Cycling-Froome's motorhome plan for Tour scuppered by UCI

LONDON, June 19 (Reuters) - Team Sky's plan to put Chris Froome up in a private motorhome for the Tour de France was scuppered on Friday when cycling's governing body ruled that riders must stay in official hotels during all road stage races. The team wanted the 2013 champion to stay in a motorhome during next month's race to avoid having to adapt to different hotel conditions on a daily basis. However, the International Cycling Union (UCI) would not sanction the proposal. "In all road stage races on the international calendar the organisers must cover the subsistence expenses of the teams from the night before the start to the final day," the UCI's management committee said in a statement. "Riders must stay in the hotels provided by the organiser throughout the entire duration of the race. The decision was made in order to reaffirm absolute fairness between all riders." Sky tried out the motorhome setup with Richie Porte in last month's Giro d'Italia. Team principal Dave Brailsford feels some hotels provided this year were "not great" and says that being able to sleep in familiar surroundings would help to improve the daily recovery process as "sport science is massive on sleep at the moment". The gruelling three-week Tour will be held from July 4-26. (Reporting by Pritha Sarkar, editing by Tony Jimenez)