Cycling’s governing body, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), and Tour de France race organizer Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) recently backtracked on one of the key WorldTour reforms both parties agreed to this year. The number of WorldTour teams in 2017 will remain at 18 instead of the ratified plan to trim it to 17, a move which enables continuity of the Dimension Data team’s WorldTour license next year, and quite possibly, the team’s longer-term survival. But by agreeing to make this exception, The UCI and ASO have set a dangerous precedent and a further potential setback to the sport’s investment climate. Control over the sport’s economic future is at the heart of the matter here, just as we have described in several previous articles. The UCI and ASO seem incapable of breaking their long standing stalemate over how the sport should be run, and as a result, their...
