Irish pair to miss new series

Cycling/Round-up: Talented Irish duo Mark Scanlon and Philip Deignan look set to miss some of cycling's biggest races during the next two seasons following the news this week that their Ag2R Prevoyance team has almost certainly lost out on a place in the new ProTour.

On Wednesday, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) announced the final three places in the provisional line-up for the new series, which will be similar to the Formula One set-up in motor racing and which will see 20 teams scrap it out in a season-long competition comprising the top events and riders in the sport.

Ag2R had applied for a place but the final slots have gone instead to Domina Vacanze, Saeco-Lampre and Bouygues Telecom (formerly Brioches La Boulangère). The Cofidis team of the new Irish professional Nicolas Roche is one of the 20 teams provisionally selected.

The rules of the new programme will enable Ag2R to take part in the events on the continental calendar, but will lock them out of many of the top-ranked ProTour races for the next four years. Team boss Vincent Lavenu was critical of the decision, telling L'Equipe that it was unjust.

"I think it is an insult to us. Over the last 13 years my team has proved its value and has established a good philosophy. But today it seems we have become victims of the economic changes that are taking place in cycling."

Despite the news, Scanlon felt that a place in the Tour de France next year is still possible. "Even if the ProTour goes ahead as planned, I think we should be able to get a wildcard place in the Tour," he said yesterday.

Meanwhile, the dispute between the Tour organisers, the Amaury Sports Organisation (ASO), and the UCI shows no signs of a resolution. ASO - and, to a lesser extent, the organisers of the Tours of Italy and Spain - have clashed with the UCI over the new series, saying that it is too centred on the financial aspect of the sport rather than ethical considerations. They also feel the selection of teams is too rigid.

The UCI have said they will press on regardless, raising the possibility that ASO-promoted events such as the Tour de France, Paris-Nice, Paris-Roubaix, Fleche Wallonne, Liege-Bastogne-Liege and Paris-Tours will remain outside the ProTour, so creating a considerable power struggle within the sport.