ASO lashes out at UCI

Following the announcement by UCI president Pat McQuaid that the Grand Tours will no longer be a part of the UCI ProTour for 2008, the Tour de France organiser Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) has lashed out at the sport's governing body for failing to address several of its concerns.

The ASO, which also organises the one day races Paris-Roubaix, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Paris-Tours and La Flèche Wallonne as well as the spring stage race Paris-Nice, was critical of the plans for the calendar, saying it "has not answered the ASO's legitimate expectations, for the future of the Tour de France and other events it organises."

The statement decried McQuaid's suggestion that the one-day Classics should be on a separate calendar from the ProTour, saying, "These proposals would notably create a 'European' schedule for such well known and long standing events, which are, [and] have always been included on the world calendar."

Since the breakdown of negotiations between the two organisations, the ASO said that it will turn to French Cycling Federation and the Royal Belgian Cycling Federation to "help preserve the future of these cycling Classics".

Cyclingnews' recent coverage of the ProTour-Grand Tours split

October 4, 2008 - New ASO chief to maintain values
September 26, 2008 - UCI declares peace, appoints new VP
August 30, 2008 - UCI re-signs five ProTour races
August 22, 2008 - ProTour: Bouncing back or lame duck?
August 19, 2008 - Stapleton analyses 'world calendar'
August 18, 2008 - Feedback on 'world calendar'
August 18, 2008 - UCI announces 'world calendar'

Cyclingnews' complete coverage of the ProTour-Grand Tours split