February 22, 2007 (Aigle, Switzerland) – The UCI indicated today that it had sent a letter to the 20 ProTour teams intending to participate in the Paris-Nice race scheduled for March 11-18, reminding them that they cannot participate reports AP. This puts the UCI completely at odds with Amaury Sports Organization (ASO) which organizes Paris-Nice and other races, including the Tour de France. A February 20 meeting in Lyon failed to resolve differences between the UCI and the ASO. Consequently, the UCI claims that Paris-Nice is now downgraded to a French national event. Hence there will be no UCI world-ranking points and thus ProTeams cannot participate.

A major friction point between the UCI and big tour organizers — including the TdF (ASO), the Giro d’Italia (RCS Sport) and Spain’s Vuelta (Unipublic) – concerns who can issue licenses for teams taking part in the 27 UCI ProTour events. The UCI is also accusing the grand tour organizers of not being vigilant enough in combating doping. There also seems to be some injured egos; since 2005, the ASO is now paying for the right to host the TdF, a race that began in 1903.

The first Paris-Nice race dates back to 1933 and was won in 2006 by Floyd Landis (formerly with Phonak). The title of the most wins belongs to Irishman Sean Kelly who won the event seven times.

Another Irishman, UCI President, Pat McQuaid, confirmed that Paris-Nice would take place outside of the sporting frame of the UCI if ASO refused to join the ”UCI Pro-Tour” circuit, reports the Norwegian cycling site, Syklingensverden.

In 2006, the three grand tours were held outside of the UCI calendar. It is not clear if this situation will repeat itself again in 2007.