The UCI and the National Federation each have specific responsibilities for overseeing the relationships between riders and teams. The UCI is the global regulator for all of competitive cycling, and represents the sport to the International Olympic Committee. The UCI’s regulations provides the competitive and legal basis for athletes to be eligible to compete in the Olympics. The National Federations uphold the UCI’s regulations, and add other regulations which are specific to that country such as eligibility to compete for its national team. National Federations are required to certify the teams and the contracts for professionals at all levels, and uphold the UCI Regulations which govern the sport.

• Enforcing a contract: The UCI provides the regulations which define the characteristics of a contract between a rider and a team, but the National Federation certifies the contract on behalf of the UCI. In case of disputes, first consult with your legal advisor, and then contact your representative in the National Federation.
• Insurance verification: National Federations are required to certify that a team has adequate insurance before the team can be registered with the UCI and hire riders. The UCI makes the National Federations responsible for verifying the insurance. If there is no insurance, you may be entitled to request your contract be terminated, your salary paid, and freedom to sign with another team.
• Release of the team’s bank guarantee: The ‘bank guarantee’ is a sum of money that the team puts in escrow with the National Federation as a kind of deposit. If the team goes bankrupt, and in certain other circumstances, that bank guarantee can be accessed by the riders and team staff to pay for unpaid wages and other bills. The UCI Regulation 2.17.017 requires every professional and UCI women’s team to have a bank guarantee in place before the team is certified and hire any riders. If the team fails to pay its riders and staff, or the team goes bankrupt, riders and team staff can ask the National Federation to release the bank guarantee pay everyone. If you have not been paid as an individual rider, you should first consult with your legal adviser, and if no other solution can be found with your team, you may ask the National Federation to release the bank guarantee under UCI Regulation 2.17.023 to pay your unpaid wages.

The first thing you must do when you believe you are in an abusive situation is to seek help from a legal advisor. If you are being physically abused, you may wish to report it to an appropriate law enforcement officer as well. Let us discuss some of the abuses which may affect you, and which you can correct:

• Team won’t pay me but expects me to race: This is a common financial abuse which affects many riders – women and men. If your contract has been written correctly and follows the UCI guidelines suggested in Regulation 2.17.030, your team must pay you by the monthly date stated in the contract. You have the right to challenge your team to pay you if you are training and are prepared to race. Please consult with a legal advisor as to the ways you can negotiate with your team to be paid; if they cannot pay, you have the right to ask your National Federation to release the team’s bank guarantee to pay you.
• Team won’t race me, even if I’m healthy: This is also a financial abuse, but a psychological abuse as well. The team is required to enter you in races per UCI Regulation 2.17.030, Article 8.1.c: “…a failure to permit the Rider, despite his repeated requests, to participate in competitions over a continuous period in excess of six weeks or over four discontinuous periods of seven days each, during which periods at least one one-day race on the continental calendar took place.” If you are withheld from competing, or there is a pattern in which the team won’t let you compete in races which are required for your career ambitions (such as earning selection to your National team), you may have the right to file a grievance. You may have the right to terminate the contract, under certain conditions and it is important to consult with a legal adviser to take the right actions.
• Team won’t pay me, but I can prove that I’m sick or injured: This is a type of financial abuse which affects many riders. Every one of us has crashed, or been sick during the racing season in our careers! Your team must pay you per the terms of your contract, even if you are sick or injured. You should keep a detailed medical history with your physician to properly document the situation if you need to file a grievance. Please consult with a legal advisor as to the ways you can negotiate with your team to be paid, or to file a grievance; if the team cannot or refuses to pay, you have the right to ask your National Federation to release the team’s bank guarantee to pay you.
• Team wants me to race, but I am not 100% able (I am recovering from injury, concussion, virus, or another ailment): This is another type of financial and psychological abuse which affects many riders. Every one of us has crashed, or been sick during the racing season in our careers! You should keep a detailed medical history with your physician to properly document the situation if you need to file a grievance. For example, you may be recovered from injury or illness, but you have not built your fitness back up to UCI-competitive readiness; if you race too soon, you could re-injure yourself or do even more damage to your body. In another example, you may be competing in a stage race and catch a virus or have a crash, and racing on successive days will make you more ill or make the injury worse, both of which can ruin your season or your career. It is important to consult with a legal adviser to take the right actions to protect yourself in this situation.
• I feel unsafe in my team, I’m a victim of abuse and inappropriate behavior or I suspect my teammate is a victim of abuse:  First and foremost, if you are in an abusive situation within your team, you should consult with a lawyer for personal advice. You can do this with our help, we can also provide you with a lawyer. Secondly, we can help you to get released from your contract. If the abuse is physical, please consider also filing a police complaint as soon as you can. Your National Federation may have a representative, called an ‘ombudsman,’ who can you help you to file the correct complaint concerning the abuse. Other National Federations have programs like SafeSport (USA Cycling), which can also help. After you have taken appropriate action to protect yourself and file any personal complaints, you should file a claim with the UCI Ethics Commission. The Ethics Commission representative will advise you if the UCI will allow you to terminate your contract after it completes its investigation. See question 5 below for more information on this topic, or find all Safe Sport Programs contact information here.

Currently, there is no requirement in the UCI Regulations which say that a Continental or Women’s team must have its own doctor. This only appears in the Regulations for Pro Continental and Men’s WorldTour teams, and is an important area of concern for the Cyclists’ Alliance to focus on with the teams and the UCI. This is also why insurance is so important for the health, safety, and overall well being of women racing today.

Doping is an issue which continues to affect the safety of riders and the health of the entire sport of cycling. Every National Federation has an officer, called an ombudsman, who can assist you if you encounter doping in our sport. If you believe a teammate or a rider on another team is doping, you have the right to confidentially report this information on the UCI’s phone and email hotline, or to the ombudsman of your National Federation. If a team officer or support person has offered you doping products, or is pressuring you to dope, you should immediately consult a legal advisor and also report the incidence to your National Federation ombudsman, the UCI’s phone and email hotline, the UCI’s Ethics Commission, and even law enforcement if there is reason to believe that laws are being broken.

Link to UCI Report Doping.

Many National athletic federations, including cycling federations, have programs which provide support and services to legally protect athletes from physical, sexual, psychological, and emotional harm by abusive coaches or other sports personnel. SafeSport is the U.S. version of one such program, but there are others, like Play By The Rules in Australia and Vertrouwenspunt Sport in the Netherlands. Each of these athlete protection and safety programs have agreements with national athletic federations to independently investigate and, if necessary, take actions to protect the athletes and punish the alleged abusers. These organizations exist to protect all athletes and can take action on your behalf, even if your team or federation does not. The UCI has an Ethics Commission, which you can use to file a grievance, but this Commission does not cover any incidents which may have happened before June, 2016, when the Commission was officially created. If you believe you are in an unsafe situation, or have experienced abuse in our sport, The Cyclists’ Alliance can help you find or provide a legal adviser and help you to connect with an athletes’ safety program. We can also guide you through the proces of filing a complaint at the UCI Ethics Commission.

Full list of national Safe Sport Programs.

You can contact any board member directly: email / phone (Judith van Maanen) +31 6 41278813

If you prefer to contact the UCI Ethics Commission directly, please email: secretariat@uci-ethics.ch

Through this link you find the UCI Ethics Code which can tell you what is part of the code.