US cycling team suspended for dressing mechanic as rider to qualify for race

Cynisca were fined and suspended for the deception. Photograph: Tim de Waele/Getty Images

US women’s cycling team Cynisca was punished by the sport’s governing body on Monday for trying to enter a race by deceiving organizers.

The International Cycling Union (UCI) said that Cynisca had only four healthy riders coming into last year’s Argenta Classic in Belgium, when five riders were required for a team to participate. The UCI said that Cynisca attempted to “deceive the Commissaires’ Panel into believing that a fifth rider was present and could take part in the event”.

First the team’s other cyclists lied about the whereabouts of the fifth rider, who is believed to have been ill. When that didn’t work, the UCI says the team’s sporting director, Danny Van Haute, told a Cynisca mechanic to dress as the fifth rider and wear a face mask – presumably to hide their true identity – before signing the start list for the race.

“Upon being informed by the Commissaires that the team could not participate if all five riders did not sign the start sheet and take the start, Mr Van Haute instructed the team mechanic, Moira Barrett, to wear a rider’s clothes and a face mask, to present herself at the start and sign the start sheet as the team’s fifth rider,” the UCI said in Monday’s statement.

The Cynisca team, staff and riders “were therefore all found to have participated in a fraud,” the UCI said.

The UCI added that “Van Haute was found to be the main perpetrator” and banned the veteran American official from the sport until the end of 2025. Barrett is banned through August 2024.

Cynisca was fined an unspecified amount and suspended from the next international race it was due to enter, the ruling said.

The sanctions for Cynisca were announced one day after its rider Lauren Stephens won the one-day Clasica de Almeria in Spain.

The team and staff can appeal against the ruling at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.