ASO buys Unipublic & Vuelta a España

by King of Doping on Jun 5, 2008 7:53 AM EDT

There will be a press conference today announcing that Amaury Sports Organisation (ASO) is going to buy 49% of Unipublic's shares. Don't worry because there will be no ban for Contador in this year's Vuelta.

Source: AS.com

This increases ASO's control of the European calendar after another company related to ASO bought the Deutschland Tour and the Vattenfall Cyclassics last year. And just to give you and idea, Unipublic was sold in 2005 for 42 M€ (65 M$?). Could RCS Sports and ASO create their own ProTour?

I just found a CyclingWeekly link

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RCS & ASO

don’t strike me as the best of friends. They might team up to box out the UCI, but the over/under on them turning on each other as soon as they finish with the UCI would be about 15 minutes.

"If writing too much about the Classics is wrong, I don't want to be right."

by Chris... on Jun 5, 2008 10:04 AM EDT 0 recs

Kaboom!

Is that McQuaid’s head exploding?

by johnw on Jun 5, 2008 10:48 AM EDT 0 recs

McQuad, Pat McQuaid

by King of Doping on Jun 5, 2008 11:33 AM EDT up 0 recs

AHHH! AHahhahhahhahhahhaahha!!!!!

Stuart O’Grady, the Australian quintiplegic, was seen still climbing to the finish line… using his lips alone.

by crashdan on Jun 5, 2008 12:29 PM EDT up 0 recs

"Prudhome, I'm coming for ya."

"I won! I won! I don't have to go to school anymore." -- Eddy Merckx, after winning his first bike race

by ELVISGOAT on Jun 5, 2008 12:49 PM EDT up 0 recs

Ok , I'm betting that picture

could even convince some hardcore NRA-members to agree on stricter gun-control laws.

by Jens on Jun 5, 2008 12:54 PM EDT up 0 recs

Okay I'll bite

I’m hoping that ASO can make the Vuelta more than the red-headed step child of a Grand Tour that it is right now.

by ursula on Jun 5, 2008 12:51 PM EDT 0 recs

I'll contribute a suggestion

A two week tour with the same amount of climbing/TT stages as the current 3 week Vuelta. Shorten the stages as they did successfully a few years ago. Pure essence, baby.

by Jens on Jun 5, 2008 12:58 PM EDT up 0 recs

does this mean...

Does this mean that we’ll get French motorcycle camerawork in September?

-Greg

by gregm on Jun 5, 2008 1:36 PM EDT 0 recs

ASO

For all their bullshit, they know how to run a race. Paris-Roubaix would be a shorter Paris-Brussels (yawn) if not for them. So assuming they don’t destroy the sport in the process, the Vuelta will probably benefit.

"If writing too much about the Classics is wrong, I don't want to be right."

by Chris... on Jun 5, 2008 1:47 PM EDT 0 recs

I agree

They certainly know how to put on a race. This strikes me as being good for the Vuelta. But, whatever ASO does, I’m sure they will ensure that it doesn’t detract from Le Tour.

My earlier comment really is about the declining importance of the UCI. McQuaid must realize that everything is slipping through his fingers. If ASO runs two out of the Big Three, does the UCI really have leverage?

by johnw on Jun 5, 2008 2:22 PM EDT up 0 recs

Saner minds must ultimately prevail

and McQuaid will be asked to leave and take the old garbage (Verbruggen) with him. Maybe then negotiations can get a fresh start. Of course the negotiating position of the UCI is so weak that they will have to accomodate the GT’s on almost any point by now.

by Jens on Jun 5, 2008 2:32 PM EDT up 0 recs

ASO vs. UCI

This is obviously bad news for pro cycling as ASO threatens to be the Microsoft of the pro peloton. I truly believe ASO is bad news for the sport as their stubbornness reigns supreme above common sense and good for all. So once ASO starts running all of the races, are they the new UCI? The UCI will effectively be a lame duck. So sad.

by jack376 on Jun 5, 2008 4:25 PM EDT 0 recs

i agree,

but the UCI has to found another system instead of Pro Tour…

by semprenaroda on Jun 5, 2008 4:43 PM EDT up 0 recs

so . . . if ASO is Microsoft

what does that make the UCI?

Tandy?

by R Mc on Jun 5, 2008 5:33 PM EDT up 0 recs

IBM

by Jimbo... on Jun 5, 2008 5:48 PM EDT up 0 recs

Fucked

by ursula on Jun 5, 2008 9:10 PM EDT up 0 recs

+1

"The most wasted day is that in which we have not laughed."

by nikki on Jun 5, 2008 9:20 PM EDT up 0 recs

I think this is great!

The consolidation of the major European races in to a singular consortium increases race promotion unification and may finally force everyone else to finally get back to their actual responsibilities.

The UCI needs to get back to officiating and regulating. It is not their responsibility to care about who is, or is not, invited to a race.
That is the promoters duty; which ultimately is about Sales & Marketing.
The UCI is fundamentally there to make sure the race and the riders act in accordance to the rules agreed upon for that race.

The WADA needs to get back to focusing on doping and out of the various witch hunts, innuendo, and outright slander it has propagated in cycling for too long. You want to catch dopers? Then, make a solid test which is backed by procedures that are stable under the most adverse conditions. If you can’t do that, or you want to allow labs to not follow their own documented procedures, then you are not really solving anything, and you are really just part of the problem.

Let the market decide about if it will be ‘ok’ in the future to leave a team like Astana out of the Tour. The promoters will react to the market, and not to some regulatory agency supported and funded by them who has repeatedly belittled and dismissed their importance to the sport as a whole.

WhoHa!

Next year is already looking really great for racing!

by Ryan_Liles on Jun 6, 2008 3:45 AM EDT 1 recs