Cycling: The Tour de France's Christian Prudhomme on the ProTour

Christian Prudhomme, the number two man in the Tour de France organization ASO, talked to Cyclismag about the ProTour: sporting, ethical and logistical reasons head his arguments.

Cyclismag: It has been announced today that Patrice Clerc, director of ASO, has received a letter from Belgium's cycling federation, the Ligue Royale Vélocipédique Belge (LRVB), that expresses concern that the Flèche Wallonne and Liege-Bastogne-Liege will be excluded from the ProTour…

Christian Prudhomme: You know who sent that letter to us? It was the assistant of Mr. Verbruggen. We have a fax to prove that. Mr Verbruggen has brought a great deal to cycling, he is very intelligent and, to some people, can be a frightening figure. He also wants to impose great reforms in cycling very quickly. But we don’t want to reduce the debate down to personal levels: our concerns relate to the principle of the ProTour and the methods used to establish it.