Over the past year, there have been numerous accounts of appalling abuse and harassment in sports from football to gymnastics, and cycling has not been immune. With more protections in place, riders are being empowered to speak out about a culture of intimidation and fear. But the UCI has only recently plugged gaping holes in its Code of Ethics, which until June 2, 2016, did not cover teams and their staff, and it has failed to educate the professional cycling world of the changes.
If this sounds at all familiar, think back to the federation's failings during the era of rampant EPO doping and 'omerta' - with one twist: most athletes who doped made a conscious choice to do so. As UCI Athlete's Commission representative Iris Slappendel points out to Cyclingnews: "Nobody makes a choice to be abused".
Last year, the IOC called upon "everyone in sport" to create a culture of dignity and respect, and pointed to federations like the UCI to "act as gatekeepers to safety" and "demonstrate strong leadership in identifying and eradicating these practices" [of sexual harassment and abuse]. The UCI duly made sweeping revisions to its code of ethics.
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But when the UCI Ethics Commission was presented late last year with a case against a current team manager brought by 10 riders who witnessed abuse and harassment, the Ethics Commission has been unable so far to take action. Cyclingnews understands this is because at the time of the offences, the ethics code only applied to UCI staff, commissaires, technical delegates and members of the various commissions and councils.
Slappendel described to Cyclingnews how helping to take the 10-rider case to the Ethics Commission was an arduous, emotionally difficult and time-consuming process that ended up being futile because of the Code of Ethics' prior deficiencies.
"It was an exhausting process. I took responsibility for the other riders. It was quite an intense time, and it's disappointing there is no outcome," Slappendel said.
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