April 21, 2007 (Brussels, Belgium) – On Friday, a Brussels tribunal examined a dispute pitting the UCI and Unibet on one side against Amaury Sport International (ASO) on the other according to the Belgian daily, Le Vif / l’Express, and other sources. ASO organizes races such as the Tour de France, Paris-Nice, Paris-Roubaix, la Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège. The dispute centres around ASO’s refusal to invite the Unibet team to the latter two races, just as ASO refused to invite Unibet for Paris-Nice or Paris-Roubaix.

At issue is a French law prohibiting gambling publicity (except for the state-owned Francaise des Jeux which also sponsors a cycling team), but Unibet is an on-line gambling company hence the conflict with the team. This is one of the contentious issues that was ostensibly resolved in the March 5 agreement between the UCI and the three major ProTour organizers, including ASO.

The UCI now considers that ASO is not honouring that agreement where it agreed to, “in a positive spirit, wild cards will be granted to Astana and Unibet, notably where such decisions are not susceptible to expose the organizers (ASO) to lawsuits.”

The Belgian tribunal is expected to reach a decision by Wednesday, April 24. Fleche-Wallonne is scheduled for April 25 while Liège-Bastogne-Liège is scheduled for April 29.