Race organizers overwhelmingly reject WorldTour reforms, push for reduction in peloton sizes

According to reports, the International Association of Cycling Race Organizers (AIOCC) has rejected the UCI’s proposed WorldTour reforms — and not by a narrow margin.

The global consortium of race promoters voted 77 to 6 to officially refuse the proposed amendments.

The WorldTour changes, reports say, were scheduled to be adopted in time for the 2017 season. Now, their rejection possibly leaves the sport in a rather precarious position, with a line drawn in the sand with the cycling’s influential organizers on one side, and riders, teams and the UCI itself on the other.

News of the schism in pro cycling follows other headlines that heated up the racing scene over the summer, when Amaury Sport Organisation — organizers of the Tour de France and the Dakar Rally, notably — threatened to yank its own competitions from the 2016 season’s WorldTour if the proposed reforms were passed. Backed into a corner, the UCI delayed that vote while trying to smooth things out with the ASO, with an agreement finally materializing in Richmond, Virginia.

With the AIOCC also headed by a major player at the Tour de France, though — Christian Prudhomme — the controversy isn’t out of the woods yet. Along with rejecting the reforms, members of the organization also voted to limit the number of riders per team at grand tours to eight, with seven for other stage races, a dialing-down of the scale of competing pelotons meant to reduce the frequency — and the severity — of crashes.

Organizers intend to tackle the issue further by establishing working groups, L’Equipe reports, imposing “corrective measures” on the WorldTour reforms.