March 6, 2007 – The UCI usually provides releases in both French and English but we were informed that an English version would not be available this time so we translated this release for readers.

Following the meeting which took place today (March 5) in Brussels (Belgium), the attending parties (ASO, IPCT, RCS,UCI, Unipublic) reached an agreement which guarantees a friendly solution for the duration of the 2007 cycling season and foresees a mechanism to reach a longer-term solution, bringing in interested third parties.

Note: the ASO, RCS & Unipublic are major race organizers and respective owners of the Tour de France, the Giro, and Tour of Spain, among other ProTour races. The IPCT is the International Professional Cycling Teams.

In a gesture of transparency, the concerned parties jointly issue the text below which details the important clauses of this agreement

Objective: This present agreement has, as its objective, finding a friendly solution to the (present) dispute in professional cycling according to the clauses and as defined below. This solution is only a provisionary one and does not undermine the rights and obligations of the concerned parties nor the underlying wisdom of their respective positions concerning the aforementioned impasse. In other words, this present friendly solution has a scope similar to that of a provisional order.

Duration: This present agreement expires on October 21, 2007.

Seeking a long term solution the parties concerned will hold formal meetings on a monthly basis, or more frequently – at the invitation of the most diligent party. These meetings are aimed at finding, by September 21, 2007 at the latest, a long-term solution to the points of contention. It is understood that third parties will be involved in this process.

For this period, the following 18 teams have confirmed their participation at races organized by ASO, RCS and Unipublic:

– AG2R-Prevoyance
– Bouygues Telecom
– Caisse d’Epargne
– Cofidis
– Lampre Fondital
– Liquigas
– Predictor-Lotto
– Quick Step-Innergetic
– Rabobank
– Credit Agricole
– Discovery Channel
– Euskaltel-Euskadi
– Francaise des Jeux
– Gerolsteiner
– Saunier Duval-Prodir
– Team CSC
– Milram
– Team T-Mobile

The following races, organized by ASO, RCS, and Unipublic, are the events these 18 teams have confirmed their participation in:

– Paris-Nice
– Tirreno Adriatico
– Milan-San Remo
– Paris-Roubaix
– Fleche Wallonne
– Liege-Bastogne-Liege
– Giro d’Italia
– Tour de France
РVuelta a Espa̱a
– Paris-Tours
– Tour de Lombardie

Other Arrangements

Without prejudicing their right to grant “wild cards” to any other teams (other than the 18 named above) of their choice for the duration of the present agreement, ASO, RCS and Unipublic (the organizers) will examine with a positive spirit the granting of “wild cards” to Astana and Unibet teams. This is especially the case where such a decision is not likely to predispose the organizers to having legal actions of any nature taken against them.

For the duration of the present agreement, ASO, RCS and Unipublic are not obliged to follow the concept or branding of ProTour except in terms of the wearing of cycling jerseys according to a winner’s classification. ASO, RCS and Unipublic take note that the awarding of winners’ jerseys will be done by other parties outside of race protocol.

For the duration of this agreement, and as a demonstration of good faith, the UCI does not envision adopting sanctions or any other measure (notably regulatory) that will in any way hinder this agreement

And in fact, the UCI, promises to carry out its obligations in a particularly constructive spirit. The concerned parties congratulate themselves for having pulled professional cycling back from the brink. This agreement is based on the notion of constructive collaboration.