Int'l Cycling Union's Cookson Rejects Proposal For New Global Cycling Series

Int'l Cycling Union President Brian Cookson said that he "opposes the so-called World Series Cycling project that was aiming to generate more revenue by holding races in Asia, South America and the U.S.," according to Alex Duff of BLOOMBERG. Cookson said that he will "look for other ways to support professional teams financially." Cookson said “imposing a new league isn’t the right way forward” for a sport that has more than a century of tradition in its European heartland. A Sky exec met with a dozen teams on Feb. 13 in Geneva about the proposed championship, which "would have given the squads half the revenue." In a pitch to investors, the project organizers, led by former ManU Sponsorship Manager Jonathan Price, "had proposed as many as 10 new races on four continents" in '14. Cookson said that the UCI is still talking to Sky, among other organizations, "about ways of developing the sport" (BLOOMBERG, 11/26).