The UCI is expanding the Pro Tour to Russia in 2009 by including a tour of the Sochi region. (This happens to be the site of the 2014 winter Olympic games.) What the heck is the UCI thinking? I'm usually a pretty big supporter of the UCI (as evidenced in my pro UCI rant here) because I feel that cycling does need a governing body to regulate the sport, but this is ridiculous! I totally understand globalizing the sport and making it grow but why grant Pro Tour status to an untested event? How the UCI can overlook proven events like the Tour of California or the Tour de Georgia is beyond me! It just seems logical to expand the Pro Tour with a race in the US rather than Russia.

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