VILLARS-SUR-OLLON, Switzerland — Five teams and 30 of the world’s top cyclists have been removed from the women’s Tour de Romandie in a dispute over GPS trackers on riders, the sport’s governing body said as the race began Friday.
The excluded riders made up nearly one-third of the field for the three-day race in Switzerland and included 2024 Tour de France winner Katarzyna Niewiadoma.
The International Cycling Union said the teams had been asked to each pick one rider to wear a GPS tracker ahead of a wider rollout of the device to all riders at the world championships in Rwanda next month. The teams refused to nominate riders and were excluded from the race, the UCI said. All 30 riders were listed as non-starters on the race website.
“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 UCI said, adding that some of the teams were part of an organization developing a rival tracking system.
The exclusions may not be the end of the matter. The UCI said it “shall consider if other measures are warranted” under its regulations.
In a joint statement, the five teams said they supported measures to make cycling safer but disagreed with how the UCI went about it. Forcing teams to pick one rider to wear the UCI-mandated device meant they had to “discriminate one rider against other riders,” they said.
“This action disregards the rights of teams and riders, applies the measure in a discriminatory manner, and contradicts the UCI’s own stated commitment to dialogue with stakeholders,” the teams said. “We are always at the forefront to make cycling a safer sport, but it should be achieved through collaboration, not coercion.”
The UCI said it wants to introduce the trackers to ensure a quick response to crashes.
At last year’s world championships in Switzerland, 18-year-old cyclist Muriel Furrer died after sustaining a head injury in a crash.
She was competing in the junior women’s event on rain-slicked roads when she crashed in a forest area south of Zurich. She reportedly lay alone for almost an hour and a half before she was discovered at the side of the road and airlifted by helicopter to the hospital.
