June 18/10 21:42 pm - UCI Management Committee Announcements & 2011 MTB World Cup

Posted by Editoress on 06/18/10
 

The Management Committee of the International Cycling Union (UCI) met on June 17-18 in Birmingham, England.

During the first day of the meeting, the Management Committee awarded the following UCI World Championships:

• 2012 Mountain Bike Marathon: Ornans (France)
• 2013 Mountain Bike Marathon: Kirchberg (Austria)
• 2013 BMX: Auckland (New Zealand)
• 2012 Indoor Cycling: Aschaffenburg (Germany)

The President of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), Sir Philip Craven, then gave a presentation to the members of the Management Committee. Sir Philip described the IPC's missions and objectives before paying tribute to the excellent work conducted by the UCI, one of the first International Federations to have fully recognised the needs of the Paralympic movement, on its own terms, by integrating and promoting para-cycling, notably by encouraging its uptake by the National Federations.

The UCI Management Committee approved a new concept in the development of cycling for all. Cycling for all, fully in line with the philosophy of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), aims to encourage as many people as possible to take part in cycling, whether as a competitive sport, for leisure or as a healthy and environmentally-friendly means of transport.

The new concept mainly concerns establishing series of mass-participation events allowing qualification for a final round, both on the road (UCI Gran Fondo and UCI Masters Road World Championships) as well as for mountain biking (UCI Mountain Bike Marathon series and UCI Mountain Bike Marathon World Championships).  The first qualification events will take place in 2011.

Finally, the members of the Management Committee agreed that the "ReCycling" programme, aimed at encouraging event organisers to take into account sustainable development when preparing their events, should be applied in the most effective manner possible. To this end, it was agreed that future candidature files presented to the UCI by organisers would have to respect the principles described in the "ReCycling" guide.

On the second day of the meeting, the Management Committee awarded the 2011 UCI Cyclo-Cross Masters World Championships to the town of Mol in Belgium.

The 2011 UCI Mountain Bike World Cup calendar was also approved.:

• April 23-24 - Pietermaritzburg, South Africa (XCO/DHI/4X)
• May 21-22 - Yorkshire, Dalby Forest, Great Britain (XCO)
• May 28-29 - Offenburg, Germany (XCO)
• June 4-5 - Fort William, Scotland (DHI/4X)
• June 11-12 - Leogang, Austria (DHI/4X)
• July 2-3 - Mont Sainte Anne, Quebec, Canada (XCO/DHI/4X)
• July 9-10 - Windham, New York, United States (XCO/DHI/4X)
• August 6-8 - La Bresse, France (DHI)
• August 13-14 - Nove Mesto Na Morave, Czech (XCO)
• August 20-21 - Val di Sole, Italy (XCO/DHI/4X)

The members of the Management Committee discussed issues concerning equipment used in road competitions and decided that it was necessary to bolster measures that have already been put in place (in particular the visual inspection of bicycles, a procedure that was recently reinforced). As a result, a scanner will be used from the time of the Tour de France. This instrument, recently tested with a successful outcome, will allow an official to detect any illegal devices that may be concealed, for example, in the bicycle frame.

Furthermore, a close collaboration with Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), a Swiss technical institute of international renown, is being studied. The objective of this cooperation would be to examine ways to control, in an optimal manner, the influence of technology over the equipment used in cycling, such that this could offer a beneficial contribution to the sport and avoid any future deviations.

Finally, from now on race service will be subject to stricter regulation in order to ensure that only equipment that has been checked at the start or finish can be used during competitions.

The Management Committee also defined the regulations for participation in the 2011 UCI World Calendar events.

The UCI ProTeams - of which there will be a maximum of 18 - will be obliged to participate in UCI ProTour races. The top 17 UCI Professional Continental Teams of the 2010 UCI World Ranking will also have the right to participate.

As for the Monument events, these shall invite the 17 best teams of the 2010 UCI World Ranking.

This formula represents a compromise with the organisers of Monument events. The UCI sincerely regrets that these organisers ultimately rejected the principle of the automatic participation of UCI ProTeams in their events. However, negotiations with the organisers led to an agreement, reached in particular as a result of an increased consideration of teams' sporting values, one of the organisers' main requests. The UCI has nevertheless decided to retain the principle it has adopted for its system of awarding UCI ProTour licences.

In terms of scheduling, the UCI announces that the list of Professional Continental Teams that have been registered will be published on November 20th each year. If this list leaves some team places yet to be announced, the names of the final teams registered will be communicated on December 10th. The definitive list of teams registered in the second division will be published on this date.