Vuelta a España director Victor Cordero said that the International Cycling Union (UCI) told him it was breaking off negotiations about the ProTour calendar with the three major Tours at the start of stage two. The ongoing difficulties between French organiser ASO, Spanish RCS and Italian Unipublic might therefore have ended up in a dead end.
Cordero has nevertheless stated that he is still open for further talks. Put under pressure by these developments and the fact that the Vuelta a España isn't the most popular Grand Tour amongst the teams, the Spaniard told reporters, "We want to continue talking, and now it's more important than ever. There's no other way out." Whilst Cordero didn't want to speak for all three major Tours, he announced talks with his French and Italian counterparts (ASO: Patrice Clerc, Unipublic: Angelo Zomegnan) and said that there would be a formal reaction from the three in the next few days. "With my colleagues, we will think about a reaction," Cordero concluded.
