The International Cycling Union (UCI) will not recognize this year's Paris-Nice race in an escalating dispute with Tour de France organizers.
UCI chief Pat McQuaid sent a letter on Monday to all professional teams to explain why it will not oversee the 75-year-old race organized by French group Amaury Sports Organization (ASO), which also owns the Tour.
The rift is jeopardizing the Tour itself, with UCI threatening to withdraw anti-doping regulators from the sport's marquee event if organizers and French cycling authorities do not hold their events under UCI's jurisdiction.
McQuaid blamed the impasse on the ASO's decision to manage the Paris-Nice "under the exclusive jurisdiction of French law."
The UCI said that it would not recognize the winner or the results of the Paris-Nice.
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