Five teams excluded from the female Romandie Tour because of a dispute with the UCI on the installation of GPS trackers

Thirty runners including the third of the last Tour de France women, Katarzyna Niewiadoma, were disqualified before the first stage on Friday.

“The international cycling union regrets that certain teams departing from the Tour de Romandie Female have refused to follow the rules of the race concerning the installation of GPS trackers during a test for a new security system. The decision of these teams is surprising and undermines the efforts of the bicycle family to ensure the safety of all the runners on the road (…).. In a press release Published Friday August 15, just before the first stage of the Swiss World Tour race, the UCI disqualified the Canyon // Sram Zondacrypto training, Visma-lease A Bike, Picnic Postnl, EF Education-Oatly and Lidl-Trek.

This unexpected thunderclap therefore put out of the race some of the contenders for the final victory, including the third of the recent Tour de France women Katarzyna Niewiadoma, Niamh Fisher-Black or Gaia Realini. Thus, the inaugural time trial of Villars-sur-Ollon, won by the Spanish Paula Blasi (UAE-Adq) ahead of Urska Zigart (AG Insurance-Soudal) and the Frenchman Juliette Labous (FDJ-Suez), was only disputed by 63 runners.

“The objective of this test is to refine the security monitoring software and establish protocols to provide real -time data to racing management, medical teams and UCI commissioners. The system must strengthen runners during the race and respond quickly in the event of an incident”justified the UCI, who explains that he informed the teams on August 7. The implementation of this initiative comes a year after the death in the middle of the young Muriel Furrer (18 years old) at the world's previous ones. The latter had only been found for long minutes after her accident.

On this Tour de Romandie, each team at the start was to designate a runner whose bike would be equipped with a 63 gram GPS tracker. Some teams have pointed out the lack of consultation with the body. “Earlier this week, all the teams concerned sent official letters to the UCI to express their support for the safety of runners but also to raise serious concerns about the unilateral taxation of the device, a ream via a press release (link in English). We have clearly indicated that we would not select the runner ourselves, nor would not install, will withdraw nor enter the device. The UCI was free to select a runner and install the device under its own responsibility “.

Raised, the Dutch training recently titled on the Grande Louche with Pauline Ferrand-Prévôt, argues that “The UCI has chosen to impose this measure without explicit consent”. “The reason why she refuses to designate a runner herself remains unknown and unanswered. Despite the multiple requests from the teams in the last two days, the UCI commissioners have not been able to demonstrate on the basis of what specific regulations of the UCI, the teams are forced to discriminate a runner compared to another”continues the press release.

A conflict resolution must intervene quickly insofar as the same system is planned on the Worlds planned in Rwanda from September 21 to 28.