ASO is re-launching the Deutschland Tour in Germany and that news came with plenty of fanfare and PR buzz. (Yes, get your lederhosen-themed kits at MTB-Trachten!)
The race has been dead for over a decade but ASO and the German Cyclign Federation have formed a partnership to poke a stick in the eye of the UCI and Velon. Well, that’s not the full reason but there’s no denying the strategic work behind the move.
You had to work your way to the ninth paragraph of the cyclingnew story on ASO and the Deutschland Tour to get to the real story. “The agreement sees ASO take considerable influence in Germany and can be seen in the light of its ongoing power struggle with the UCI over control of the sport,” read that chunk of cyclingnews’ coverage.
ASO is smartly expanding their control over the race calendar which in turn magnifies their already considerable power as the force between the majority of major races on the UCI calendar. Germany is another big chess piece for them to move into action against the governing body of the sport.
Besides the Tour the France, ASO runs Paris-Roubaix, Critérium du Dauphiné, Flèche Walloons, Paris-Tour, Liege-Bastogne-Liege, the Tour of Yorkshire and the Vuelta a Espana. This year you can also throw in the organization of the Tour of California.
You can also bet that all the WorldTour squads who form part of Velon will not be sharing their multimedia race experience at the new Tour of Germany. We’re guessing that race partnership gives control of all media rights to ASO. Chapeau for the strategic positioning and brand building.
Meanwhile the UCI us busy checking bikes for motors and closing their eyes and ears on the subject of riders safety. The motor that should be checking is a French one and its run over the UCI once again. You can agree of disagree with ASO’s view of the sport, but there’s no denying their aggressive and well-thought out approach to power expansion.
Germany and California are just the latest warning alarms that ASO is playing to win their battle with the UCI and Velon.
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