The organisers of the Tour de France have stated {that a} ‘Management Room’ automobile, which was due for use by Visma-Lease a Bike, won’t be authorised “inside any premises of the occasion”.
The Management Room has been designed to behave as a “central assortment level of real-time knowledge throughout the Tour de France”, permitting the crew to analyse all knowledge “in a single place” and “make the very best tactical selections, rapidly and precisely”.
The automobile was unveiled by the crew on Thursday and the UCI introduced that it will be “finishing up verifications” to make sure the transformed van complied with rules on the identical day.
Forward of the primary stage, organisiers Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) launched a press release, noting: “The Group Visma-Lease a Bike ‘management room’ automobile shall not be authorised inside any of the premises of the occasion and shall due to this fact not bear a automobile acceditation”.
Biking Weekly understands that the crew didn’t apply for accreditation.
Visma-Lease a Bike known as the automobile, which was produced in collaboration with the crew’s principal sponsor – enterprise software program specialists Visma – and Dutch on-line sportbetting firm, BetCity, the “first ever command centre in biking”.
When saying its investigation, biking’s governing physique cited Article 1.3.006bis, which pertains to Onboard expertise.
The UCI guidelines state that gadgets which seize or transmit knowledge on positioning, nonetheless or transferring photos, or mechanical info are permitted. Gadgets which seize knowledge on coronary heart charge, physique temperature and sweat charge are additionally permitted, however the “authorisation is… restricted to transmission protocols which allow solely the rider involved to view the info throughout a contest”.
The rules additionally state that “the authorised capturing and transmitting of information as supplied underneath this text shall not allow a rider to view knowledge of one other rider”, additionally noting that groups shall solely entry the info of their riders, “except info… is publicly obtainable”.
In its assertion, the UCI added: “Our precedence is to take care of the integrity of the game, making certain sporting equity, equitable entry to expertise and the primacy of man over machine. The UCI is dedicated to upholding these rules and can take applicable measures based mostly on the findings of the investigation.”
At time of writing, the UCI has not but launched an extra assertion on the outcomes of its “verifications”.
