The UCI has clarified the situation with regards to the official name of the Luxembourg ProTeam of Andy and Frank Schleck, Fabian Cancellara and Chris Horner, saying that it will enforce the usual two sponsor rule.
Both a recent team communication and today’s Santos Tour Down Under press release referred to the team as RadioShack-Nissan-Trek, although the team itself is aware of the UCI regulations on the matter.
VeloNation contacted UCI WorldTour Coordinator Javier Barrio for clarification; he was clear on the issue.
“We haven’t published the 2012 teams and rosters on our website yet; this will be done probably sometime next week. But I can tell you that when we do that, you will see the official team name is ‘RadioShack – Nissan’,” he said.
“It is true the team initially requested the designation “RadioShack-Nissan-Trek”. The request was denied based on art. 2.15.050 of UCI regulations, which has not changed.”
That regulation is as follows:
Article 2.15.050: The name of the UCI ProTeam must be either that of the company or brand name of the principal partner or that of one or both of the two principal partners, or the name of its paying agent. Upon specific request, the Professional Cycling Council may authorize another designation which is linked to the UCI ProTeam project.
The licence commission may refuse the licence because of a resemblance of the name of a new UCI ProTeam, its paying agent or its principal partners which is likely to create confusion with another UCI ProTeam.
Barrio said that there is a degree of flexibility outside of UCI races, but otherwise not.
“We are talking about official team names. We are not going to prevent the team from using other designations in its communication or marketing practices,” he said, thus suggesting that the press release on the website did not break the regulations. “But in UCI events, the team is to be known as ‘RadioShack – Nissan.’”
Barrio believes the Santos Tour Down Under release title may have been due to confusion. “I can only surmise this is due to the fact that we have yet to publish the list of 2012 teams,” he said. “Once we do this, I am sure the organiser will bring its communication in line with official designations.”
Pezcyclingnews journalist Alastair Hamilton interviewed the team’s general manager Johan Bruyneel earlier this week, and touched on the issue. His feature has not yet been published on the site, but he gave a condensed snippet on Twitter. “What's the team name?,” he asked during the interview. “Do you read the teams press release? It’s RS-N-T [RadioShack-Nissan-Trek],” Bruyneel replied. “What about UCI?” Hamilton responded. “Ask the UCI!” said Bruyneel.
The UCI has now spoken. The semi-amalgamation of the RadioShack and Leopard Trek teams has strengthened the squad, boosting its chances of success in 2012. RadioShack and Nissan stand to gain as a result, with all results gained by the team to feature those two brands.
For Trek, though, the new team backing means that it won’t be as immediately visible as it was this past season.