Reduced sponsor visibility headlined teams’ opposition. They will receive additional hotel rooms and VIP passes as compensation.
Escape Collective can reveal that men’s and women’s professional teams collectively voted against the proposal to introduce a new classification and jersey for the host nation’s best-placed rider in national stage races from 2027.
Buried deep in a wide-ranging, early September press release, the UCI said that the Professional Cycling Council (PCC) — a committee made up of representatives from riders, teams, and organisers — had approved the creation of “an additional distinctive jersey for the best rider of the nationality of the event.” It will be ratified during the UCI congress this week in Montreal, Canada.
The new competition was proposed by the race organisers’ group, the Association Internationale des Organisateurs de Courses Cyclistes (AIOCC), and passed with the support of the UCI and the riders’ union, the Cyclistes Professionnels Associés (CPA).
But the teams’ organisation, Association International des Groupes Cyclistes (AIGCP), were against the initiative, citing less visibility for their respective sponsors’ logos on the new jersey.
Escape obtained a copy of the AIGCP’s latest monthly report, which states that teams worried that with more space given to the race sponsors on the jersey, their own sponsors may miss out on crucial exposure and, therefore, revenue.
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