Dan Gregory <[email hidden]> wrote in news:[email hidden]:
Quoted message said:
Unibet.com press conference tomorrow Tuesday 6th, March 2007 The ProTour cycling team Unibet, managed by Green Cycle Associates AB, has learned from the agreement between ASO, RCS, Unipublic, the IPCT and the UCI, that it is still up to the Great Tour organizers to decide if the team would be granted a « wild card » to participate in races part of the international (PT?) calendar.
I suspect that Unibet is getting more publicity from being excluded from races and the legal stink they are making than they would get by actually racing. Perhaps they even bribed Clerc to make them the poster child for ASO's spat with the UCI.
Im pretty new to the pro tour politics, but it seems now with this ruling that things are no different now than when the tours could pick whoever they wanted.
It doesnt look like the pro tour does anything to protect the rights of the riders (eg. all of the drug scandals), and it hasnt been able to guarantee anything for teams.
It dont even think the teams are for it. For some teams, it seems like they are being forced to compete in events they normally wouldnt compete in.
What was the whole point of the Pro Tour again?
To funnel more money to the lawyers every side has to engage to (pretend to) sort this all out.