01/02/2023

"It's time for the athletes to take more control over the sport they practice" - Jan Bakelants calls for changes in UCI and peloton organizations

Jan Bakelants the recent 36 years old retired rider, who raced for 11 years at the World Tour level isn't indifferent about the B&B Hotel's demise case.

The Belgian was one of the riders who couldn't find a team and was forced to retire. Still his retirement was already on his mind and was more planned than the riders from B&B Hotels who retired due to the team's demise.

"There are several things that don't convince me. Firstly, the behavior of the UCI. It seems to me an organization without strength, without teeth. This thing happened, they took note and that was it. They said nothing. But if I presented a business plan like that and pulled the plug on it overnight, surely someone would ask me some questions", Bakelants said about the B&B Hotels-KTM case to Sporza.

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The situation involving B&B Hotels-KTM case, isn't new in professional cycling, from time to time it appears a team with ambitious plans who in the end don't materialize. one of the most recent cases was the Polish CCC team.

"It happens at least once every three years, just think about how the 'Pegasus' project ended or what happened to the CCC. The UCI only wants transfers to be official from the first day of August and that's fine too. But then why doesn't anyone immediately check that the teams have the necessary funds to put riders under contract? It's only done in October and that's when the problems arise. It's absurd", he continued.

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Bakelants continue laying critics to the organizations and sport rulers since, there are some flaws in the cycling transfers market for a long time that can be corrected.

"It's time for the athletes to take more control over the sport they practice. The cycling world is on a dead-end street. I understand the way ASO (the company that organizes, among other things, the Tour de France, ed) behaves: they have the goose that lays the golden eggs, and they have no reason to slaughter it and share the pieces with others. Everyone is looking to their own garden, but this will not make cycling grow any further", he finished.