Let me clarify this a bit (Bertil writing). Last year UCI held all the television rights very carefully and they were given to the public channels where the maximum audience was guaranteed, which also guaranteed that the Trade Teams got maximum coverage (in millions of viewers). This year Milano-San Remo will be seen by perhaps 50 million fewer viewers and who will benefit of that?
The International Olympic Committee said no to a high bid from Fox Television (Rupert Murdoch) to instead go for the lower bid that will make it possible to be viewed on public television with a much larger audience. So why does the UCI behave in this way now? They are not only hurting the cycling fans, they are also preventing the Trade Teams from getting a bigger exposure.
To me this is a f**king scandal and in this all that gets hurt is the sport of cycling and the UCI should should have been taken action long before this happened, i.e. stripping Milan-San Remo and Tour of Lombardy of their World Cup status.
This is my opinion - Bertil Odling
Just like Jalabert Fabiano Fontanelli, one of the big stars of the season so far, has been forced to say no the first World Cup race of the season. Suffering from an injury in his right groin he will leave his place in the race to team mate Nicola Loda.