Tour de Romandie: an absurd conflict disrupts female competition

Everything starts from a 63 grams chip, fixed on the bike of a team runner. His goal? Athletes safety. In the event of a fall or problem, the cyclist can be found immediately and everyone agrees that it is an essential technological advance. On a machine with a minimum weight of 6.8 kg according to UCI regulations, nothing insurmountable therefore, even if the weight is always one of the fights in the discipline …

But Friday, on the Tour de Romandie female, this fight for a few grams ended at the war of trenches between five professional teams and the international cycling union. The former wanted the UCI to designate the runners carrying the tiny appendix, takes care of its installation, to load them and to keep them for the next step. The Federation wanted the training to take care of it.

A ridiculous imbroglio that ended up confirming the lidl-trek, canyon sram, e-ef education-oatly package, Visma-lease a bike and the Picnic Postnl team, in a war that did not make much sense and which took the French-speaking organizers hostage. They suffered the events, without having any chance of saving what could still be. They lost a few stars of the set that had made the trip and it was a huge disrespect for Richard Chassot, the boss of the French -speaking loop, and his troop.

“Using a World Tour event as a test field is an error,” said Jonathan Vaughters, the boss of the EF team. A training which, like the other troops that left the Tour before having started it, is part of the Velon organization. An association that places cameras on runners and peloton runners, to make clips throughout the season. And these are just over 63 grams …

Braquets limitations (Guangxi Tour this year) or attempts (Tour de Poland last year) have passed without worries. But there, a simple tracker set fire to the powder. “This action does not take into account the rights of teams and runners, applies the measurement in a discriminatory manner and contradicts the declared commitment of the UCI to dialogue with the stakeholders. We are always at the forefront to make cycling a safer sport, but it must be achieved by collaboration and not by coercion, “said these teams.

The Tour of Romandie, he paid pots that he has not broken himself. “The organization informs that it was only observing discussions and that it is at least disappointed with this outcome around a text which was to benefit first of all to cyclists and therefore to the teams. (…) It is at the very least regrettable and harmful that a positive solution could not be found, “communicated the French -speaking loop. All this, in fact, for a conflict crawling financially on the data of the runners … Ubuesque!