UCI chief Pat McQuaid says the organizers of Paris-Nice are violating international cycling rules by refusing to invite one of the 20 ProTour teams to its event, and charged that Amaury Sports Organization has hopes of "breaking" the UCI’s ProTour series.

The UCI has threatened to bar ASO from running its race, which is sanctioned by the UCI and can be held only if the organizer respects all UCI rules and regulations.

"The UCI will not budge on a matter of rules and the legitimate rights of teams and riders," said McQuaid from Malaysia in a telephone interview with AFP.

"I hope the Paris-Nice will take place in the right conditions, but the organizers are violating international cycling rules. It is ASO and not the UCI who are putting the race at risk."

The UCI is locked in a power struggle with organizers of the three grand tours, who want more freedom in selecting the fields for their races. The UCI wants the 20 ProTour teams to have guaranteed admission.

ASO, which also runs the Tour de France, announced last year — joined by the organizers of the Giro d’Italia and the Vuelta a España — that only the 18 teams which held a ProTour license in 2006 would gain automatic admission to their events.

This means the last two teams to join the ProTour, Astana and Unibet.com, must hope for an invitation, which was not extended to Unibet.com for Paris-Nice.

McQuaid called this unacceptable.

"It's the UCI who decide the conditions of participation," said McQuaid. "The rules are made to protect the interests of everyone involved, the teams, the riders and the organizers.

"It is neither possible nor acceptable for each different organizer to apply their own criteria. It's the job of the UCI to protect team rights."

According to McQuaid, ASO wants to exclude Unibet.com and include a much lower-ranked cycling team in the Paris-Nice field.

"That's contrary to all sporting logic," said McQuaid.

"These last 10 days, the UCI has met with riders and teams and have spoken with their committee director. ASO's attitude is aimed at breaking the ProTour, and no one can let that happen."