S
SEARCH
M
SM
Saturday, March 14
/esi/1339/6_A_17_391642_0/index.html?art_id=391642&ESI

Stephen Park warns new-look track cycling calendar could be "destructive"

:Headline: Stephen Park warns new-look track cycling calendar could be 'destructive': ID:391642: from db_amp
The world governing body on Sunday confirmed details of the plans.
| 10d

British Cycling performance director Stephen Park has warned the UCI's radical new-look track cycling calendar has the potential to be "massively destructive" if not introduced properly.

The world governing body on Sunday confirmed details of the plans, which will see the World Championships move from February to October; the World Cup replaced by a shorter Nations Cup during the summer; and a new made-for-TV Track League, developed alongside Eurosport, introduced in the winter.

It is understood that at meetings around the UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Berlin last week, national federations raised a number of concerns but got few answers from the world governing body about plans which will start next year.

"There are a huge number of questions unanswered," Park told the PA media agency. "The overall principles are all fine, but how they might do it could mean the whole thing is chaos and be massively destructive to track cycling.

"The devil is in the detail."

The new Track League is designed to pit the sports main stars against each other in short races, but federations want answers over how the Nations Cup will feed into Olympic qualification, with the cycle for Paris 2024 effectively shortened by one year by the changes.

The UCI said on Sunday the Olympic qualification process has not yet been finalised, but Cycling Australia's performance director Simon Jones believes the battle for places is effectively underway already.

"It started this week," he told PA. "I don't think (the UCI) realise with some of the new tweaks. But the next World Championships will be based on this year and it all knocks on because you have to qualify to qualify to qualify.

"From the meeting on Wednesday it was pretty obvious Olympic selection for Paris started this week – unofficially."

UCI president David Lappartient – who made the reforms part of his campaign platform when elected in 2017 – has presented the Nations Cup as 'empowering federations', but Jones dismissed that idea.

"He's a politician, it all sounds good," Jones added. "We're not empowered at all. We're doing what the UCI wants us to do.

"We're significant financial stakeholders. I don't think (the consultation process) is good enough quite frankly, and I've told the UCI that as well. We all got together as nations to talk about it. We're not very happy."

Park said British Cycling had made its own views known through correspondence with the UCI.

The UCI wants to bring together the sport's biggest stars in its new Track League (Tim Goode/PA)

Asked if he was happy with the level of consultation, Park said: "Ultimately no, because they haven't done any.

"We had two meetings where they shared details similar to those announced and there's nothing more than that. We've had no real conversation about Olympic qualifying or how the league would work."

In a press conference on Sunday, Lappartient defended the UCI's processes.

"When you have some changes there is always a fear of what you will lose, but you don't know exactly what you will win," Lappartient said.

"We believe this new system is part of a global strategy and the qualification for the Olympic Games is more of a consequence, but we didn't want to build our system just for the Olympic Games.

"This is to have track cycling stand on its own. This is why we launched this reform."

amp_article_391642 : Database Data restored...  : 
last updated article - 2020-03-03 13:52:08:
html db last update - 2020-03-14 00:57:16 :

ex - 7200 : read : read cache amp html

Click here for more stories about Stephen Park

Share this article now:
Show comments
Premier League Table
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Liverpool29271166214582
2Manchester CityMan City28183768313757
3Leicester CityLeicester29165858283053
4Chelsea29146951391248
5Manchester UnitedMan Utd29129844301445
6Wolverhampton WanderersWolves29101364134743
7Sheffield UnitedSheff Utd28111073025543
8Tottenham HotspurSpurs29118104740741
9Arsenal2891364036440
10Burnley29116123440-639
11Crystal Palace29109102632-639
12Everton29107123746-937
13Newcastle UnitedNewcastle2998122541-1635
14Southampton29104153552-1734
15Brighton & Hove AlbionBrighton29611123240-829
16West Ham UnitedWest Ham2976163550-1527
17Watford2969142744-1727
18Bournemouth2976162947-1827
19Aston Villa2874173456-2225
20Norwich CityNorwich2956182552-2721
Scroll for more - Tap for full version

Subscribe to our Newsletter


Transfer Talk Daily
Match previews - twice weekly
Morning Briefing (7am UTC)
UC
Get the latest transfer news, match previews and news direct to your inbox!

Loading ...

Failed to load data.

Premier League Table
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Liverpool29271166214582
2Manchester CityMan City28183768313757
3Leicester CityLeicester29165858283053
4Chelsea29146951391248
5Manchester UnitedMan Utd29129844301445
6Wolverhampton WanderersWolves29101364134743
7Sheffield UnitedSheff Utd28111073025543
8Tottenham HotspurSpurs29118104740741
9Arsenal2891364036440
10Burnley29116123440-639
11Crystal Palace29109102632-639
12Everton29107123746-937
13Newcastle UnitedNewcastle2998122541-1635
14Southampton29104153552-1734
15Brighton & Hove AlbionBrighton29611123240-829
16West Ham UnitedWest Ham2976163550-1527
17Watford2969142744-1727
18Bournemouth2976162947-1827
19Aston Villa2874173456-2225
20Norwich CityNorwich2956182552-2721
Scroll for more - Tap for full version
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
X

We value your privacy

A part of our GDPR compliance we need to ask for your consent. We and our partners use technology such as cookies on Sports Mole to personalise content and ads, provide social media features, and analyse our traffic. Click below to consent to the use of this technology on Sports Mole.