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Left out in the cold, Unibet decries UCI-ASO deal
The Unibet.com team has slammed the agreement reached between the UnionCycliste Internationale and cycling's three grand tour organizers.Called to an emergency meeting organized by ProTour teams in Belgiumon Monday, the UCI and ASO, the organizer of the Tour de France, reachedan agreement to end a dispute that threatened the entire 2007 season.
The agreement allowed for 18 of the 20 ProTour teams - all those exceptthe two most recent, Astana and Unibet.com - to be selected for eventsrun by ASO, RCS (Giro d’Italia) and Unipublic (Vuelta a España).In return, all three agreed to consider the applications of the othertwo ProTour teams “in a positive light.”
"We have invested €32 million ($42 million) to be a part of theProTour and therefore to be able to take part in all ProTour events butnow they're refusing us that right,” the Belgian-Swedish team's managerJacques Hanegraaff said Tuesday. “It's unacceptable."The UCI had been at loggerheads with ASO after the latter opted notto invite Unibet.com to this year's edition of Paris-Nice.The reason is that it is illegal to publicize betting in France andthe team is sponsored by an online betting shop. Oddly enough, the Frenchlaw in question is a 19th century regulation that bans the promotion ofgambling, including “lotteries,” which could conceivably ban participationby two long-time pro teams, Française des Jeux and Predictor-Lotto.The UCI responded by asking all ProTour teams to boycott Paris-Nicebut after nine hours of negotiations on Monday an agreement was finallyreached, with ASO essentially getting its way.
"This is unacceptable. We are now going to start judicial proceedingsagainst the organizers and the UCI to make the most of our rights," Hanegraaff told the Dutch news agency ANP.
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