McQuaid: Astana application was late

By Shane Stokes

“Quite simply, they haven’t followed the regulations,” said UCI President Pat McQuaid when Cyclingnews contacted him on Thursday evening. “They [Astana] didn’t get their information in on time. It is as simple as that. The regulations are there for all the teams to follow. They know the times, they know the dates, they know what they need to get in and the correct paperwork wasn’t in on time.”

Marc Biver and the rest of those concerned are disappointed by the decision, but it seems they do have a second chance. “They have a recourse, yes,” said McQuaid, when questioned about this. “They can ask to meet the license commission. It sits again on the 7th of December and they can ask to meet it again then. And if they wish, they can also go to CAS.”

“From our point of view, we must follow the regulations because there is more than one team involved. It is not as if there is only one team applying for a license, after all. If we break the regulations for one and then don’t let the others into the ProTour, you understand what can happen then. The same rules are there for everybody and, as I said, they didn’t follow the rules.”

McQuaid confirmed that the holding companies for both Unibet and Barloworld have submitted their applications and these have moved forward for consideration by the UCI.