), meeting in Florence, has agreed to submit stakeholder working group proposals for major reforms of professional cycling to the UCI Management Committee.
The working group proposals follow on from consultations via the ‘common ground’ of 2011 and 2012, as well as the Deloitte UCI Stakeholder Consultation, A Bright Future for Cycling, carried out earlier this year.
The project also takes into account the recommendations of an ongoing study carried out by the Institute of Sports Sciences of the University of Lausanne (ISSUL), in cooperation with the UCI and professional teams, which analysed the organisation and culture in pro cycling teams.
If approved by Management Committee, the reforms will start to come into effect in 2015 and be completed by 2020, after a progressive implementation plan has been put in place.
During the meeting, the PCC approved the project which, among other reforms, proposed creating a First and Second Division, with fewer riders in each team and fewer racing days each year for the riders. Further the current annual sporting assessment would be replaced by an automatic promotion/relegation mechanism and the season would be ideally scheduled to take place during a more compact period of the year (between February and October).
Among the main principles, the races would be selected based on a number of criteria, including that they did not overlap; there would be with racing every weekend (in particular on Sundays) and there would be six weeks of continuous competition for the Spring classic .
The PCC approved the funding for a project which would see the creation of UCI – Rider relations manager position as of 2015, and as recommended by the Deloitte Stakeholder Consultation report recommendations.
The PCC also approved the 2014 WorldTour calendar, which will see the season finish with the Tour of Beijing between October 10-14.
The PCC exceptionally granted a request from the Giro d’Italia organizers for a third rest day immediately after the transfer from Ireland to Italy during the 2014 edition, and for the race to start on Friday. This was approved subject to the minimum needs of teams and riders being met.
The meeting, which was taking place alongside the 2013 UCI Road World Championships, was opened by UCI Regime President Pat McQuaid and chaired by PCC President Joop Atsma.
UCI Communication Services
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