![]() "And the IPCT is a commercial group, which generates a business: for example, sell merchandising products or find a vehicle sponsor. "The AIGCP negotiates the conditions under which the teams take part in competitions, and the work conditions with the UCI – on a sporting level," the Frenchman said. ![]() In a meeting of the AIGCP held outside Paris two days before the race start, fifteen teams voted in favour of racing while eight teams abstained.īoyer also had no understanding for the involvement of the International Professional Cycling Teams (IPCT) association in the matter, which appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in the week prior to Paris-Nice, to decide whether or not the teams could participate in the event. Which is why we had to cast a vote to race Paris-Nice, which was decided by a majority," he explained. But some of them tried to make the UCI believe that they didn't want to race under the conditions proposed by the organiser, so they changed their minds. "I don't manipulate anyone in order to make believe that he said 'yes', even though he actually said 'no'. And that wish was unanimous! When I had them on the phone, they all said they wanted to race," he insisted, referring to the decision to race Paris-Nice, which he announced late February.īut the UCI president didn't want to accept this, saying Boyer had forced the teams into that direction and alleging that the agreement had not being taken unanimously. But if I ask them 'Do you want to race Paris-Nice?', and they respond 'yes', then that's what I communicate. "I have to deal with too many team directors who speak two languages," the 44 year-old complained. But he found several team managers to be undecided about which road to take. Prior to Paris-Nice, Boyer therefore had to pull together, despite all the problems. According to their target audiences in different countries, the interests of the teams can be quite different to one another. On one hand, team managers bought a ProTour license which was to guarantee them automatic entry to the most important races – something the Grand Tour organisers are adamant about – and on the other, they have to explain this standoff situation to their sponsors, who pay them to produce high-valued media exposure. We exist to race, nothing else."īut although this sounds as if it was self-evident, it is actually the bottom line of a "very complicated, and very difficult" attempt to unite all of the 17 ProTour teams (out of 20) the AIGCP represents. We have our employers, the sponsors we have employees, the riders. Boyer, a former team-mate of Greg Lemond at Team Z in the early nineties, was firm to address the main objective of the teams, and the biggest reason they did not give in to the pressure exerted by the UCI, but chose to take the start line of the event organised by ASO: "We want to race.
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