Fernando Alonso could be a match made in heaven for professional cycling and the UCI

You wouldn’t blame Fernando Alonso for waking up this morning feeling some of the bitter acrimony of a spurned lover.

While his marriage with Ferrari may be heading to the proverbial divorce courts, he could take solace, should he seek it, in the arms of the mistress he’s been openly courting for the past year or so – lady cycling.

The relationship analogy is stretched somewhat by the vastly differing nature of his commitments to the two sports, of course, but there is no doubting that those at the top level of cycling are keen to secure the Formula 1 driver’s affections, in whatever form.

As Brian Cookson revealed to me at the end of last week, Alonso won’t be dashing to the WorldTour altar any time soon, having not applied for a licence at the top level for 2015.

However, a year-long engagement period at Pro Continental level is not only possible, but it seems would be positively encouraged by the president of the International Cycling Union, who said he would “support them in any way we can”.

That Alonso would bring a star quality to cycling is in little doubt. At the UCI Road World Championships in Florence last year, his presence among the team buses caused a scrum of media and fan excitement worthy of a Hollywood A-lister.

When he made a rather last-minute appearance at the Giro d’Italia earlier this year, a place was found for him in a VIP car for the day (rather hurriedly, I’m told), before he was afforded the honour of presenting the maglia rosa at the end of the stage.

But it’s not just glamour and potential big bucks that Alonso promises, but also a sustainability that the sport is badly lacking.

As the sports investment firm NOVO pointed out after joining forces with Alonso: “A pro cycling team is not a business. If we are going to do this, we want to be around for the long term. We don’t want to come in or out based on a sponsor need, so we wanted to create our own franchise, one that would sustain beyond a three or five-year sponsorship deal.”

Exactly how they manage to do that remains to be seen, but that must surely be music to the ears of riders and other teams alike. Uncertainty breeds uncertainty. Even rival teams would be grateful for any model upon which to work that would offer a greater surety than the whims of incredibly wealthy individuals or a nobly ambitious, but ultimately bottom-line-serving sponsor or bike manufacturer.

As for any innovations to be introduced to the sport, Team Sky have already dabbled heavily, Omega Pharma - Quick-Step and Mark Cavendish’s collaboration with McLaren is well established, but there is certainly more to come.

Which begs the question, what will the traditionalists make of any changes? While some embrace the new order, some in the sport and many die-hard fans would rather it stayed truer to its historic roots than constantly tried to come up with new tricks.

Think Team Sky’s doomed black-out blinds around the team bus and the now ubiquitous rollers for rider warm-downs as two extreme examples.

And yet change is what the sport is all about for now - new race calendars and new team structures, under the guidance of a still relatively new UCI president.

With the Giro d’Italia route unveiled today, Cookson reiterated to me last week his desire to see at least one of the Grand Tours cut in size. He acknowledges this “might be a bitter pill to swallow”, but sees it as essential for the wellbeing of the sport and, crucially, its riders.

Such decisions won’t be popular in the main. Fans are rightly attached to the vagaries and variety of different races. Even the cancellation of the four-year-old Tour of Beijing was met with criticism from some. But few would dispute cycling has been a sport in need of change for some time.

After a year in charge, Cookson believes he can guide the various relationship dynamics on to safer, steadier territory.

After over a year flirting from the sidelines, we should soon see what Alonso can bring to the party.

Both are attempting to woo the sport in very different ways. How those involved in it respond to the advances, remains to be seen.