Team mechanic told to dress up as rider and race Belgian event - UCI takes disciplinary action against Cynisca Cycling Team after wild fraud case
CyclingMonday, 26 February 2024 at 13:10
More and more fraud cases are uncovered within the peloton, and some are quite shocking and amusing for fans. That was the case with the Cynisca Cycling Team, which faces disciplinary action after it instructed a team mechanic to replace a rider... in secret.
The unusual case happened at the Argenta Classic – 2 Districtenpijl Ekeren-Deurne. It was mandatory for all teams to have at least five riders at the start to be able to participate in the race, and one of the members of the Cynisca Cycling Team had fallen ill shortly before the race and was unable to take to the start. After knowing about this last minute, a staggering decision was made by team DS Danny van Haute.
The women's team presented itself at the start with five riders, one of them however wearing a face mask. This was Moira Barrett, team mechanic who was told by the team's DS to put on the team's equipment and take to the start, pretending to be the fifth rider that had fallen ill. Barrett also went on to sign the start sheet. All of this was done in secret within the team, but was later uncovered. The UCI has taken action against members of the team that were present due to the absurdity of the act and the clear breaking of rules.
Van Haute was considered to be the main perpetrator of this incident and has been sanctioned with an almost two-year long suspension from the sport until the end of 2025; Barrett was suspended from actions in the sport until the 1st of September 2024 and the team's four remaining riders that were present were reprimanded, but not sanctioned or fined further.
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If there was no margin, you might be right one day but seeing as the rules said at least 5 riders, the team just seems to have managed to organised themselves badly. As a manager, I’d always consider that at least one rider could be a non-starter for whatever reason, so would always have a spare.
Besides, by presenting the article as fun, everyone ignores the possible implication of what was done. The mechanic is probably not licensed to ride in that category or maybe at all, what would happen if they ended up on the podium, or causing an accident or in case of severe injury, how do you imagine the insurance company would treat such a situation. Less important competitions have faced such problems, men disguised as women, little boys winning women’s competitions, spectators disabled by rider crashes where civil courts had to decide if the event was a race or not (the organisers suddenly made as if it wasn’t but had published results with positions and times so lost the case, luckily for the rider who crashed into someone crossing the road) in order to know who would be responsible for damages, etc.
Even if we think they are stupid, there are usually good not always obvious reasons for rules, that often get added after problematic experiences show a need for them.
2 years out of the sport? Far too harsh!
Be wary UCI, strict adherence to the rules inspite of legitimate reasons will lead to the absurd situation of sick and injured riders forced to be at the start line to meet the quota.🤦🤦🤦