Kristen Faulkner has talked at length about her disqualification from Strade Bianche for wearing a continuous glucose monitor sensor, revealing she intends to push the UCI for greater clarity and use her own experience to raise awareness and start a conversation around glucose and women’s health.
“If I can have a similar mission and purpose in my life as a pro athlete, that's even more meaningful to me. This has given me a purpose behind my riding that is much greater than a third place at Strade Bianche,” Faulkner told Rouleur.
The 30-year-old American revealed she began to use a Supersapiens continuous glucose monitor system last year after problems with her fueling.
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“In training, I followed conventional guidelines and ate a gel every 15 minutes on intensity days, and every 20 minutes on endurance days, but even that led to spikes and crashes, which perpetuated my problem. Within a few months of using Supersapiens to track my glucose levels, my period came back. For me, that was a really important health moment,” Faulkner said.
“I'm nervous that I'm going to lose my period again and that's quite concerning from a health standpoint for me, especially when I tried different things for so many years and I finally found something that really helped me.
“It's pretty demoralising as a woman to have this organisation of mostly men tell me what I can and cannot use. They haven't cited any sources about women's health, they have no idea what causes amenorrhea, the relationship between glucose and yet, without that information, they still have the authority to govern it.”
Faulkner finished third at Strade Bianche after a 31km solo attack. However, her result was soon overshadowed after a glucose monitor sensor was seen underneath her jersey on her left arm.
The UCI opened an investigation and then disqualified her from the Strade Bianche results for wearing a continuous glucose monitoring sensor throughout the race. Faulkner claimed the sensor on her arm was never connected to the app, and so no data was ever downloaded or used.
She told Rouleur that she asked a member of her team’s staff if she would be allowed to keep her glucose monitoring patch on and was told that it would be "fine" as long as it didn’t record data.
“After the race, my team doctor came up to me. And he's like, Kristen, why are you wearing this? It was all over the news. I was like, what are you talking about? I've been wearing it all week, and no one said anything. I had no idea. I thought as long as there was no data, it was fine. I didn’t actually think I was going to get DQ’d. I just thought I might get a fine or penalty," Faulkner said.
The UCI approved the devices in training, and there have been calls from a number of teams to use the technology in racing. However, the UCI introduced a rule in the summer of 2021 to ban CGM devices in competition. At the time, the UCI claimed: “there is no evidence proving that it could improve the safety of the non-diabetic riders.”
Faulkner has accepted her disqualification but found fault with the UCI and the disciplinary process, including the lack of involvement and support of the UCI Ethics Committee. She also called for consistency in punishment.
"Without naming specifics, people taking off their helmets, people wearing illegal skin suits, they were not disqualified, even though those impacted the race performance," Faulkner said.
Faulkner believes continuous glucose monitors can help women avoid damaging their health.
The UCI allows riders exemptions to wear glucose monitors in competition if there is medical proof that an athlete suffers from amenorrhea, but Rouleur suggested the UCI has not approved any to date.
“None of their justifications [for banning glucose monitors] are actually that valid. I don't think the UCI put any kind of weight on the health of their riders, especially women's health,” Faulkner said.
“It's much more complicated for women than it is for men because we burn different amounts of fat versus glucose throughout the month, depending on where we are in our [menstrual] cycle.
“The second thing is that the risks for women of not getting it right are much deeper. If a man doesn't fuel properly, he bonks, but if a woman doesn't fuel properly, she could lose her period. That creates a whole host of hormonal deficiencies.
“Any governing body that forbids me from staying informed about my food uptake is preventing me from taking care of my body in a natural and healthy way.”
