The four WorldTeams and one ProTeam disqualified from the Tour de Romandie Féminin in a dispute over GPS safety trackers being used as a part of a safety test at the three-day race, have hit back at the UCI in a letter stating that the sport governing body failed to answer their questions about the device while expressing the importance of consent and close collaboration of the teams.
The UCI announced earlier this month that a test of a GPS tracking system for rider safety would be conducted at the Tour de Romandie Féminin, held from August 15 to 17. It was intended to be part of a safety initiative from the UCI and its SafeR project and a test run ahead of the UCI Road World Championships in Rwanda, where all riders will carry a GPS tracker.
Lidl-Trek, Visma-Lease a Bike, Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto, EF Education-Oatly and Picnic-PostNL opted not to fix the device to one of their respective riders’ bikes, and were excluded from starting the opening stage, a 4.4-kilometre uphill time trial between Huémoz and Villars-sur-Odon at the Tour de Romandie on Friday.
A letter addressed to the UCI’s Strategic Sports Manager, Matthew Knight, on Friday, and signed by representatives from EF Education-Oatly, Lidl-Trek, Visma-Lease a Bike, Picnic PostNL, Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto and AG Soudal-Insurance, stated six main points had been communicated to the UCI Commissaires’ meeting earlier in the day that outlined their reasoning for not using the devices.
- Teams do not consent to the UCI’s imposition of the use of the tracking devices in the race (or any race for that matter).
- However, as the UCI is threatening the Teams with disqualification should a Team resist/refuse this, the Teams will not stop the UCI and/or its partner(s) from attaching tracking devices on its bicycles as the Teams do not have the time to legally challenge this position and believe it would be grossly unfair to all teams, the Teams’ riders, the race organiser and the fans if the Teams are disqualified from the race over a tracking test the UCI wishes to impose as the regulator for for the benefit of itself as a race organiser.
- However, the UCI is hereby put on notice that this will be done at the UCI/its partners’ own…
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