Five teams and eight riders have lodged an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) following their disqualification from the Tour de Romandie Féminin in August. The case has been brought by Canyon SRAM zondacrypto, EF Education – EasyPost, Lidl-Trek, Team Picnic PostNL, and Visma | Lease a Bike, together with eight individual riders who were also excluded.
The dispute arose when the UCI mandated the use of an experimental GPS tracking device developed by its sponsor, Swiss Timing, during the race. The teams and riders had agreed in principle to cooperate but asked that the UCI mount the devices on the bikes and designate the riders to be used in the test. When this request was declined, the teams refused to participate and were disqualified en masse. The governing body later referred the case to its Disciplinary Commission and threatened to escalate the matter to the UCI Licence Commission with the possibility of licence withdrawals.
The appellants argue that the disqualification breached UCI Regulations, was disproportionate, and imposed without due process. They also say that the enforcement left riders and teams feeling pressured and intimidated. The appeal to CAS asks for a review of the decision and its legality.
At the same time, the UCI has been pressing forward with its new GPS tracking system. The devices were deployed across all categories at the 2025 Road World Championships in Kigali, Rwanda, fitted to bikes by UCI officials before each race and removed at the finish. Data was monitored in real time from a control centre, with the stated aim of improving safety by enabling organisers, commissaires and medical staff to immediately locate a rider in the event of a crash or stoppage.
Speaking in Kigali, UCI President David Lappartient insisted the system was part of a long-term plan to equip the entire WorldTour, and eventually the ProSeries, with GPS tracking. He linked the initiative to rider safety, citing the death of Muriel Furrer at the 2024 World Championships in Zürich as a catalyst for change. “The goal is not to have cases like last year or the potential for other cases where riders can crash and we cannot see the rider,” he said. “We want to be able to find riders and know where they are.”
Photo Credit: GettyLappartient acknowledged that some teams feared the commercialisation of rider data but denied this was ever the intention. He accused the teams that refused to participate in Romandie of attempting to blackmail the governing body by threatening not to start if trackers were not removed. “It is only about safety, it is only a cost for us, and of course we will not commercialise any data,” he said. “But I will not be blackmailed for safety. If you don’t want to wear the GPS trackers, you will be removed from the race. This is what happened. It was terrible for the riders, and it was sad for all of us.”
The president also noted the high costs of the system, with the UCI currently absorbing the expense, though he raised the possibility of collaboration with partners such as Velon in the future. Velon already operates its own GPS devices, which provide live data for broadcasters and fans, and had reportedly offered assistance to the UCI. Lappartient said the governing body remained open to exploring alternatives but maintained that it must retain the authority to impose safety measures.
The conflict between teams and the governing body is therefore now playing out on two fronts: in Kigali, where the GPS system has been used without disruption, and in the legal arena, where CAS will decide whether the UCI acted lawfully in enforcing its Romandie disqualifications.
