"There is a form of dictatorship" - Cyrille Guimard critical of UCI Relegation Race

The UCI World Tour relegation race has been no stranger to criticism since its induction but perhaps none of its adversaries has been as brutal as Cyrille Guimard.

"We experienced a somewhat dramatic episode over the last six months of last year with these famous UCI points which, for me, largely ruin certain races. And there, we realized that some teams had already put in place a strategy for three years from now," he tells Cyclismactu.

"I find that this system distorts the tradition of the sport of cycling, where there is a starting line, a finishing line and a winner. There, the sports directors are developing a strategy not to win, but to put three riders in the top ten. Cycling is not a team sport, I have always said it and I repeat it, it is a commando sport in which part of the team will sacrifice itself for the leader," Guimard continues before reaching the climax of his scathing criticism.

"If we want to make a classification by points, it only has to be playful. But there, this point system, it only allows everyone to be controlled. There is a form of "dictatorship" which means that if you don't want to do as you are told, it won't work."