Following a preliminary investigation into comments made at the end of the 20th stage of the Giro d'Italia (31 May) by the Belgian Dries De Bondt, rider for UCI WorldTeam Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) has deemed that they were clearly of a nature to call into question the integrity of the competition.
According to his comments, reported by several media, Dries De Bondt deliberately helped a rider from the EF Education-Easy Post team following a suggestion from one of that team's Sport Directors that this could help the rider secure a contract offer for next season.
On this basis, the UCI has decided to refer the matter to its Ethics Commission for a ruling on the facts and to consider possible sanctions against the rider and/or the Sport Director if their behaviour is found to be in breach of the UCI Code of Ethics, in particular Articles 8.1 and 2 of Annex 2.
No further comment will be made until the conclusion of the proceedings.
About the UCI Ethics Commission
The UCI Ethics Commission and its members are fully independent of the UCI and all other cycling stakeholders. The members of the commission have recognised expertise in the field of sport and/or law and ethics.
The UCI Ethics Commission carries out the duties and tasks conferred upon it by the UCI Code of Ethics and described below:
Monitoring and investigation: the UCI Ethics Commission ensures compliance with the Code and investigates potential breaches of the Code, either following a complaint or a denunciation or on its own initiative and ex officio.
It provides advice and assistance on ethical and governance matters, in particular on the application of the Code.
It makes recommendations to the UCI or any of its bodies, upon request or at its own initiative, on any ethics-related matter.
It provides an annual report on its activities to the Congress.
It issues decisions in relation to:
potential conflict of interests concerning members of UCI bodies;
electoral matters concerning the candidatures of the UCI President and members of the UCI Management Committee as well as the organisation of the voting process at the electoral Congress;
breaches of the Code.