The UCI and the organization representing professional cyclists met in Geneva on Tuesday to discuss the possible imposition of penalties on riders who recently participated in Paris-Nice.

A delegation of riders representing the Cyclistes Professionnels Associés (CPA) asked for a meeting with the international governing body in order to clarify questions regarding the risks assumed by teams and riders who opt to participate in events not officially sanctioned by the UCI.

In a release issued Tuesday, UCI officials said they were “sympathetic to the points of view expressed by the CPA and the riders and reminded the participants of the various stages that had led to the current situation.”

Paris-Nice and a host of top-tier events, including Paris-Roubaix and the Tour de France, are now being operated under the auspices of the French Cycling Federation rather than the UCI after a long-running dispute with the world's biggest race organizer, the Amaury Sport Organisation, flared again earlier this year.

While riders were warned of the possibility that they might be excluded from the Olympics and world championships, invited teams voted unanimously to toe the starting line at Paris-Nice and those selected for other ASO events this year are expected to participate as well.

Riders and teams have repeatedly expressed frustration over being faced with making a choice between an Olympic ban or exclusion from the Tour, the world’s most prestigious cycling event.

“A delegation of riders expressed their grave concerns regarding the state of professional cycling,” Tuesday’s joint UCI/CPA release noted. “The CPA also explained how the riders find themselves in very weak position in this context.

“The UCI explained it was The UCI also made it clear that it is the role of its Disciplinary Commission to decide on the appropriate sanctions for riders who participate in an event which has not been registered on the UCI’s calendar by the French Cycling Federation.”

While the meeting resulted in no definitive agreement, both parties pledged to continue talks “with a view to defending the federal structure which is currently under threat and yet so essential for the protection of the interests of all parties, particularly the riders.”