The UCI has been defeated in its efforts to introduce gear restrictions in the pro peloton, with its appeal against the Belgian Competition Authority (BCA) – which had upheld a legal complaint from SRAM – thrown out in court.
According to multiple sources close to Cyclingnews, the Market Court in Brussels ruled on Wednesday in favour of the BCA, which in October had sided with component manufacturer SRAM and blocked the proposed trials surrounding what was officially known as the Maximum Gear Ratio Protocol.
How we got here
The appeal centred around the UCI’s plans to impose a gear restriction trial at the Tour of Guangxi in mid-October 2025. These restrictions limited riders to a maximum gear ratio equivalent to a 54T at the front and 11T at the rear.
However, because SRAM’s top-tier road groupset, Red AXS, is specced with a cassette with a 10-tooth smallest cog, the American brand argued it unfairly penalised riders using its groupset, and by proxy of making its groupsets illegal, SRAM argued that it indirectly labelled its groupsets as unsafe.
On these grounds and others, it sought to block the trial via the Belgian Competition Authority, triggering an investigation by the anti-trust authority to “determine whether the adoption of the ‘Maximum Gearing’ technical standard by the UCI amounts to an anticompetitive decision”.
On October 9th, six days before the race was set to begin, it succeeded. The trial was blocked.
“The standard, adopted under disputable conditions, is likely to cause harm to SRAM that is serious and difficult to repair, thereby justifying its suspension,” the BCA said in a statement at the time.
“The BCA recognises the legitimacy and importance for a sports regulator such as the UCI to ensure the safety of athletes. However, the procedures for determining technical standards enacted for this purpose, as well as the related tests, must meet essential…
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