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McQuaid will watch Tour on TV

By Agence France Presse
Published: Jul. 1, 2008

Pat McQuaid has expressed his wish for a trouble-free Tour de France but says that it was a mistake for the event to have broken away from the International Cycling Union (UCI).

"I am saddened by this, but it is the decision of the organizers,” the international cycling chief said. “It is sad but it has to be accepted. In terms of world cycling it is not a good decision."

Speaking to AFP four days before the Tour starts on Saturday in the Britanny port of Brest, McQuaid said he would not be attending the race, which finishes on July 27 in Paris.

"It will be the first time in 24 years that I will not be coming to the race, but I will watch it on TV," he said.

For almost a year, the UCI has been locked in a feud with major race organizers, including the company which organizes the Tour de France, Amaury Sport Organization (ASO), over unresolved issues arising from the doping scandals that have beset the event in recent years.

This year, for the first time, the 2008 Tour is going ahead as an independent race outside the scope of the UCI. Some of this year's other French cycling classics, including Paris-Nice, were also staged as independent events in defiance of the UCI.

McQuaid fears that race organizers were trying to set up a rival world cycling body.

"De facto, they are attempting to establish another international federation," he said.

But the UCI president refused to be drawn into further criticism, expressing hopes that the 2008 Tour would be problem-free.

"I hope it goes well,” he said. “Whenever people talk of cycling anywhere in the world, the Tour de France is always mentioned. A Tour without scandals and without problems will be a good thing for cycling."