Cycling News saw letters of protest from most of the WorldTour teams and many of the major professional teams addressed to AIGCP President Richard Plagge, who is also Jumbo-Visma's team manager, as well as to the AIGCP trustees and other stakeholders in the sport.
Jaico-Alura, Cofidis, Team DSM-Filmenec, Bora-Hansgrohe, Alpecin Deceuninck, Bahrain Victorious, Groupama-FDJ, Intermarche-Circus-Wanty, Lot Dostny, Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team, Green Project - Bardiani, Bingo Al WB, and Movistar were named in the letter.
According to Cycling News, the teams are dissatisfied with the work of Plug and Javier Barrio, managing director of AIGCP, and with the lack of communication on important decisions and the fact that Plug, while representing all the teams, won the Tour de France and trying to top the UCI World Tour standings with Jumbo Visma, he states that there is a potential conflict of interest.
For now, teams like Jumbo-Visma, Ineos Grenadiers, Soudal-Quick Step, EF Education-Easy Post, and Lidl-Trek seem to be loyal to Plug, partly because he has a seat on the AIGCP Management Committee . Other teams are more circumspect about their positions, perhaps until the August special meeting.
The rebel teams are demanding "changes in the structure and management of the AIGCP" and are calling for an extraordinary general meeting before the Vuelta to vote on changes in the way Plug and the management committee run the AIGCP.
They call for one of the Big Four consulting firms to "conduct an analysis and study of the current structure and management system of the AIGCP" within the next three months and to vote on the establishment of "an independent board of directors with no prior ties to any team or organization associated with cycling."
It also calls for a vote on the establishment of an "independent board.
It would stop the current team managers from having so much power and influence within the AIGCP and replace them with a much more influential managing director who would more strongly protect the team's interests.
The carefully worded legal letter was sent in reply to a blunt exchange with Plug on June 12, leading to a direct confrontation between AIGCP members and board members in Bilbao before the Tour de France.
The members reportedly notified Plug and the board not to make any strategic decisions until external review and changes were made.
Plug and the AIGCP Management Committee were elected in June 2021, and the SafeR project should be fully functional in 2025, a new end-of-season race and possible UCI World Tour Gala in 2024, a new combined season and team presentations in 2025 have been working with other key stakeholders.
However, while the Tour de France organizers paid only €5,000 to broadcast the teams' radio conversations, some teams complained that TV broadcasters charged more for different parts of the Tour de France package ...
The constant tension and conflict between key riders and stakeholders in professional cycling is widely acknowledged as one of the biggest reasons why the sport has an unstable business model and is unable to develop the revenue that the sport deserves.
Teams, riders, race organizers, and the UCI often fight and squabble over how the sport is run. They often compete for the same sponsorships and defend national interests due to pro cycling's precarious business model.
ASO, the organizer of the Tour de France, dominates the sport in many direct and indirect ways, refusing to unite and cooperate and "make the cake bigger" for all involved.
In recent years, team budgets have skyrocketed as super teams offer high annual salaries and spend far more to improve performance. Recently, even the French team has been lamenting the increasing costs of being competitive at the world tour level and the effects of the global economic downturn following the COVID-19 pandemic.
Pragge, who divides his time between working at Jumbo-Visma and leading the AIGCP on his own time, seemed saddened by the protests from the majority of the AIGCP team.
Plugge told Cycling News that he and the AIGCP Board of Directors have worked as they were assigned by the members and as stated in the AIGCP constitution.
"I am willing to listen to each team's ideas, but I must also study the AIGCP's statutes, as required by French law. If there is a majority in favor of the change, I will be fine with it," said Plagge.
"I think we have achieved something good for the team. We have good relationships with other stakeholders, and we recently announced the SafeR initiative. [I think I have done what I promised when I was elected president of the AIGCP and what the member teams wanted me to do."
"Not everyone is always happy with what you do and how you work. But the AIGCP Steering Committee, Javier Barrio, and I have done a little bit of a lot of work to make sure that all teams benefit.
"It's a little sad to see people arguing, because it's not about the teams, it's about the teams," said Barrio. I just want to take pro cycling to the next level.
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