North American riders create representative association

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Christian Vande Velde (Garmin-Sharp) rolls across the line after his final pro race in the United States(Image credit: Jonathan Devich/epicimages.us)

North American riders have announced the creation of an association that will defend their interests and represent riders in attempts to develop and improve professional cycling.

The ANAPRC (Association of North American Professional Road Cyclists) was formally created in October 2014 and in November became a member of the CPA (Cyclistes Professionels Associés), the global riders' association headed by Gianni Bugno. As the 2015 season gets underway, the North American riders have revealed their plans and the CPA has welcomed them as the eighth national association under the CPA umbrella.

On its website (www.anaprc.com), ANAPRC pointed out it is not a full-service athletes’ union for North American road cyclists. However, based on an initial survey of its members, ANAPRC will immediately focus on the following issues: an Extreme Weather Protocol and the development of a rule that would provide for an automatic trigger for a race cancellation/re-route/neutralization in unsafe weather conditions, the expansion of the CPA to represent every rider in the peloton, an increase the stability of teams, the creation of new revenue streams and the modernizing the presentation of the sport to audiences.

“It’s time that the riders and the CPA make a significant contribution to the big changes that we all hope will make our sport more modern and help it to grow,” Bookwalter said in a statement released by the CPA. “We riders have to decide if we want to do what we’ve always done – think only about ourselves individually – or if we want to work together to make changes that benefit all of us.”