A GPS tracker fight that’s about far more than safety.
The Tour de Romandie Féminin began on Friday with an uphill time trial, a ceremonial start line in Huémoz, and a GC already in tatters. Canyon–SRAM zondacrypto, EF Education–Oatly, Lidl–Trek, Team Picnic-PostNL, and Team Visma-Lease a Bike, five of the most prominent squads in the women’s WorldTour, were all disqualified before a pedal was turned.
The official reason is simple: they refused to nominate a rider to carry a GPS tracker in a test of the system that the UCI wanted to do ahead of a full rollout at the Worlds in Kigali, Rwanda, this northern autumn. The real reason is messier, older, and harder to fix. This is the latest chapter in a decade-long struggle over who controls what goes on a pro’s bike, and who gets the data it produces.
The flashpoint
On paper, the protocol was straightforward. Each team would pick one rider to carry a 63-gram GPS tracker for all three stages, giving race control and medical staff real-time location data. The UCI says the rule was communicated on August 7 and repeated in the pre-race sport directors’ meeting.
The teams did not refuse GPS tracking as a concept, EF team boss Jonathan Vaughters told Escape Collective. They refused to choose which of their own riders would carry it and accept the liability if it came loose or was damaged, at least not without clarity from the UCI on the device’s performance or safety implications. According to Vaughters, the teams’ counter-offer was simple: the UCI should pick the rider and install the device themselves. The UCI said no.
Vaughters summed up the mood: “We never said we wouldn’t use it… [The UCI said] if we didn’t put someone forth, we would be disqualified. I really can’t explain it.”
As is often the case with these disputes, the flashpoint in question is at the end of a long line of grievances. Romandie was a proxy tussle for a simmering, ongoing collision of stakeholders in the sport over power and control. I asked Vaughters if this was more of a straw plus camel’s back situation. “Yeah,” he said.
“The whole thing is ridiculous,” he added. “Up until 5 mins before the start, I kept telling the girls they would back down. But nope.”
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