Tour Pledges Return to London

The chances of the Tour de France returning to London in the next couple of years look stronger after the mayor, Ken Livingstone, and the Tour organizer, Christian Prudhomme, met yesterday. Prudhomme said afterwards: "We will come back. We were so impressed by the London Grand Départ 2007 and the working relationship that we have that we can't consider not coming." London may host a stage before 2010, with another Grand Départ possible after the 2012 Olympics.

It may have looked like business as usual yesterday for the Tour head - another major city, another friendly mayor - but this week's build-up to his company's first major race of the year, Paris-Nice, which starts on Sunday, is anything but normal because of the stand-off between the Tour's organizers, ASO, and the world governing body, the UCI.

ASO and the UCI are at loggerheads over two issues, primarily the entry criteria to this year's Tour, which stipulate that the ASO must take all 18 teams in the UCI's elite ProTour circuit. ASO events are not in the ProTour, because it has been unable to reach agreement over the system with the UCI for the last four years. Thus, Paris-Nice, at present, is held outside UCI rules, under those of the French federation, a move the governing body considers illegal. Its spokesman said yesterday: "For us, Paris-Nice does not exist at present." All the possible starters in the race have received emails from the head of the UCI, Pat McQuaid, warning them that they face sanctions if they start the race.

As things stood last night, the 160 riders expected to race next week, including Britain's David Millar, face six-month bans, SFr10,000 (£4,800) fines and a ban from the world championships and Olympic Games. The French federation is threatened with exclusion from the world championships and Olympics. The teams face a fine and possible suspension.

The UCI has refused to negotiate unless Paris-Nice is put back on the international calendar, but yesterday a possible get-out appeared after the international teams' organization said it might reconsider entry criteria for the Tour. Of the interested parties, the teams have the most to lose if riders are banned wholesale because their sponsors will lose exposure.

The UCI said last night it was surprised by the move. "It's a bit strange, as we have always defended the teams' interests, but if they have written confirmation of this, we are ready to discuss it," their spokesman, Enrico Carpani, said yesterday. "But it needs to be made clear that we will only do that if Paris-Nice is put back on the international calendar."