A dispute that will make people speak, and which risks distorting the Female Romandie Tour 2025 (August 15-17)! While the stages race of Women's Worldtour begins this Friday noon with an individual time trial of 4.4 km between Huemoz and Villars-sur-Ollon, several major teams of the female peloton on the fifteen present at the start were disqualified from the race following a conflict with The International Cycling Union (UCI). Despite negotiations that lasted until the end and a compromise that seemed to have been found at the last minute, the 5 teams Lidl-Trek, Canyon SRAM, EF Education-Oatly, Visma-Lease a Bike et Team Picnic PostNL went to the end of their approach and were therefore excluded, their runners not aligning on this time in general panic. A situation linked to a disagreement with theUCI Regarding the new safety rules and the use of GPS monitoring and geolocation systems of runners during the race, a test carried out in Romandie upstream of World championships.
VIDEO – The UCI wants to set up new security measures
Discord between teams and the UCI on the use of the new GPS for safety system
A confused and harmful situation on a subject as important as security, and which risks putting a serious blow to the competitiveness of the Swiss test, already deprived of a Demi full ring (FDJ-Suez) sick and who also loses the other big favorite and headliner Kasia Niewiadom-Phinney (CANYON//SRAM zondacrypto). The unfortunate organizers have completely undergone the events, because the imbroglio happened between the teams and the International Federation. The dispute relates to the new GPS tracer, with a life -size test on these three days of racing in Switzerland for the Worlds. She plans to equip a team runner of a small tag of around 63 grams, capable of giving its position at any time. However, the rules concerning the location system have been imposed without real consultation and agreement.
According to the UCI, “The teams were required to designate a runner on the bike from which the GPS tracer would be fixed“, something that the five teams mentioned above refused to do, asking the UCI to take care of it itself, which led to their exclusion. The teams had proposed, as a compromise, to equip all the runners. The teams also regretted that the UCI imposes this system without installing it and taking charge of it, leaving the teams to the team mechanics to deal with them. The problem is that the UCI forces them, they or a third party, to install the system on their bikes without their authorization. According to them, this right belongs to them exclusively. There is also a commercial aspect: the teams invest in Velon For years. The system that the UCI now wishes to use is very similar. The Federation insists on using its system, but the teams fear that you no longer have access to data and information, and than years of investment in Velon were wasted.
A letter addressed to the UCI
Concretely, six teams sent a letter to the UCI this Friday-after having already openly expressed their disagreement at the meeting of directors Thursday afternoon-informing Matthew Knightstrategic sports manager of the UCI, which they would not accept to start with the new geolocation devices that the Federation counted to set up during this Romandie Touras a test before the world championships in Rwanda.
Teams Lidl-Trek, Canyon//SRAM zondacrypto, EF Education-Oatly, Visma | Lease a Bike, AG-Soudal et Picnic have signed this letter in which they detail the blocking points. The teams say that “The right to install a system on the bike of a runner belongs to the team concerned, a right recognized by all the actors of professional cycling, in particular the organizers who collaborate with the teams on the geolocation of runners for ten years“The letter goes so far as to emphasize that the teams have”Asked their staff to photograph anyone setting devices on team bikes and ask these people to identify themselves fully. They will be personally responsible for any accident, injury or damage resulting from such a device“, and that the teams themselves”will not rise, will not remove, will not charge or manipulate in any way whatsoever“, as they do with location devices or on -board cameras of Velon.
The UCI reacts in a press release and highlights its misunderstanding
For its part, the UCI logically reacted and expressed its misunderstanding in a press release published this Friday noon. “”The international cycling union regrets that certain teams appearing on the starting list of the Tour de Romandie Female have refused to comply with the rules of the race relating to the implementation of GPS tracers as part of the test of a new security system, the UCI communicated a few minutes after the (false) departure. This test will be conducted during the three stages of the UCI Women's WorldTour UCI Calendar. The decision of these teams to oppose the specific rules of the event is surprising and compromises the efforts of the cycling family to ensure the safety of all road runners thanks to the development of this new technology“, can we read in particular.
