'We compromised far more than ASO, and it still wasn’t enough'

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Business Insider also spoke with one of the current WorldTour team managers, Jonathan Vaughters of the US-based Cannondale Pro Cycling Team, which races in the Tour de France. He is a former pro cyclist and holds an MBA from the Daniels College of Business at the University of Denver.

For years Vaughters has been a proponent of reforms in pro cycling, especially when it comes to the business and organizational sides of the sport. He spoke at length with Business Insider this past week, reaffirming his belief that the current sporting model in pro cycling doesn't work. Following are excerpts from that conversation.

"I don't think there's anyone opposing the reforms other than the ASO," he said in a phone interview. "When they lost the vote they effectively said, 'OK, fine, then we're not going to put our races in the WorldTour anymore.'"

In Vaughters' view, the ASO sees the UCI reforms as an encroachment on its territory. And as for the ASO's point about the "sporting criterion," Vaughters said that argument is "bunk." "It's a nice way to couch maintaining your dominant position," he said.

I don’t think a single race organizer should have the power to deem two or three companies insolvent just because .

"What we should be asking for is, 'Hey, we’re giving you the greatest actors in the world to perform on your stage. You know, we all need to share the spoils of this together.' That’s what we should be asking for. But even we know that, as regards the Tour de France and ASO, we have to play a more timid role.

"So all of a sudden the reforms don’t even ask for that. The reforms are simply asking for a three-year runway of guaranteed participation in the Tour de France so that we can guarantee our sponsors, supporters, and investors at least three years of runway to build our programs.

"Could we get three as opposed to one? That’s the major issue, literally the linchpin issue that’s preventing this whole thing from moving, is three years versus one year. And those reforms that passed through are 10% or 20% of what the teams really should be asking for.

"Unfortunately, we compromised far more than ASO, and it still wasn’t enough. They want more compromise. They want it to be a situation where promotion and relegation is an annual thing and that if your team doesn’t perform then you and your team are kicked out of the WorldTour. And unfortunately, in a sponsorship-only revenue business proposition, that is a horrible, horrible thing, because every year, one or two teams will be losing all their riders, losing all the jobs, losing their sponsorships, and going out of business.

"If you have a system where you have 18 teams, two or three are getting kicked out of the bottom every single year, you are deeming some teams every single year insolvent. I don’t think a single race organizer should have the power to deem two or three companies insolvent just because."