There are several obstacles to reforming the professional cycling calendar(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Cannondale-Garmin boss Jonathan Vaughters in early-2015(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Oleg Tinkov has been waiting to get his hands on the trophy(Image credit: Getty Images)
Jean-Etienne Amaury, the ASO president, speaks at the 2013 Tour de France route presentation(Image credit: AFP Photo)
RCS Sport(Image credit: RCS Sport)
The cycling calendar has increasingly become a topic of conversation in the sport ahead of the proposed WorldTour changes for 2017 and beyond. With the stakeholders of the sport, the UCI, ASO and team managers for example, unable to decide which direction professional cycling needs to take, the sport sits in a state of flux. A byproduct of the disagreement over the calendar is an increased level of financial instability with sponsors unsure of what exactly they are signing up for.
The Velon business group have led the discussion for a season long narrative with the top riders in the sport going head-to-head every other week as one of the means to create greater stability in the sport as has Tinkoff-Saxo boss Oleg Tinkoff and Cannondale-Garmin CEO Jonathan Vaughters.
"One of the biggest things people don't understand is you say this is one of the most important races in the world right? Yes, but the winner of the Tour de France isn't here is he? No, no he's not. Well how is this a big race? That an important question," Vaughters told inCycle of the problems cycling has in attracting new fans to the sport and keeping current fans satisfied.
In this video the inCycle panel discuss the cycling calendar and whether the best cyclists should race the biggest events of the season? Do stage races and one-day races need to be separated into different categories? Are calendar reforms the solution the sport needs addressing above all others?
To watch previous inCycle season review videos and subscribe to the Cyclingnews video channel, click here
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