AIGCP Urges UCI to Embrace WorldTour Reform to Drive Sustainable Growth

Calls for team voices to be heard in decision making & for all stakeholders to maintain current rights

La Motte-Servolex, France – 28 August 2018

The International Association of Professional Cycling Teams (AIGCP) – which represents 17 WorldTour Teams and 27 Pro-Continental Teams - has called on the international cycling federation (UCI) to adapt its draft reform plans, due to be considered by UCI Management Committee on 28 September, to ensure a more sustainable future for professional Road Cycling.

The AIGCP membership is aligned in its call for the reform to offer the much needed change to the current economic model, which underpins the top tiers of men’s professional road racing.

Professional road cycling’s economical model is currently recognised to contain many flaws, and has led to a fragile position for many teams, their riders, and race organisers - both in the first and second tier. Ultimately, cycling is currently far from achieving its full potential.

For decades, the governing body and cycling as a whole have not been able to address this properly and put measures in place which would enable cycling to reach its full potential.

Iwan Spekenbrink, President of the AIGCP and Chief Executive Officer at Team Sunweb said:

"The teams have expressed that the need to start creating a sustainable and viable economic model is a key priority today. They believe that building a stable and flourishing sport is the necessary step to be able to tackle cycling’s biggest issues - from increased investments in safety, anti-doping, and fan-engagement, to offering the much needed secure future for cycling’s stakeholders in the two top tiers. Ultimately, we want to see pro cyclists and other stakeholders enjoy an improved economic position which is more comparable with their counterparts in global sports of similar potential."

The professional teams believe that the UCI today has a great opportunity to lay the foundations for an improved economic model with the creation of true reform. Therefore, the AIGCP is committed to working with the UCI to offer expert knowledge on how to maximise the sport’s commercial and fan engagement opportunities and, if the right reforms are embraced, it is hopeful of growing cycling to new levels.

Last Friday, 24 August, the teams gathered in Malaga, Spain for AIGCP’s General Assembly. The teams expressed that while the start of a true economic reform is a key objective, it will take time for stability and growth to be realized. The WorldTour and Pro-Continental teams therefore demand that the new reform may in no way mean teams and other stakeholders are placed in vulnerable or less beneficial positions than at present day.

Cycling remains one of the very few global sports where the teams, and their riders, have effectively no say in how the professional top tiers are being run. Ultimately, cycling’s governing body UCI retains the exclusive control over the professional arm of the sport. For cycling to overcome the fragile economic model it has today and to realise sustainable growth, it’s a necessity for teams and organisers to be empowered to help drive the growth of the sport. Teams, organisers, their sponsors and partners have huge experience and have a proven track record in maximising revenues, growing commercial opportunities and engaging fans.

Richard Plugge, Vice President of the AIGCP and Team Director at Team LottoNL–Jumbo, added:

"The AIGCP wants to work with the UCI to help the sport grow, and to do so the teams and riders need the ability to maximise all opportunities available to them, and bring their expertise to the UCI. We want to be the perfect solution provider for the UCI and work with it, not against it. If cycling is able to modernize its approach as has been done successfully in many other global sports, then the much needed Reform can become reality, which will create sustainable growth for all stakeholders.

"If you look at well-functioning global sports, success has been found in a model where the professional stakeholders have a voice in how the professional leagues are run. Those sports are all examples that show how a sport can grow hugely, both in popularity and revenue, by empowering those who bring the sport alive to work alongside the governing body, and we want to do the same with cycling. We are eager to work with the UCI on this. Teams, their riders, and race organisers bring the necessary expertise which have been largely ignored in the history of our sport. Presently, cycling is a sleeping giant with a big professional potential and we want to wake him up."

-ENDS-

About AIGCP

The International Association of Professional Cycling Teams (AIGCP) represents 17 WorldTour Teams and 27 Pro-Continental Teams. Based in La Motte-Servolex, France the organisation is the only official recognised body that represents the interests and needs of professional cycling teams. In spite of this, AIGCP does not currently have representation within the UCI’s decision-making structure.

For more information

Tom Lloyd

VERO Communications

tloyd@verocom.co.uk

+44 207 812 6589 / +44 7824 807 743

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