DerbyWheel CEO James Pope says he doesn’t want to go to war with the UCI – but at present, the world cycling governing body is refusing even to have a meeting with the start-up keirin competition.

‘It was never our desire to be on the UCI calendar,’ Pope told the Roadman Podcast. ‘We are not seeking the permission of the UCI, and we are not going to be operating our events under the UCI rules and regulations.

‘We are setting ourselves up to be the operator and regulator of pro keirin racing globally. I’m hopeful that we can reach some way of collaborating with the UCI in the future. But at the moment they are refusing to have a meeting with us even.

‘Everything is being done via letter and correspondence. I would love to get round the table with them and just have a sensible discussion, to try and get to the bottom of what their concerns are.’

‘Prepared to take that risk’

This means DerbyWheel continues to be classed as a ‘forbidden event’ by the UCI. Any rider choosing to participate in DerbyWheel could be fined or banned from UCI competition, meaning they could not compete at national or world championship level.

‘They can’t stop us from organising an independent bike race,’ Pope explains. ‘But what they can do is they can penalise the riders, and we absolutely do not want that.

‘We’ve been very transparent with the riders about this. They need to make their own assessment of the risks.

‘There is quite a large group of riders who are prepared to take that risk, because at the minute their choice is quit cycling and get a normal job, or continue riding their bike and come and become a professional keirin rider.

‘Build that foundation’

‘We don’t want to go to war with the UCI. We’re fully prepared, and have built our organisation to be independent.

‘But, at the same token, we would really hope the UCI don’t penalise the riders for wanting to try and earn a living and stay in the sport.’

Pope said DerbyWheel did not intend to challenge the UCI as the pinnacle of track cycling. ‘What isn’t going well is the middle and the bottom level. We want to build that foundation.

‘We are trying to reach a resolution, a positive resolution with the UCI, but it is an ongoing process.’

‘Big players will wait’

Pope didn’t offer a new date for the much-delayed test event; but he did confirm that he expected ‘quite a few’ Olympic competitors to sign up for his new competition, following the Paris games.

He also implied that the competition could launch without the support of major betting companies. He relates the story of Korean keirin’s first race in the mid-1990s, which saw a total of US$ 300 bet on it. Today, keirin’s annual turnover in Korea is US$ 1.6 billion.

‘This is going to take time to get off the ground. We’re hoping to get some early adopters as betting partners. (But) the big players like Bet365 and Paddy Power, they will more than likely wait a year, two years, maybe more, to see how we grow and develop.’