ProTour heading East?

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Russian cycling federation president Alexander Gusyatnikov(Image credit: Shane Stokes)

With the Tour de France and other three week races no longer part of the ProTour, some are questioning the future of the series. However there are strong indications of interest from other areas, with Russia being very heavily involved. That country's cycling federation president Alexander Gusyatnikov spoke to Cyclingnews' Shane Stokes recently about the plans for a new ProTour team and also the Tour of Sochi, which will begin in May 2009.

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On Tuesday's Tour de France rest day in Pau the team currently known as Tinkoff Credit Systems will hold a press conference to announce details of its plans for 2009. Riders such as Gert Steegmans and Filippo Pozzato have been tipped in the media as having already signed, while the team is known to be chasing other big-name riders. A large increase in budget is expected, as well as a change in the title sponsor and the taking-out of a ProTour license.

"This is all very important for Russian cycling," he said, referring to the developments. "Put it this way - previously, in Russia there was no top-level team and race, and when our children come into the sport, they have no idea, no goal to chase after. If a boy comes to play hockey, he says to himself, "I want to be Fetisov, I want to be in the NHL" or "I want to join the Central Army Sport Club team in Moscow". Those children know where they want to be. The same applies for basketball.

"But in cycling there was nothing like that...they say "I want to be a professional, I want to go to Italy". This is wrong for a child who just started riding, who is very interested in the bicycle itself, not as sport but as fun. When he starts riding he becomes interested in cycling as sport and he needs to be able to see the heights to strive for. There was none [a ProTour level structure] in Russia before, but now we are trying to build it."

The Tinkoff professional continental team has been competing in some of the sport's biggest races in Europe for the past two seasons but all the indications now are that it is stepping up a gear. Cyclingnews contacted the team's general manager Stefano Feltrin in recent days to confirm the talk about the team's expansion. And while the Italian said that he couldn't give precise details in advance of the press conference in Pau on Tuesday, he did indicate that there would be considerable changes in 2009.

"Personally, I'd like there to be two big teams. One of these is confirmed as being ProTour next year while we are in negotiations about the second one. It is important to note that the [ProTour] team won't be called Tinkoff. That company will be involved, but the title sponsor itself is still not decided. Such structures as Gazprom, Itera, Gazprom Bank and Rosbank are possiblities. Rosbank is very interested, since French Bank Societe Generale has a share with it now [it is a majority shareholder - ed.].

At that point in time, Gusyatnikov said that negotiations were ongoing. Tuesday's press conference will give more details, but it's almost certain the title sponsor will have been finalised now. "They are all united by Itera, because the ideologist is Itera," he previously told Cyclingnews at that meeting in Moscow. "For eight years now it has been sponsoring the Russian Cycling Federation and, so to say, sponsors all the national teams of Russia.

Gusyatnikov said that more information would be released during the Tour. Talking in June, he told Cyclingnews some of those that they were chasing. "Of course we negotiate with [Denis] Menchov, [Vladimir] Karpets, the Efimkin brothers, with those Russian sportsmen who already have some achievements. And if we talk about foreign riders - about half of those in the top ten in the world have already contacted us to enquire if there is a team and to speak about possible contracts. It is known that the team is being formed and initiative should be shown."

"Of course, we can't do this without looking at the other levels," he said. "Building a team and "launching" it is the easiest thing. We just need money and a sponsor, who in turn gets his profit - that's all. But what is important is to build a pyramid, which will include continental teams...for a country like Russia and with the number of cyclists here, we need to have four to five of those teams, that would be perfect.

For many years the area has hosted the GP Sochi, a 2.2 race which was held in April of this year. This will remain, with a new event in the same area being added to the highest rung of the calendar. "Sochi has been having its own race for the last 55 years. We are going to leave it there and have this ProTour race separately," Gusyatnikov said. "The plan this year is to have a trial race, running from the 10th - 14th of September. Then next year the new [ProTour] race will be held.

The first indications are positive ones. "Charly Mottet and Alain Rumpf came over to see the course," said Gusyatnikov. "They were very impressed. Charly Mottet said, "ah, Paris-Nice!" when he saw it. The route goes along the coast, along a rather straight, undulating road. It makes it very interesting. Two stages will be flat while the other three will be harder. One finish will be in the Ahun mountain, with another will be in Krasnaya Polyana, the centre of the future Olympic Games. We plan to finish there on the Olympic Square, where the award presentation ceremony for the Winter Olympics will take place.

"The first two-three years will be the most difficult to carry out the race, because those lateral roads, that we plan to have, haven't been built yet and there is only one road on the coast for now. This will, of course, create a problem for the local people, but I hope they will understand us. Once those roads have been finished, we will consider the length of the race; for now it will remain at five days, but that could change."

When asked how this drive came about, he gave three reasons. "The first is that somebody in the government decided that we should take this direction, this is very important for the government. Putin stressed the importance of cycling in Russia, and so it took off. In addition to that, this very year is the 125th anniversary of cycling in Russia. We are counting from 1883, when the first cycling race took place on July 24th in Moscow.

The current climate within cycling is an uncertain one, with the Grand Tour organisers pulling away from the ProTour and also other teams such as Liquigas and Cofidis not renewing their licences. However, with Russian, British and Australian teams expected to take out their own ProTour licences in the near future - and with events outside Europe being added to that calendar - a globalisation is certainly starting to take place.

Critics of the ProTour series claim that the withdrawal of some of the sport's flagship events makes it less relevant than before. The UCI counter this by saying that the worldwide development of the sport is now the priority, and that cycling needs to expand outside Europe in order to continue to grow. Time will tell how successful this push will be, but indications are that cycling in Russia has a very strong future ahead.

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