"I’m bummed and I’m really upset" - Jonathan Vaughters out-of-tune after Tour de Romandie turmoil
Cycling
The Tour de Romandie Féminin 2025 was won by Elise Chabbey, but the race will be remembered more for the disqualification of five teams on the eve of the race. Reason couldn't sound any less petty with the GPS trackers and UCI's lack of (will to) communication in the center of attention. Manager of men's branch of EF Education team Jonathan Vaughters is disappointed by the turn of events that saw his team as one of those that were removed from the race.
"It’s a line in the sand. I don’t love that this is like the line in the sand that it had to be," Vaughters told Velo. "I don’t love that. I would have rather seen our girls race. In fact, I think we could have won this race, quite frankly."
"I’m bummed and I’m really upset for riders like Noemi Rüegg, who’s former Swiss champion, who really wanted to win this race, who was super motivated by it, who the organization was super happy that she was there. It’s a real pity. I didn’t want her to be disqualified."
"This is one of those ‘truth is stranger than fiction’ moments. Personally, up until like 10 minutes before the start, I’m like, ‘no, they’re not going to prevent you from starting. This is ridiculous." But when the decisive moment came, five teams were not allowed to participate in the race.
"I honestly just didn’t believe that. I was like, ‘no, they’ll just choose one of the riders and put it on the bike.’ And they didn’t. This is about long-standing tension between the UCI and what I’ll call teams that feel a little bit more strongly about their rights and more strongly about their entrepreneurial possibilities in the world," he explained.
"In about the last year, there are a certain group of teams that haven’t felt like we’ve been really strongly represented in the legislation of the UCI. That’s unfortunate, and we’ll probably need to try to make some changes there in who and what our representation is."
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Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
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- He should have been allowed to go to Movistar. Right now both arent a good fit for each other and are just wasting each other's time and effortabstractengineer08-11-2026
- Thibau Nys does exactly what Iserbyt is calling for
Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026 - i did not see it. was the relegation justified or an overly hard decision? and don‘t cross riders deviate from straight lines all the time? bumping into each others when they cut corners, etc … why being more strict with the rules on the finish sprint?Ketterechts08-11-2026
- seems like we are advertising the website with pointless comments…Ketterechts08-11-2026
- So?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- The UCI do have their favorites.
Front24208-11-2026 - On a positive note, you maybe notice turning this topic into a discussion has the benefit of eliminating certain participants who do not see how they can turn it back to their sole interest ;-)Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- People see what they want to. I am actually the opposite of your accusation, probably more of a rebel than most of you who don’t get the big picture. The difference is, I don’t go moaning publicly about the consequences of my transgressions, I understand the need for rules and I take my OWN responsibility when deciding to ignore or break them or doing so involuntarily. I will also not hesitate to state my case or argue vehemently when relevant, sometimes it works, sometimes it makes things worse but that’s the price to pay for principles and having character.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- That may be but that was unknown to others and nothing says that’s the whole truth. Again, don’t try to misinterpret, it is a call and technically it is correct. Besides, even if there is a valid reason, that does not disqualify the ruling or punishment as far as the rules have been developed. I don’t think they’re as far as in football where for handball there is a distinction (in some ways and specific cases) between intentional or not. And football can be just as harsh and people live with it, eg the offside rule, also judged to within tiny fractions but often wrong or ignored. It’s the nature of every collective organisation and sometimes I wonder if our rebellion against it isn’t seated in the feelings we carry from the injustices we’ve felt personally, like being flashed driving 1km/h too fast when we are explained limits are just a security measure but we are absolutely certain not to have endangered anyone with our transgression. The problem is, nobody has better solutions and no 2 people have the same interpretation of where a limit should be.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- Because for you deviated implies the other rider MUST have been made to fall and fail to finish ??? I don’t know if you ride a bike but next time someone carves you up or drives dangerously close, just hold back from those feelings of changing something, reporting or filming or even complaining. Everyone will just say, hey you’re still here undamaged, doesn’t seem like anyone did anything.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
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