Europe
meets Asia at the Caucasus Mountains.
The Caucasus stretch nearly 700 miles through Russia, Azerbaijan,
Georgia, and Armenia. The ranges of the
Caucasus lead to the Black and Caspian Seas and in 2014 the world will be
introduced to the region with the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. It was hoped that later in 2014 the world’s
best bike riders would visit the Caucasus for the first ever Tour of Russia.
The
Tour of Russia, a one week stage race, would begin in St. Petersburg and move
south to Moscow. A rest day would send
the riders by air to Sochi for the final stages in the Caucasus. The coming Olympics to be held in Sochi have
made the seaside resort a new Mecca for Russian sports. The city will host the 2018 FIFA World Cup
and plans have been finalized for a series of Formula I races.
Earlier in the month the
SBT crew blogged about the UCI’s announcement of the 18 teams that will make up
this year’s World Tour. In a very
surprise move by the UCI, the Russian Katusha Team was not granted World Tour
status by the UCI. This was a shocking decision
seeing that Katusha finished last season as the overall #2 ranked team in the
world. In statement regarding the
rejection of Katusha, the UCI released a comment saying that they would make no
comment on the rejection of Katusha. The matter was made more puzzling when the UCI
issued two words in defending their slight of Katusha: “ethical reasons.”
Russia
has made significant investments to the Sochi and Caucasus region in preparation
for the Olympics. New roads have been created,
old roads have been improved, hotels and other infrastructures are all brand
new. In an interview with Reuters, former
Federation of Cycling Sport of Russia (FCSR) president Alexander Gusyatnikov
said, “money and (good) roads were required for Russia to be able to stage such
a race” and now, both are in place.
The
FCSR is responding to the Katusha decision by threatening to back out of a
handshake deal with UCI for the Tour of Russia.
This news comes at a time when the UCI is committing greater resources
to taking the World Tour global. The
Tour will begin the season in Australia and will also host events in China and
Canada.
Stay
tuned for developments regarding both Katusha’s World Tour status and the Tour of
Russia. Katusha is owned by billionaire
Igor Makarov. The 50-year old oil and
gas magnate is also president of the Russian Cycling Federation and a board
member of UCI. He has lobbied to be the
president of UCI. This may not be over…
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