UCI Director Sportif programme starts next week

The International Cycling Union’s (UCI) Academy will start its management training programme for director sportifs next week at the World Cycling Centre in Aigle, Switzerland. Registration for the course opened in August the programme and, says the UCI, there has been plenty of interest, resulting in an oversubscription of applicants.

The course have been developed in consultation with UCI ProTour with the aim of further professionalising the sport in line with the UCI's ProTour objectives. The week will see Director Sportifs from UCI ProTeams and UCI Pro Continental Teams come together to undertake specifically designed workshops, develop practical skills, enhance knowledge sharing throughout the teams and ultimately assist with the overall global development of the sport.

UCI ProTour manager Alain Rumpf said: "Next week, 25 Director Sportifs from UCI ProTeams and UCI Pro Continental Teams will take part in the first Director Sportif programme at the World Cycling Centre.

“This constitutes a key step in the improvement of the quality of professional cycling worldwide, one of the goals pursued by the UCI ProTour since 2005. Ultimately, anyone who wishes to become a Director Sportif will have to be in possession of this diploma.”

The regulation will come into force by 2013 for UCI ProTeams and 2015 for UCI Professional Continental Teams.

Programme Manager Michael Cary added: “We were confident that this new and exciting programme would be well received by the UCI ProTeams. It has been developed with a large amount of industry input so that it addresses real requirements and issues faced by the Director Sportifs today.

"We are pleased with the response to date and look forward to welcoming the Director Sportifs to the World Cycling Centre and delivering this exciting initiative next week.”