Tour Down Under 2016: ‘Puzzling’ why Chris Froome, Peter Sagan skipped TDU

UCI president Brian Cookson concedes the UCI must find a way to make its WorldTour events more attractive to the world’s best riders.

MALLORCA, SPAIN - JANUARY 12: Chris Froome of Great Britain and Team Sky trains on his time tiral bike during a media day at a Team Sky Training Camp on January 12, 2016 in Mallorca, Spain. (Photo by Bryn Lennon/Getty Images)

UCI president Brian Cookson concedes the UCI must find a way to make its WorldTour events more attractive to the world’s best riders in light of “puzzling” decisions by Chris Froome and Peter Sagan to skip the TDU in favour of second-tier events.

Sagan is currently racing the Tour de San Luis in Argentina while Froome will open his season at the Herald Sun Tour two weeks after the TDU started.

“I think it’s an odd decision by Team Sky, it’s not a helpful decision, but one understands why teams sometimes make these decisions,” he said. “It’s a long season and riders need to prepare in the best way but certainly that was a puzzling decision to me. In a way, perhaps, the Tour Down Under has been a little bit of a victim of its own success: it’s a very difficult event to win, the teams and riders know that, and perhaps some of them choose to have a more gentle start to the season.

“The whole point of the structure of the reforms is to try to iron out some these inconsistencies where teams choose to send riders to events that are not part of the WorldTour.”

It’s understood organisers of the Tour de San Luis lure teams and riders to Argentina by offering money — which the TDU does not.

“It’s not a good idea to force organisers to pay to bring individual riders to events, but one understands why, when teams are in a very fragile financial situation, they might choose to take advantage of those possibilities,” Cookson said.

“Interestingly, I was talking to Mark Cavendish before Christmas and he tells me his program is not defined by being paid to go somewhere or not — it’s defined by what he feels is the best preparation for him.

“And if he doesn’t want a high- key start to the season, I think we have to understand that.

“They’re not circus performers, they’re serious athletes who have to periodise their training and use their skills to get the best results.”

Tourism Minister Leon Bignell has also responded to critics who suggested the TDU was losing its shine because Froome had chosen to open his season at the Herald Sun Tour instead next month.

“Some people might say ‘Froome is not here’, well Froome is not ready to race this week, he’s got two goals this year — the Olympics and Tour de France — so people will always set their schedule like Cadel (Evans) who didn’t always ride the Santos Tour Down Under as well.”

Originally published as Tour Down Under 2016: ‘Puzzling’ why Chris Froome, Peter Sagan skipped TDU