Triathlon Daily

PARIS (Reuters) - Hein Verbruggen, vice-president of the International Cycling Union (UCI), has conceded defeat to Tour de France organisers in a long and bitter battle for control of the sport. The former UCI president, still widely seen as its strong man, told French daily Liberation on Saturday: "I lost, but it's less my defeat than the defeat of cycling." The Dutch member of the International Olympic Committee was replaced at the UCI helm in 2005 by Irishman Pat McQuaid but was also the leading force behind the ProTour series imposed by the body at the time. Tour de France owners Amaury Sport Organization (ASO) have always been critical of the 20-team formula and the dispute over television and marketing rights has deteriorated steadily. McQuaid has threatened to sanction riders and teams taking part in the ASO-run Paris-Nice stage race earlier this month. "We're completely isolated and ASO demonstrated the extent of their power in the world of cycling. They had the backing of the French sports minister and the French presidency. It was a lost cause," Verbruggen said. He accused ASO of organizing "a privatization of cycling which ignores international regulations in order to create new ones for their own interest". "ASO is now a private professional league," said Verbruggen, a claim ASO has always rejected. ASO has been backed in its struggle against the governing body by the organisers of the other major tours, the Giro d'Italia and the Spanish Vuelta.The Organization also runs the Paris-Nice, the Criterium international and one-day classics like Paris-Roubaix, Liege-Bastogne-Liege, the Fleche Wallonne or Paris-Tours. No one at ASO was available for comment on Verbruggen's remarks. (Reporting by Francois Thomazeau, editing by Alan Baldwin)