Tinkoff-Saxo make demands on Vuelta organisers and UCI following Sagan moto collision
Team ꦺdoesn't rule out legal action in strongly-worded open letter
A few days after 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Peter Sagan was hit by a ne🤡utral service motorbike and forcꦆed to abandon the Vuelta a España, the Tinkoff-Saxo team has issued a strongly-worded open letter addressed to Unipublic, t﷽he orga♌nisers of the Vuelta and the UCI, cycling’s governing body.
The possibility of following through on their 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:threat of legal action is far from ruled out but the ﷽team has taken the chance to make a series of demands, including calls for measures to be taken to increase the safety of riders.
Sagan was hit by two fine♈s in the hot-headed aftermath of the incident on stage 8 of the race - 200 Swiss Francs 𝐆for “for threats and insults” and a further 100 for “behaviour which damages the image of cycling" - and the team is demanding that the latter be revoked. It also calls upon Unipublic to acknowledge its accountability by issuing a public apology and making a donation to a charity of the team's choosing to the value of the prize money for the points classification.
Signed Tinkoff S/A, the letter argues that “it would be only reasonable to seek proper indemnification from the responsible party/ies,” but states that at thisꦺ point in time “our team’s priority is that race organisers and other stakeholders learn from this incident and come up with concrete measures to promote ꦗthe safety of the riders and create a better racing environment.”
The demands are set out as follows:
1. Unipublic as La Vuelta’s race organiser issue a public apology for the incident, something not done to date;
2. Whilst not seeing this as in any way as compensating for our loss, we propose that Unipublic offer a donation to a charity organization - to be named by Tinkoff Sport A/S in agreement with Peter Sagan - equal to the value of the prize for the Green Jersey victory, or suggest an alternative which acknowledges that as race organiser it has accountability for the safety of its event;
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3. Unipublic take appropriate and concrete measures to prevent similar incidents in the remaining stages of the race and its future events;
4. Tinkoff Sport A/S requests that the Union Cycliste Internationale (Uci) revoke the fine to our rider for "behavior that damages the image of cycling". The team and Peter Sagan accept the other fine for the reaction Peter Sagan had after the crash but it is simply inappropriate to fine him for damaging the image of cycling under these circumstances;
5. We also request that the Uci initiate - in consultation with our and other teams’ representatives and other relevant stakeholders - a review of the rules regulating the admission to vehicles' drivers inside the race and the way vehicles are obliged to act while driving in the convoy and peloton, with the intent of implementing appropriate rules changes no later than the start of the 2016 race season.
Rider safety in relation to race vehicles is an issue that has come to the boil this season, and Tinkoff-Saxo's letter follows a similar one from BMC general manager Jim Ochowicz to the UCI, in which he cal♑ls for concrete steps to be taken.
BMC have been victims of sev💛eral incidents involving vehicles, with Taylor Phinney suffering a career-threatening injury last year and Greg van Avermaet being robbed of the chance to go for the stage win at Clásica San Sebastián last month. Jesse Sergeant of Trek Factory Racing wa🐭s mowed down by a Shimano neutral service car in the Tour of Flanders, breaking his collarbone, and it was a Shimano moto that collided with Sagan, though the company have stated that the driver was not employed by them but rather supplied by the race.
“Some🎉one please step forward!” Ochowicz wrote in his letter to the UCI. “Safety problems at races continue to accelerate and are now a nearly ever🐓yday issue."
Tinkoff-Saxo have given Unipublic and the UCI until the end of the Vuelta (September 1𝓰3), to respond to their letter, which concludes with a reiteration of the team's right to "initiate proceedings".