Women's Tour de Romandie: Five cycling squads excluded due to disagreement with UCI over deployment of GPS trackers in their bikes.
A heated debate has arisen in the world of women's cycling, centring around the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI)'s introduction of GPS safety trackers for the 2025 Tour de Romandie Féminin and the upcoming World Championships in Rwanda. Five top Women's WorldTour teams — Canyon SRAM, EF Education-Oatly, Lidl-Trek, Team Picnic PostNL, and Team Visma | Lease a Bike — were disqualified from the Tour de Romandie Féminin after refusing to start the race due to disputes over the GPS tracking devices.
These trackers, weighing just over 60 grams, are designed to transmit each rider’s real-time location to race control and medical staff to improve emergency response times. The Tour de Romandie was a trial event before mandatory use at the World Championships.
The core objections from the teams include a lack of proper consultation, liability and fairness concerns, unequal burden due to a nomination rule, and control and data rights. Teams claimed they were not adequately consulted about the introduction and implementation of the GPS devices. They also worried about who would bear responsibility for data usage and potential technical issues.
The UCI required each team to designate only one rider to carry the tracker throughout all three stages, a rule that teams argued placed that rider at a tactical disadvantage compared to teammates and the rest of the peloton. Teams view the UCI’s unilateral imposition of the technology as a dangerous precedent, impinging on the teams' traditional rights to approve equipment on bikes. They fear this could lead to regulators controlling technical, commercial, or data-related aspects without team input.
The dispute is not only about the GPS trackers’ safety benefits but reflects deeper issues of governance, consent, control over equipment and data, and the balance of power between teams and the sport’s governing body. The Romandie disqualifications likely mark the start of a broader conflict as the UCI prepares to mandate these devices at the World Championships in Rwanda.
The reason for the UCI's refusal to allow teams to designate a rider for the GPS tracker remains unknown. The UCI informed the teams about the test on August 7, and the decision to disqualify these teams was due to their refusal to follow race rules regarding the installation of GPS trackers for a new security system test.
As the conflict over the GPS tracker must be resolved quickly, the same device is planned for the upcoming World Championships in Rwanda from September 21 to 28. The UCI has not responded to multiple requests from the teams over the past two days regarding the GPS tracker issue.
Meanwhile, the race was won by Paula Blasi (UAE-ADQ) with Urska Zigart (AG Insurance-Soudal) and Juliette Labous (FDJ-Suez) finishing in second and third place, respectively. Notably, Pauline Ferrand-Prevot, the Dutch team's recent Grande Boucle winner, will not compete in the World Championships in Kigali. Ferrand-Prevot wants to "fight again to win" the Tour de France Femmes.
References:
- The Guardian
- Cycling News
- VeloNews
- The dispute over the mandatory use of GPS safety trackers in women's cycling, initially sparked by the Tour de Romandie Féminin, continues to escalate, raising concerns about sports-analysis, governance, and team rights in the forthcoming World Championships in Rwanda.
- The five Women's WorldTour teams that were disqualified from the Tour de Romandie Féminin due to their refusal to use GPS trackers argue that these devices could potentially impact the fairness and outcomes of sports competitions, a concern that extends beyond the Tour de Romandie to the World Championships.
