A good day's work

Saying the wrong thing at the wrong time has become a bit of a speciality amongst the many political actors in the great drama that is professional road cycling, writes Philip Gomes.

Saying the wrong thing at the wrong time has become a bit of a speciality amongst the many political actors in the great drama that is professional road cycling but none appear to do it better than International Cycling Union (UCI) President Pat McQuaid.

In a meeting with the AIGCP (Association International des Groupes Cyclistes Professionels), reported in Cyclingnews, the ever colourful McQuaid laid out the caste system for those who may have been under the mistaken impression the whole arrangement should include their input.

"They don't realise what their place is. In this sport and in most other international sports, you have an international authority and international federation that is the government and governance of the sport and regulates the sport. Organisers in our sport organise events, teams have riders who ride races," said McQuaid.

"I think what's going on here is the teams want to take other roles. They want to be in roles of governance as well. They can't do that. It doesn't happen anywhere. When FIFA changed the offside rule six or seven yeas ago, they didn't ask the teams. They did it because they felt it was good for football."

Yep, let 'em eat cake. Can you imagine any chief executive of any other organisation showing such open contempt for the people who sustain the sport he/she governs?

Of course McQuaid is being disingenuous in his 'it doesn't happen anywhere' myopia, because it does. As I've commented on before, there is Professional Tennis, where the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) effectively runs the sport.

Then there is the International Tennis Federation (ITF), the recognised world governing body - but how often do you hear from that organisation outside of the Davis Cup, Federation Cup (women), Olympics and global grassroots development for which it is responsible?

Do most Tennis fans know who runs the ITF? Are they regularly entertained by the latest thought bubbles to emerge from its top executives? Of course not. The ITF has a certain role to play in the sport. One I would strongly argue the UCI should be modelled after.

Imagine that? A global sporting organisation that takes a back seat to the athletes and event organisers who run the professional side of the sport. Impossible in Pat McQuaid's world.

The problem as I see it is that McQuaid judges himself and his organisation as the 'star' of professional road cycling, the straw that stirs the drink, the life of the party - not the riders, who are in fact the real stars of the sport and whom he places at the bottom of the caste system.

And what of the second most important actors in this ongoing drama? The sponsors, to whom the teams, and not UCI, are indebted? No mention.

McQuaid always seeks to place himself at the center of events when his role should be that of quiet governor.

But McQuaid may have met his match, with men like Jonathan Vaughters and Johan Bruyneel prepared to stand up and be counted. Love them or loathe them - and there is a lot of both to go around if you read the forums - Vaughters and Bruyneel represent some of the future thinking for the sport. On balance both are serious men, have considered views born of real experience on the ground and neither like being taken for fools.

And both are point men in what is clearly a power struggle in the sport, with the seemingly minor issue of race radios precipitating these regular meltdowns by McQuaid. I for one hope they continue to agitate for change.

"The heart of the matter lies in that the UCI continually pretends that the teams and the riders are not key players in cycling," said Bruyneel in a recent blog post.

"There is a serious lack of respect and the teams are treated in an authoritarian way. It appears as if the UCI's main objective is to take away any single one of the teams' initiatives. What we see is that the policy of the UCI is very predictable. In an open letter to the riders, they have attempted to pit the riders against the management of the teams. That has been very badly received, both by riders and teams.

"We have never declared war against the UCI. Those words come only from Pat McQuaid. In addion, we have never used the words 'break-away league' either. That term also comes from Pat McQuaid.

"As teams we advocate for the governance of the UCI. But we do believe that professional cycling must be a special branch within the UCI. This includes a structure in which the stakeholders (including organizers, teams and riders) actually have a say. Currently that is not happening."

It often seems that every time the sport hits a purple patch, where the racing is the point of conversation and not side issues, McQuaid steps up to re-focus everything on him and his style of governance.

As Bicycling's Joe Lindsay points out in another of his always well argued opinion pieces (if you don't read him you should) this classics season has been an incredible one for the sport, with week upon week of exciting racing the norm, not the exception.

The teams and riders are throwing everything they have on to the table. Goss, Nuyens, Van Summeren, Cancellara, Gilbert and more burying themselves for our entertainment. As a result fan interest is at an all-time high.

It is exactly at this time a wise governor would allow the sport to flow, step out of the limelight, let the stars and teams show the way, engage in quiet compromise and actually listen.

Quoted again in Cyclingnews, McQuaid had this to say: "We had a real good meeting and other than those guys walking out at the end, which I think was quite ignorant on their part, even if it wasn't a surprise to me. Other than that it was a good day's work."

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