Youtuber Benji Naesen sent cease and desist letter by the UCI following critical commentary

The UCI has sent a cease and desist letter threatening to enter legal action against Belgian Youtuber, podcast and social media personality Benji Naesen.

Naesen is a Belgian Youtuber who is also a co-host at the Lanterne Rouge Cycling podcast, and has in the past collaborated with several World Tour teams, as well as currently partnering with several brands within the sport. He is a popular figure on social media, who often shares his commentary on several topics, and is often critical of the UCI's actions.

He was sent a cease and desist letter from a UCI representative, who was kept anonymous, over 'unnecessarily offensive' commentary and, according to the statement: "Several occurences of statements that have to be considered injurious towards our organization and/or its elected officials". The letter also made it clear that the UCI is ready to take formation action or file a complain if there is the continuation of such commentary.

However, an example of such commentary was not provided by the UCI. This has been shared on social media this morning by Naesen who announced he has filed a complain against the sender with the UCI ethics commission. On social media, he has quickly gathered support over what most deem to be an active threat from the UCI over someone who is a vocal voice in the sport.

Over the past years the sport's governing body has been criticized by the general audience mostly due to safety issues and the fail in applying its own rules in races, whilst simultaneously putting in substantial amount of focus on points which affect the sport in a very minimal way - with sock height being a prime example.

After the 2024 World Championships, when Muriel Furrier passed away during the women's junior race, there was a swarm of negative commentary on the lack of a tracker on every rider, which could've potentially prevented the death of the Swiss rider. A year later, the UCI has found itself on hot water after its president David Lappartient himself has congratulated and been seen on very friendly terms with Rwanda's president Paul Kagame, who is almost unanimously agreed to run a dictatorial regime. In this instance, a Belgian journalist was prevented from travelling to the country to cover the event due to his past commentary on the UCI's decision to host the Worlds in the east-African nation.