The Tour de Romandie féminin begins with a scandal. According to a statement from the UCI, five teams have been excluded from the tour after refusing to take part in a test of GPS chips.
15.08.2025, 14:07
15.08.2025, 17:19
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- For the Tour de Romandie Féminin, the UCI had decided to test a GPS safety tracking system during the race.
- Five teams did not want to designate a rider to wear a GPS device.
- As a result, the UCI decided to exclude the teams.
The teams affected are EF Education with the Swiss rider Noemi Rüegg, Canyon-SRAM with the Polish rider Katarzyna Niewiadoma, who is the favorite for the overall victory, Lidl-Trek, Picnic Post-NL and Visma-Lease a bike. None of them started the first stage, a 4.4 km individual time trial from Huémoz to Villars-sur-Ollon. The peloton therefore lost 30 of the 93 riders registered for the event.
The winner of the opening time trial and thus the first leader of this three-day tour is Paula Blasi from Spain. The best Swiss rider was Steffi Häberlin in 6th place, half a minute behind the leader.
UCI criticizes affected teams
The UCI had decided to test a new GPS safety tracking system during the tour in western Switzerland, which should make it easier to locate the riders, especially in the event of a crash. One rider per team will receive a GPS tracker with a 63 gram chip. The technology will also be used at the Road World Championships in Rwanda in September.
"The decision by the leaders of these teams to defy the specific rules of the event comes as a surprise and jeopardizes efforts to ensure safety in cycling by developing this new technology," the UCI wrote in its press release.
According to the UCI, by refusing to nominate a rider to wear the tracking device, the teams have opted for exclusion from the event. In its press release, the UCI also points out that "most of the teams concerned" are part of an organization that is developing its own GPS tracking system.
Teams defend themselves
In a joint statement, the teams defended themselves against the disqualification and criticized the world governing body. They had already informed the UCI of their concerns at the beginning of the week and demonstrated their willingness to cooperate.
The decision to disqualify the five teams nonetheless is "shocking" and disregards the rights of the teams and riders, among other things. The teams are always striving to make cycling safer. However, this must be achieved "through cooperation and not coercion". The racing teams criticized, among other things, that the system should only be tested on one rider per team and emphasized that there was already another functioning system for the entire peloton.
Disappointed organizers
In a statement, the organizers of the Tour de Romandie Féminin expressed their disappointment at the outcome of the dispute. They said that they had only taken part in the talks as observers.
The bans imposed would not only disadvantage the riders concerned, but also the public and all those who had worked so hard to make the tour internationally known. The organizers conclude that it is regrettable that no joint solution could be found.
