Unibet.com jersey

BALSTA, Jul 3 (CP) - The Belgian-Swedish ProTour Team Unibet.com have left the AIGCP, which is the association of ProTour teams.

In a press release, manager Koen Terryn said: "We regret the distant attitude of the other ProTour teams in this matter. We conclude that the AIGCP – of which we are a full member – and their chairman Patrick Lefevre have never stood up for our rights. From now on, we no longer wish to be part of this AIGCP.

"We also regret the UCI’s laxity in rewarding us a ProTour licence without having laid down any guaranteed agreements with the organizers who are now discriminating and undeservedly excluding us," Terryn added.

"On my behalf and on behalf of our entire team, I explicitly want to call on the people not to boycott the Tour de France. This wouldn’t help us in any way. Furthermore, actions like these would damage international cycling even more, something we want to avoid at all times.

"Recently, our team proved to be a worthy Tour de France competitor after finishing second in the overall team classification of the Tour de Suisse. In this proper context, I hope that common sense prevails and I still hope to be invited to the most prestigious cycling event in the world, the Tour de France, after all," he concluded.

© Jeroen Michiels