CYCLING NEWS: Bruyneel determined to revamp cycling rules
Johan Bruyneel is angry! He is angry enough to turn the rules and regulations of the cycling world upside down. The RadioShack Team’s manager Johan Bruyneel has called for a shake-up in the methodology in which professional cycling runs nowadays. The cause of the anger has been the exclusion of his team from the Vuelta a España.
The team, RadioShack, co-owned by the seven time winner of Tour De France, Lance Armstrong, did not receive a wildcard place that was offered by the organizers to six teams for the 22-team Spanish tour. Bruyneel’s team, RadioShack was thought to be an obvious option for its managers largely because his team moved up six places to eighth in world rankings.
Also, the riders of the team ranked up to eleventh and twelfth rank in the international individual rankings. One of the riders, Janez Brajkovic, leaped thirty nine places after winning the Criterium du Dauphiné Libéré this Sunday, from being at the fiftieth place previously. The other one named Christopher Horner, had been successful to win the Tour of the Basque Country and not to forget, it was Levi Leipheimer who had been victorious in the Tour of Gila.
Bruyneel feels that it is now time to get things fixed for good as he thinks it is his responsibility to revamp the sport for good. The manager thinks that he is the right person to take on the International Cycling Union (UCI).
While talking to the media, Bruyneel said that we need to make the so-called professional cycling professional in essence as he added that it is time to redesign the structure of this sport to match the rules and regulations of any other successful professional sport around the world like soccer or tennis or formula one etc.
He openly claimed that there are some parties that do not like to see or hear when he talks about redesigning things but Bruyneel is determined to do everything in his power to contribute towards the betterment of the sport. He added that as a tradition, officials do not accept a team manager stand to fight for the teams’ rights. The manager further announced that the managers are not provided with enough rights that they are entitled to.
After this incident, he thinks that it is his responsibility to fight for the interests of the cycling teams as well as the riders. He now thinks that this is more than just a goal for him, he would rather take it as his work and will work just as hard for the rights of all the teams as he had for his own team.
He demonstrated that there are three parties involved in cycling the UCI, organizers, and teams or the riders. He added that it is unlucky that the teams and the riders, who are actually the main actors of the sport, are never really heard. He was resolute that he will fight for their rights and for all those things that actually belong to these people but they had never been granted.
He thinks that power has been wrongly distributed at present and the ones that have been given more power are abusing it. He is of the view that sponsors and organisers together misuse the power for their personal interests, regardless of the potential of the riders or the new sponsors.
He commented on the entire situation that it is not acceptable for him to understand this decision and that he will fight till he is able to put in the right changes for better distribution of power and rights in the entire cycling arena.
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