ASO to take over Vuelta?

iainf72

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/08022008/ ... eover.html

Good or bad move? Good for the Vuelta because people will have to take it more seriously to keep ASO sweet.

And it strengthens ASO's position as the real power in cycling.

GroupOfOne MkII

Interesting.

Presumably an ASO takeover would lead to a move in dates, as haven't a company with a stake in ASO bought the Tour of Germany.

I'd guess though nothing too much will change, we aren't going to suddenly see all the French teams riding the Vuelta at the expense of the small Spanish squads, but I guess we could see similar philosophies (e.g. scrapping time bonuses, shaking up the route) and possibly a Grand Depart (or whatever the Spanish is) in France.

vermooten

They might be able to do something with it, something interesting. Get sponsors and spectators by the sides of the road etc.

andy_wrx

Put it back to a sensible time in the calendar rather than where UCI moved it to, as another one-in-the-eye to UCI ?

deejay

vermooten wrote:

They might be able to do something with it, something interesting. Get sponsors and spectators by the sides of the road etc.

A Vuelta move to the Holiday season would certainly help spectators

LangerDan

The Vuelta will be moved to a date that will cause maximum conflict with a UCI ProTOur event. If it causes some grief for the Giro, it will be an added bonus for ASO.

Titanium

I'd make it a two week event.

No one watches the event, TV ratings are low and I'd guess most of the audience are actually snoozing in their armchairs when the bunch is one some transition stage. A shorter event would be better sport and it is possible to tour the entire country within this timeframe. You'd also stop many riders pulling out for the Worlds.

victorponf

Unipublic is a very bad organizer, they don´t know mountains stages posibilities in Spain and always design a diluted competition,without great climbs like Giro or Tour

I hope the sell the Vuelta or change their coaching staff