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Pat McQuaid Interview Part 3

UCI President gives his views on equipment rules in cycle sport and explains why those 'approved frame' stickers are A Good Thing...

In the third part of our exclusive interview with Pat McQuaid, the UCI President talks about technical innovation in cycle sport and the regulations that surround it.

The UCI sets the rules regarding the bikes and equipment used in UCI-sanctioned events, the best known of which is the minimum weight limit of 6.8kg for a road bike. At the start of last year, they introduced a new frame approval programme. Since then, for a new frame to be race-legal, the manufacturer has to submit it to the UCI for prior approval. If it complies with the rules, the frame gets an ‘approved’ sticker and it’s included on a list of approved products on the UCI’s website.

The UCI have also stated that they intend to extend this programme out to other equipment over time.

How do you respond to those in the bike industry who say that the UCI approved bike frame sticker programme stifles innovation, will deny smaller companies entry to the market, is bad for the cycle industry and is bad for the wider cycling community? I should add that these sentiments are expressed by senior people in companies taking part in the programme.

You may be hearing that from some senior people in the industry but we’re hearing the opposite. I’m hearing from senior people in the industry that they understand the UCI’s decision, they understand why the UCI is doing what it does, and why the UCI regulates the sport of cycling.

We only regulate the sport of cycling. Manufacturers are free to make what they want for leisure cyclists whenever they want, in whatever shape they want. We regulate the sport, and we have a philosophy behind the reasons for regulating the sport. That philosophy is that the sport is for athletes against athletes. and we therefore have to control a lot of the innovations, particularly innovations in relation to aerodynamics.

Other innovations – like electric gears – we’ve allowed because they don’t affect the athlete on the bike. Innovations that materially affect and give advantage to the athlete, we won’t allow. The industry understands that and is prepared to work with us on that, and we’ve a good relationship with the industry.

I’m not close enough to be able to give a really strong opinion but I don’t believe anything we have done is a negative towards small manufacturers.

Would you accept that continuous technical innovation in all aspects of bikes and kit is part and parcel of cycling and is a key part of what interests many people about cycle sport?

It still goes back to the philosophy of the sport of cycling. Technical innovations are certainly important but if we were to allow the sport to be driven by the market, goodness knows what sort of a bike guys would be racing on in 10 years’ time.

We understand there is a commercial market out there. The manufacturers are competing against each other and they’re looking for a technical advantage all the time, and that’s normal. But we can’t be the ones that suffer as a result of that.

So, what we’re trying to do is to globalise the sport and create new markets for the sport, and the industry understands this. Mike Sinyard at Specialized [founder and chairman] spoke to me on the phone a couple of weeks ago and he said, “Pat, we are completely behind what the UCI is doing at the moment” – in terms of [developing the sport in] Asia, places like that – “because that’s where we want to be and that’s where our markets are.”

So we’re working to develop the sport worldwide. That’s to the commercial advantage of the manufacturers. In return they must understand that we’ve a philosophy that the sport is about athletes. And they understand that this philosophy forces us to restrict the development of bikes to a certain extent.

A lot of brands in the bike industry started off as guy in workshop having an idea. Does the UCI’s sticker programme risk stifling that?

Not necessarily, no. I think that if a small manufacturer has a light bulb moment and [the product] can aid the bike in its forward movement without affecting the aerodynamics or the athlete, then there’s no reason it wouldn’t be allowed.

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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4 comments

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velotech_cycling | 12 years ago
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It's a revenue driver for the UCI & it keeps some key players on board. For a full explanation of why it's about as much of a "Good Thing" as a shipload of plague-infested rats being dropped off in the Olympic village, check the relevant bit on my blog at http://pimpmytoolbox.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/uci-craziness-and-all-that.h...

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Paul J replied to velotech_cycling | 12 years ago
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Well, before they introduced the approval scheme, people complained that they could never know in advance whether they'd be allowed to race if they turned up on the day with a new kind of bike. Also, I'm not 100% sure, but the UCI approval sticker isn't /required/. You can still turn up the day and take your chances with the commissaires - if your bike is conventional, you're unlikely to have a problem.

Finally, if you want to make bicycles and sell them to the general public, you definitely don't need a UCI sticker.

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Paul J | 12 years ago
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Personally, I think it's great in principle that the UCI regulates the machinery used in competition to avoid it becoming about the technology. I like the notion that the UCI approved sticker should mean "there's no significant aero/weight advantage from this bike" and riders on such bikes compete on a reasonably level playing field.

I'm not a fan of McQuaid or how he runs UCI or the sport. However, it's a good thing that the UCI tries to keep the competition focused on the riders, not the machinery.

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mythbuster | 12 years ago
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So what Pat McQuaid appears to be saying is that collusion with the largest manufacturers is OK and that if the equipment rules are fine for the already established brands then all is well...

It is important to keep in mind three things:

1.) currently successful companies all started in a shed, garage, or an eel farm (Giant) somewhere. They would have not succeeded if they had to pay their dues (money and time) to the UCI while struggling to make and sell their products.

2.) Sticker rules heavily favour the incumbents so of course they will not protest

3.) If UCI would keep the rules confined only to the ProTour level than McQuaid's statement "We only regulate the sport of cycling. Manufacturers are free to make what they want for leisure cyclists whenever they want, in whatever shape they want." would be true. However, UCI is pushing very heavily into the amateur racing which potentially affects everybody, not just the select elite. Therefore any manufacturer that wants to be able to sell any product to anyone will have to get a UCI sticker.

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