PARIS (Reuters) – The professional riders association said on Friday it would not accept any global pay cut plan for cyclists amid the coronavirus crisis and called for unity across the sport.
The pandemic has hit cycling hard, with events cancelled and teams withdrawing from racing. Elite team Lotto Soudal said its riders had accepted a pay cut as part of its efforts to stay afloat after racing was halted last month.
“We’ll never accept a generalized reduction in salaries. We’ll evaluate each case individually and study how to limit the problems with specific help and strategies,” Laura Mora, secretary of the professional riders association (CPA), said in a statement.
“We’re all in the same boat, in the middle of a storm, and so to save everyone, we’ve got to respect the common principles and really work as a team.”
May’s Giro d’Italia has already been postponed, as well as top one-day classics Milan-Sanremo, Paris-Roubaix, Tour of Flanders and Liege-Bastogne-Liege.
Organisers of the June 27-July 19 Tour de France remain tight-lipped about whether the world’s greatest race can be held as scheduled as France is on lockdown since March 17.
(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Nick Tattersall)
