UCI 'condemns' five teams disqualified at Tour de Romandie Féminin over GPS tracker row, squads 'shocked and disappointed' by decision

The UCI has condemned the decision by five women's professional teams to not "comply with the rules for the race related to the implementation of GPS trackers as a test for a new safety system" at the Tour de Romandie Féminin.

As a result, the five – Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto, EF Education-Oatly, Lidl-Trek, Picnic PostNL and Visma-Lease a Bike – have all been excluded from taking part in the Women's WorldTour race in Switzerland, which began on Friday.

The argument was over the introduction of new GPS tracker systems, trialled by the UCI ahead of the World Championships, opposed by the teams because of an apparent lack of consultation.

The five teams were excluded due to not nominating the a rider to use the GPS tracker, not for wholesale refusal of the system. A joint statement from the five teams said they were "shocked and disappointed" by the decision.

The technology was trialled at the men's Tour de Suisse earlier this year, and will be used by all riders at the World Championships in Kigali, Rwanda in September. It has come out of consultations with the UCI's SafeR commission, and after Swiss 18-year-old Muriel Furrer died following a crash in the junior women’s road race at the event in Zürich, Switzerland last year.

In a statement, a UCI spokesperson said: "The decision of these teams to oppose the specific rules for the event is surprising, and undermines the cycling family’s efforts to ensure the safety of all riders in road cycling by developing this new technology.

"As communicated in the specific rules for the event and in accordance with articles 1.3.073 and 2.12.007/3.5.3 of the UCI Regulations, teams were required to designate one rider on whose bike the GPS tracker would be fixed. Teams were given further explanations during the Sport Directors pre-event meeting.

"The UCI regrets that certain teams have objected to the test by not nominating a rider to carry the tracking device and have therewith opted to be excluded from the Tour de Romandie Féminin. In view of this situation, the UCI shall consider if other measures are warranted in accordance with the UCI Regulations."

The UCI spokesperson concluded: "It should be noted that most of these teams are part of the Velon organisation which is the owner of its own data transmission system and is working on the development of its own GPS tracking system.

"The UCI’s priority is to ensure the safety of riders. It works with the entire cycling family towards this goal, and the collaboration with most stakeholders is positive and constructive. It is deplorable to witness the refusal of certain teams to move forward together to protect the safety of riders, and the UCI condemns their non-cooperation."

The joint statement reads: "We are shocked and disappointed by the UCI’s decision to disqualify several teams, including ours, from the Tour de Romandie Féminin.

"Earlier this week, all affected teams sent formal letters to the UCI expressing support for rider safety but raising serious concerns about the unilateral imposition of a GPS tracking device to just one of the riders per team."

The teams made clear that they would not select a rider themselves, and that the UCI or its technology partner could select a rider and install a device at their own volition.

"Despite our cooperation and the existence of a proven and collaborative safety tracking system already tested successfully in other major races (fully operational for the whole peloton and offered to the UCI), the UCI has chosen to impose this measure without clear consent, threaten disqualification, and now exclude us from the race for not selecting a rider ourselves," EF continued.

"The reason why they don’t want to nominate a rider themselves is still unknown and unanswered. Despite multiple requests by the teams over the last two days, the UCI commissaires were unable to demonstrate on the basis of which precise UCI rule teams are obligated to discriminate one rider against other riders in terms of obligations (except for officially referring to an email of the teams’s union) but have nevertheless decided to carry on and disqualify the teams with their riders."