Controversy Continues One Day After European Championship Relegation

The European cyclocross championships have finished but the bitter taste left for some after the elite women’s race persists.

Marie Schreiber was first across the line on Saturday, outsprinting world champion Lucinda Brand at the finish of an all-out race, but was dramatically relegated to second place soon afterwards.

The UCI jury decided her sprint was irregular—a ruling based on her sudden move to the left as Brand tried to pass her—but the latter didn’t seem that bothered by the deviation and Brand’s coach Sven Nys suggested the decision was wrong.

Now that dissatisfaction has taken on a new context, following media reports stating that the president of the UCI jury made the decision alone, and in an atypical way.

According to HLN.be, the nine Dutch commissioners were not consulted about the ruling, and neither was Brand. It states that this goes against the usual practice.

There’s another factor too. HLN also states that the president of the jury Ernesto Maggioni is the same person who disqualified Lorena Wiebes after she won stage 1 of the Giro d’Italia Women. Wiebes and Schreiber are teammates on the SD Worx Protime squad.

That disqualification was highly controversial, with race leader Wiebes being booted soon after her stage win due to the UCI stating her bike was underweight.

The UCI weight limit is 6.8kg. Wiebes bike was said to be just 0.02g lighter than that, something her team strongly disputed.

It said that previous weighing of the same bike had not shown any problems, and suggested that the UCI scales had not been calibrated correctly.

SD Worx indicated at the time that it would sue the UCI over Wiebes’ disqualification.

Same decision maker, but are two matters related?

Maggioni was the technical commissioner at the Giro rather than being the jury president, the position he held for the elite men’s and women’s races at the European cyclocross champs.

However HLN.be states that he was responsible for checking the bikes and imposing Wiebes’ suspension.

Months later he’s back in the spotlight and legal action is being threatened again.

Schreiber’s coach Sanne Cant hinted at such a move on Saturday, something which is yet to be made official.

The rider’s Luxembourg federation FSCL is also pushing back, with Wielerflits reporting that it has lodged an appeal with the UEC, or European Cycling Union.

“After the women’s race at the European Cyclo-cross Championships, the FSCL officially filed a complaint with the UEC regarding the jury’s decision,” it stated.

“Therefore, the federation is advocating for the race results to be determined based on the order in which the riders crossed the finish line.”

No change to the results has been announced, and it remains to be seen if the threat of legal action will go ahead.

Whether or not the two incidents are any way related has not been proven. Schreiber was competing with the Luxembourg team on Saturday rather than SD Worx Protime.

The Giro disqualification was certainly a more controversial one. Saturday’s swerve was not entirely dissimilar to moves which have resulted in relegation in races such as the Tour de France.

What is different though is that Brand didn’t seem too perturbed about it, suggesting Wiebes deserved to win, and that her coach also didn’t understand the sanction.

Much ado about nothing, or a valid complaint? It may well be for the courts to decide, but only if that option is taken.

Either way, Schreiber lost the chance to stand atop the podium on Saturday. She was so frustrated by the relegation that she took Cant’s advice and didn’t even attend the prizegiving.