Four WorldTour teams and one ProTeam have been confirmed by the UCI as disqualified from the Tour de Romandie Féminin in a dispute over GPS safety trackers.
Lidl-Trek, Visma-Lease a Bike, Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto, EF Education-Oatly and Picnic-PostNL were excluded, meaning that 30 riders, six per team, were out of the race even before it began.
The dispute, first broken by Daniel Benson's Substack is to do with the teams and the UCI being unable to agree over the use of a new safety system with GPS for riders bikes, which the UCI wanted to trial at the three-day Swiss WorldTour event prior to the World Championships.
The technology, by transmitting riders' locations in real time, is designed to increase safely in the peloton, following the death of Muriel Furrer in the World Championships in Switzerland last year after she crashed in dense woodland and could not be quickly found by emergency services.
Latest Videos From
The news has completely overshadowed the opening stage of the four-year-old WorldTour race, a 4.4 kilometre uphill time trial between Huémoz and Villars-sur-Odon, due to finish at 1415 local time.
On the race website, as of Friday morning the official startlist contained the disqualified teams, and the prologue, albeit down to just 60 riders, went ahead.
Amongst those affected by the exclusion are Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM zonadcrypto), formerly second overall and EF Education's Swiss racer Noemi Rugg, the winner of the 2025 Santos Tour Down Under.
In a letter dated August 15, the CEOs of the five teams as well as the head of AG Insurance-Soudal sent a letter - a copy of which has been obtained by Cyclingnews - to the UCI's Strategic Sports Manager. In it they said they had asked and failed to obtain clarification to previous letters sent to the UCI about the GPS tracking test.
The letter adds that "The Teams are fully supportive of measures to improve the safety of riders in all races. The SAFER project seeks to achieve this through a collaborative approach supported by all stakeholders. This is proven in the successful testing of a safety tracking system across the entire peloton in both the men’s and women’s Tour de Suisse with the consent and collaboration of all stakeholders, a test the UCI was given full access to.
"Sadly, the UCI, in its capacity as regulator of professional cycling, has now taken it upon itself to seek to impose on-bike tracking under the banner of “Safety” for the benefit of the UCI’s World Championship, a race owned, organised and commercialised by the UCI.
The letter then goes on to insist that the right to mount a device on a rider's bike remains with the team in question, and that it should only be done so with the team's "consent and close collaboration.
"However, the UCI now seems to dispute this right and rather than seeking the permission of the teams and/or collaborating with the teams, the UCI wishes to grant itself / a third party partner the right to mount a device on a team’s bicycle without the team’s consent.
The teams then said they would not stop the UCI from attaching tracking devices, but called any subsequent disqualification - as in fact happened - "grossly unfair. "
They also insisted that any person attaching a device would be "held personally liable for any accident, injury or damage result from such device." The teams also refused to consent any data to be taken or used by the UCI.
The letter concluded by saying that "Lastly, in your letter of 13 August, you stated the following: “The broader discussion on the implementation of GPS rider safety tracking across professional cycling is a major topic and discussions involving all stakeholders will be held.” The UCI’s conduct clearly contradicts this statement and sentiment. "
After the prologue began and as the war of words heightened, the UCI then issued a lengthy and hard-hitting press release, condemning the teams' actions and confirming their expulsion from the race.
"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," the UCI press release stated.
"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.
"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."
