Press releases
Issy-les-Moulineaux, 9th of March 2007
PRESS RELEASE: F.F.C. - A.S.O.
As a response to the recent insistent interventions, the President of the UCI has notified Thursday 8th of March in the evening in a clear way to the French Cycling Federation and to Amaury Sport Organisation (A.S.O.):
- First of all that he gave up on demanding sanctions “against the F.F.C. and French cycling linked to the events that have brought them in conflict these last few weeks” (especially concerning the organisation of Paris-Nice);
- That as a consequence of the convention concluded on the 5th of March in Brussels with the IPCT, the World level events of A.S.O. of RCS and of Unipublic, placed outside of the UCI Pro Tour calendar, were indeed no longer subject to the rules of selection and participation of teams as planned by the current UCI regulations (article 2.15.261- UCI pro Tour) for the 2007 season.
Based on this clarification, the F.F.C. and A.S.O. have decided to abandon the set-up of their convention for the organisation of the next edition of Paris-Nice, the conditions being now united to allow this event to take place under the support of the UCI.
The F.F.C. and A.S.O. are delighted about the outcome of their joint processes with the UCI in this matter and are happy with the solutions that have been found in order to see Paris-Nice, one the major French cycling events, take place normally.
They however remain careful concerning the evolution of the “UCI Pro Tour” case, that is at the origin of the disagreement between the organisers of the major Tours and the UCI and that needs to be considered in a thoughtful way by the different actors concerned during the next months, in a spirit of dialogue and consultation.
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Issy-les-Moulineaux, 7th of March 2007
MEETING POINT
After the exotic escapades in Australia, the Middle-East, South-East Asia and the United States, the best cycling teams in the World will meet again for a first confrontation on a European stage race: Paris-Nice. Traditionally, the "race to the sun" gives a good opportunity to have a first appreciation of the riders in shape and find out how efficient the winter training sessions were for the main actors of the circuit. Its winner, whether it was Anquetil, Merckx, Kelly, Indurain, Jalabert, Vinokourov or more recently Landis (despite the events that happened just after the Tour), is generally speaking one who often plays a key role throughout the season. For that reason, Paris-Nice has become a yearly meeting point for a cycling planet ready for action.
To consider the identity of the winner, all eyes naturally turn to those having crossed the Atlantic. During the last two editions, the winners in Nice managed an impressive double after claiming the Tour of California. Levi Leipheimer, a new recruit in the Discovery Channel team therefore looks to be the obvious favourite. But his contenders for victory don’t really care about statistics: Franck Schleck, Bobby Julich (CSC), Patrick Sinkewitz, Axel Merckx (TMO), Cadel Evans (PRL) or Philippe Gilbert (FDJ) could indeed be in winning shape on the Côte d’Azur. The experts in sprinting will have the opportunity to battle it out with Tom Boonen, who comes on the race after having already captured 6 wins this year and has taken the habit of triumphing in the bunched sprint finishes of Paris-Nice (three victories 2006, two in 2005). Italian Bennati looks to be the strongest to try and prevent the Belgian from shining next week.
Concerning the French contingent, Cyril Dessel, Sylvain Calzati and Pierrick Fedrigo, major actors of the 2006 Tour de France 2006, will have a good possibility to try and impress during this first real test. Voeckler, Casar or the recent winner of the Tour of Langkawi, Anthony Charteau will also be ones to keep an eye on.
THE FAVOURITES FROM THE 20 TEAMS
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Germany Belgium Denmark Spain United States |
France Italy Netherlands Switzerland |
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Issy-les-Moulineaux, 20th of February 2007
PARIS-NICE: A.S.O. STANDS BY ITS POSITION
With three weeks to go before “Paris-Nice”, Patrice Clerc, President of A.S.O. and Pat McQuaid, President of the UCI have seen each other.
During this meeting that took place yesterday, the President of the UCI confirmed that the race would take place outside of the sporting frame of the UCI if A.S.O. refused to join the “UCI Pro-Tour” circuit, insisting on his will to impose this closed circuit with an economical vocation that A.S.O., as well as the organisers of the Giro and the Vuelta legitimately refuse to take part in since its creation.
Taking the position of the UCI into consideration and seeing the threat that is weighing on the organisation of the race, A.S.O. finds itself in the obligation of taking all the necessary measures allowing to safeguard an event that has a leading role in international cycling's heritage, and confirms that “Paris-Nice” will take place as planned from the 11th to the 18th of March 2007.
In these exceptional circumstances, and wanting to guarantee the integrity and credibility of the event, A.S.O. will organise the race according to the French law and has therefore solicited the French Cyling Federation (FFC) in order to establish an agreement insuring in particular the respect of the technical regulation.
During these discussions, the President of A.S.O. once again asked for a meeting to be organised with all the main actors of professional cycling. It is indeed, according to him, the only way to consider a solution to this serious crisis born from a bad reform that the UCI has wanted to assess despite a necessary consensus.
A.S.O. deeply regrets that its demand has been turned down by the President of the UCI who intends to make of A.S.O. the only responsible of this crisis, while already in June 2006, the UCI had reduced to nothing the efforts of a work group that had yet found a common agreement in which it had contributed.
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Issy-les-Moulineaux, 13th of February 2007
SEASON KICK-OFF
Christian Prudhomme, Bernard Quilfen, et Serge Beucherie
à la conférence de presse de présentation de Paris-Nice
On the eight days of racing, the riders will have to deal with a digest of difficulties that they will witness throughout the year. With weather conditions that can be rough, the first three stages often made for sprinters, will however give attacking riders the opportunity to outsmart the team strategies. On these stages, the “Boonen Boys” who have already prepared themselves during the Tour of Qatar, will need to give all they have to control all solo efforts and allow their leader to head back home with a harvest of successes as satisfying as in 2006 (three stage victories).
The stage profiles will probably favour attacking riders and climbers during the second part of the week, especially with the demanding climb before the finish in Mende. The hill heading to the airport, renamed “Montée Laurent Jalabert” since the Frenchman's win in 1995, will be covered for the first time in the Paris-Nice race. At that stage of the race, the contenders for final overall victory will be known. Cyril Dessel, the best placed French rider of the last Tour de France, could be among the favourites. Two stages will still remain with a series of relentless climbs (Bourrigaille, Tanneron, La Turbie and to finish the Col D'Eze), to decide on the hierarchy or make a difference during the last weekend.
THE PROGRAM OF STAGES
| Sunday 11th of March: Issy-les-Moulineaux (Prologue, c-l-m. ind., 4,7 km) | Thursday 15th of March: Maurs > Mende (169,5 km) |
| Monday 12th of March: Cloyes-sur-le-Loir > Buzançais (186 km) | Friday 16th of March: Sorgues > Manosque (178 km) |
| Tuesday 13th of March: Vatan > Limoges (177 km) | Saturday 17th of March: Brignoles > Cannes (200 km) |
| Wednesday 14th of March: Limoges > Maurs (215,5 km) | Sunday 18th of March: Nice > Nice (129,5 km) |
THE STARTING TEAMS
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Germany Belgium Denmark France |
Spain United States Italy Netherlands Switzerland |
» Download press release (1 page, .pdf, 229 ko)
Issy-les-Moulineaux, 12th of January 2007
PARIS-NICE 2007
After receiving confirmation from the 18 pre selected cycling teams of their wish to participate in the forthcoming Paris-Nice race, and because it wants to limits the number of teams to 20 because of logistical and security concerns, A.S.O. has decided to issue 2 wild cards entries to the start on March 11th to the Astana team and Agritubel team.
As a result, the 20 teams engaged in the 65th Paris-Nice will be:
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AG2R Prévoyance Agritubel Astana Bouygues Telecom Caisse d'Epargne Cofidis, Le Crédit Par Téléphone Credit Agricole Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team Euskaltel - Euskadi Française Des Jeux |
Gerolsteiner Lampre - Fondital Liquigas Predictor - Lotto Quick Step - Innergetic Rabobank Saunier Duval - Prodir t- Mobile Team Team CSC Team Milram |
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