Ceasefire reached in Brussels

Rolf Aldag (l)

Rolf Aldag (l) (Image credit: Shane Stokes)

Last night in Brussels concluded peace talks between Grand Tour organizers and the UCI ProTour, held at the insistence of the International Professional Cycling Teams (IPCT), an economic interest group of the ProTour teams. A ceasefire was called, and, although the details are still vague, cycling will continue with the running of the Paris-Nice, starting this Sunday.

"The present agreement has the aim of amicably settling the disagreement which is affecting professional cycling," read an IPCT release.

UCI President Pat McQuaid had threatened to punish any ProTour team taking part in the "Race to the Sun" after race organizers, ASO, established its own selection criteria and requested the French Cycling Federation (FFC) to take over race regulation.

"We are going to ride Paris-Nice," said IPCT Chairman Patrick Lefevere to Reuters following a meeting of seven hours. "We have a consensus for the moment that we can live with."

Rolf Aldag, Team Manager of ProTour team T-Mobile, was pleased with the news. He commented on the team's website, t-mobile-team.com, "We are happy that a solution has been found that will benefit cycling."

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

Thank you for reading 5 articles in the past 30 days*

Join now for unlimited access

Enjoy your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1

*Read any 5 articles for free in each 30-day period, this automatically resets

After your trial you will be billed £4.99 $7.99 €5.99 per month, cancel anytime. Or sign up for one year for just £49 $79 €59

Join now for unlimited access

Try your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1