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UCI and Peter Sagan end legal dispute; Mark Cavendish not so sure

  • Ron 

In advance of a hearing at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne that was scheduled for today – December 5, 2017 – the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), Peter Sagan and his BORA – hansgrohe team agreed to end the legal dispute and controversy about Sagan’s disqualification from this year’s Tour de France. Mark Cavendish’s Dimension Data squad is still seeking additional information about the settlement and the effect on the crash that effectively ended Cav’s 2017 season.

Peter Sagan was disqualified following a crash in the sprint at the end of the 4th stage in Vittel.
Immediately following the disqualification, Sagan and BORA – hansgrohe appealed the decision of the race jury with the CAS and, in order to enable Peter Sagan to finish the Tour, requested a temporary suspension of the disqualification. The request was denied by CAS; subsequently, however, all parties involved had the opportunity to provide evidence and call witnesses. On 5 December 2017, CAS was scheduled to hear the matter in Lausanne.

Having considered the materials submitted in the CAS proceedings, including video footage that was not available at the time when the race jury had disqualified Peter Sagan, the parties agreed that the crash was an unfortunate and unintentional race incident and that the UCI Commissaires made their decision based on their best judgment in the circumstances. On this basis, the parties agreed not to continue with the legal proceedings and to focus on the positive steps that can be taken in the future instead.

The new President of the UCI, David Lappartient, commented on the UCI’s position as follows: “These proceedings have shown how important and arduous the work of the UCI Commissaires is. As of next season the UCI intends to engage a ‘Support Commissaire’ to assist the Commissaires Panel with special video expertise on the main events o f the UCI World Tour.”

UCI World Champion Peter Sagan is pleased with this development: “The past is already forgotten. It’s all about improving our sport in the future. I welcome the fact that what happened to me in Vittel has showed that the UCI Commissaires’ work is a difficult one and that the UCI has recognised the need to facilitate their work in a more effective way. I am happy that my case will lead to positive developments, because it is important for our sport to make fair and comprehensible decisions, even if emotions are sometimes heated up.”

BORA – hansgrohe team manager Ralph Denk adds: “It has always been our goal to make clear that Peter had not caused Mark Cavendish’s fall. This was Peter’s position from day one. No one wants riders to fall or get hurt but the incident in Vittel was a race accident as can happen in the course of a sprint. My job as a team manager is to protect my riders and sponsors. I think that this is what we, as a team, have done. I am reinforced in my view that neither Peter nor BORA – hansgrohe have made any mistakes.”

Team Dimension Data’s team principal Douglas Ryder, while not aggressively opposing the decision, said the team will write to the UCI to request a more detailed explanation regarding the specific details of their statement.

“As riders and teams, we want all parties to work together to make racing safe and enjoyable. We understood this dispute was over the process that prevented Bora-Hansgrohe from stating their case to the race jury. However, following today’s announcement it seems the investigation also included reviewing the actual race incident. Given that we are the team with the rider who ultimately suffered the most as a result of this incident, we were surprised to not be included to offer our insights to the investigation.”

Ryder reiterated that Cavendish played no part in the cause in his season-ending crash.

Tags: arbitration, Commissaire, Court of Arbitration for Sport, Cycle racing, Cyclists, David Lappartient, Dimension Data, Douglas Ryder, Lausanne, Mark Cavendish, Peter Sagan, Ralph Denk, Road bicycle racing, Team Dimension Data, Union Cycliste Internationale, world champion
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