UCI boss, David Lappartient, has floated the idea of salary caps for cycling teams. The Frenchman admitted that a budged cap has the potential to divide the strong riders among different teams.
According to him, this idea needs to be taken into a deep consideration. That is why he plans to introduce these budges caps initially for big teams such as Team Sky etc.
Currently speaking, the average budget of UCI World Teams is around 18 million Euros. While on the other hand, Team Sky usually has double that amount at its disposal. Other ‘rich’ teams include Katusha-Alpecin and BMC, while many other teams such as FDJ and Cannondale usually find themselves at the bottom struggling to get the riders they need.
A worthy cause
“Let me first say this: I am against a salary cap for the riders, cyclists can earn as much as they want and teams have to pay as much for a rider as they want,” Lappartient said to Belgium’s Sporza television.
“What I am talking about is introducing a ceiling for the team’s budget in general, which means that if you pay a certain rider a high wage, you will have less money left for other riders. That means you would naturally have the strong riders better divided among various teams.”
Jean-Christophe Péraud joins the UCI as Manager of Equipment and the Fight against technological fraud https://t.co/azk07RS6FN pic.twitter.com/CdQdxzc1mC
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Since Lappartient took the office this September, he has campaigned on different causes; including the one to prevent motorized cheating in the professional peloton.
“What everyone wants is that races are attractive. People want to see open races instead of races that are completely blocked by a team with the best riders.” – he added.
