Pro Cycling Globalises or Dies: Pat McQuaid Speaks

skavanagh.bikeradar

Just thinking about what Pat said about cycling dying if it doesn't spread beyond Europe....I'd argue that it might die in Europe if Pat and the UCI don't get a grip. Spreading to all corners of the globe might be fiddling while Rome burns just at the minute.

Anyway, why would anyone else want all the bad PR that comes with the Peleton? If cycling is dying it is being killed from Europe and funnily enough, Pat is in charge of it all anyway.

vermooten

I'm no fan of Pat McQuaid or of the UCI generally. I think that the UCI, especially the previous president, are wholly to blame for the problems in cycling right now. However....

McQuaid has one of the hardest jobs in sport right now. He doesn't just have to run the UCI but he has to manage the relationships with all of the autonomous cycling bodies throughout the world, all of which have different sets of objectives and agendas. He's also got to liaise with stakeholders such as the IOC and WADA, not to mention race organisers, among zillions of others - again, all with their own rules and agendas.

When you consider the ways in which national bodies protect their own interests and work against the UCI - a bit like local cops in Hicksville, USA working against the FBI - it must be tough enough to keep things under control even when times are good let alone now. How can anyone less than Nelson Mandela bring unity such disparate groups?

Having said that he gets paid shitloads to to do exactly that, should be fired.

Michuel

skavanagh.bikeradar wrote:

Pat said about cycling dying if it doesn't spread beyond Europe...

Cycling's not dying in London and the South East. There are more and more road amd MTB riders every year. Apparently cycling is up 83% in London over the last few years.

Convential cycle racing is dying as it has been dying in Europe for quite some time. Riders are switching to sportives. For instance French road racing has declined steeply in terms of races.

skavanagh.bikeradar

Indeed. I remember speculating a while a go that the sportive scene in the UK might have the same effect on cycling that marathons had on running in the late 70's/early 80's. I agree that it is pro-cycling that is killing itself while perversley in the UK the sport is actually growing. Encouraging. I too see loads more people out on bikes than 4 years ago, nearly all of them on road bikes.

drenkrom

I just love talk like that! Sure, Pat, globalise. Fine. Sold. Now how exactly are you going to do that? That's where the plan gets less defined, isn't it? Giving an already existing and thriving race ProTour status does nothing except put the UCI stamp on a success they had no hand in creating themselves. How do you get Canadians to switch from hockey to road racing? How do you whip up interest in cycling in India? No such plan is ever discussed. All we have is posturing that sounds good in news snippets.

And, of course, we all know lack of globalisation is the #1 problem of the sport now! The row between the UCI and race organizers exists because of the lack of presence of Nepal in cycling, maybe? and if only Eastern Rhodesia took a bigger interest in cycling, no more doping problems, right?

Sure, part of Pat's job is to talk sh!t like that, but his time could really be spent on more productive things than talk, right now.

skavanagh.bikeradar

I've been very interested in the UCI's reactions to the latest developments to affect the major of it's ProTour teams. Oh, no, that's right we haven't heard anything from them. As Denkrom says they are probably holed up in a 5 star hotel somewhere sitting on corporate hospitality chairs discussing how to get the Tour of Indonesia off the ground. With Powerpoint slides.

OffTheBackAdam

Should the title be..
"Pat McQuaid speaks out of his arse"?
The man's all p1iss & wind!
His empire might be dying, there's no reason that cycling will die if it doesn't "Globalise", what aspect of cycling is he on about?