Global Spread Don't Mean a Good Thing

by EDWARD PICKERING, EDITOR

Procycling magazine, ISSUE 236 / DECEMBER 2017

Professional cycling usually takes it as a given that the spread of racing into new territories and countries is a Good Thing. And on the face of it, who can argue? Ex-UCI president Hein Verbruggen’s ‘mondialisation’ project (built on the foundation of cycling’s earlier forays into the USA and Colombia) has turned cycling into a major international sport. We have big, televised races in South America, Canada, the USA, Asia and all over Europe. And the riders of those countries have grown in quality and number. The races of the old cycling countries have prospered, and they’re bolstered by new and interesting events in new and interesting countries. Everybody’s happy – the fans get more varied racing while the beancounters tap into new markets.

However, recent developments have given me pause for thought. The Tour of Turkey may have been a washout on a sporting level, but I also wonder whether cycling, by giving Turkey a WorldTour race, is giving tacit legitimisation to what is a pretty unsavoury regime (read the Amnesty report for details). And the Giro’s announcement that it would start in Israel next year makes me uneasy. Bringing the Giro to Israel is an open attempt to change people’s perceptions of the country, to which I would say, my perception of the country is that it still has very serious questions to address regarding its treatment of Palestinians, but is trying to distract the world from it by having a (carefully presented) big party.

You can argue that cycling has nothing to do with politics, that it will help to bring democracy or peace to regions which are starved of them. You may just want to enjoy the sport and the scenery (Turkey and Israel are both beautiful backdrops for a bike race). But at the very least, it’s our responsibility to ask questions of the politicians and business people whose agendas underpin the decisions to take races to troubled regions.