The madness of King McQuaid. Boston tea-party on wheels.
King George the 3rd, known these days as Patrick McQuaid, royal figure at the UCI, is distressed by the open revolt and "blackmail" of his subjects.
The team and international riders association (AIGCP and CPA) have threatened the UCI with a boycott of the Tour of Beijing if the organization does not rescind the wildly unpopular radio ban by May 1.
Despite massive pressure from teams, sponsors and riders, the king has turned a blind eye and plugged both ears, slipped on a powdered wig and wrote a new proclamation:
"(The) UCI has no requirement to consider itself bound by input from a particular stakeholder in deciding on the governance of the sport of cycling but out of consideration and good governance, UCI welcomes and considers any input. ...
"Simply put: the system does not have to adequately represent the interest of the teams and their employees (interests which, by the way, conflict among these two at many times) - or of any other particular stakeholder, it has to represent the best interests of the sport which is primordial." In other word, it's the classic taxation without representation scenario.
Sounds like revolution to Twisted Spoke and McQuaid will go down in defeat like King George, who later did go blind, deaf and deep into dementia. In the famous Declaration of Independence, the rebels accused King George of "repeated injuries and usurpations" and "absolute Tyranny." That almost sounds like a quote from Jonathan Vaughters.
Speaking of Vaughters, he made it clear today that hostilities have reached a new level. "We've been pushing back at the UCI privately since that time, but have only recently decided as a group to go public with our objections. The teams are unified more than ever," Vaughters said.
Radio Shack's Johan Bruyneel tweeted his support for the Beijing revolt: '"When dictatorship is a fact, revolution becomes a right." - Victor Hugo." Always work a French writer into the revolution -- the English hate the French.
Somebody with good sense, political savvy and a DVD of The Madness of King George better run to the castle. The King has gone mad and the rebels have loaded guns, radios and ear pieces.