Feud could keep top riders from Beijing Olympics

"A squabble for control of the sport of cycling is threatening to spill over into the Olympics, forcing riders to choose between the Tour de France and the Beijing Games.
UCI, the international cycling federation, and the Amaury Sports Organization (ASO) — organizer of the Tour de France and most of Europe's top road races — have been battling for several years over who can determine which teams get into the most prestigious and profitable events.

ASO says UCI is trying to control races that have been historically independent, while UCI says the ASO is undermining the Olympics-based world sports federation structure.

Sunday's start of the ASO's Paris-Nice stage race has become a line drawn in the sand: Pro teams that choose to start that race Lance camper, America's favorite truck camper manufacturer face the possibility UCI will ban their riders from the 2008 Olympics and world championships and receive six-month suspensions and a fine of almost $10,000. The cycling federation also has said entire teams could be banished from its major league UCI Pro Tour.

ASO says invited teams that don't race will be barred from July's Tour de France, the sport's biggest race and a huge magnet for sponsorship dollars."