{"id":725417,"date":"2026-06-09T15:41:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T15:41:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/725417\/"},"modified":"2026-06-09T15:41:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T15:41:15","slug":"jan-willem-van-schip-forced-to-stop-racing-by-french-police-following-yet-another-race-disqualification-for-non-compliant-kit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/725417\/","title":{"rendered":"Jan-Willem van Schip \u201cforced\u201d to stop racing by French police following yet another race disqualification for non-compliant kit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Notorious UCI-rules-challenger Jan-Willem van Schip, was reportedly \u201cforced\u201d to stop racing by French police following yet another disqualification by UCI officials at the Ronde de l’Oise on Sunday.<\/p>\n

According to WielerFlits<\/a>, the Dutch rider was disqualified during the race\u2019s final stage for putting a bottle down the front of his jersey.<\/p>\n

Reports say van Schip initially refused to stop riding, leading race officials to ask the police marshals to make him stop.<\/p>\n

Race officials ruled this contravened article 1.3.032 of the UCI\u2019s technical regulations, which states that \u201cClothing and other items or accessories worn by a rider\u2026 may not modify the morphology of the rider\u201d.<\/p>\n

Azerion \/ Villa Valkenburg team manager, Paul Tabak, told WielerFlits that he disputes this interpretation of the rule, saying \u201cthere is no rule in the current regulations that explicitly prohibits two water bottles or gels under a shirt\u201d.<\/p>\n

A recently announced update to the UCI\u2019s regulations looks to deal with riders carrying things on the front of their body that, according to the sport\u2019s governing body, \u201cresult in significant alterations to the riders\u2019 body shape\u201d, but this regulation does not come into effect until 1 July 2026.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s going on?<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve been paying attention to pro racing in the last few years, you\u2019ll know this isn\u2019t Jan-Willem van Schip\u2019s first run-in with the UCI over its infamous technical regulations.<\/p>\n

The Dutchman has been a professional cyclist since 2014, and is a two-time world champion on the track.<\/p>\n

Over the years, van Schip has been noted for his progressive approach to bikes, equipment and riding.<\/p>\n

We first spotted him riding 32cm-wide handlebars at Scheldeprijs back in 2018<\/a>, for example, and he was also the first rider to use (and be subsequently disqualified for using) Speeco’s Aero Breakaway Handlebar<\/a> in 2021.<\/p>\n

In recent months, though, as the UCI has clamped down on what it views as excessively narrow handlebars and dangerous riding positions<\/a>, van Schip has come under increasing scrutiny from race officials.<\/p>\n

\"SpeecoVan Schip was disqualified for using Speeco’s Aero Breakaway Handlebar in 2021. Speeco<\/p>\n

His disqualification from the Ronde de l’Oise is reportedly his third since October, according to WielerFlits \u2013 all for various infringements of the UCI\u2019s technical regulations, relating to equipment and riding positions.<\/p>\n

This has led van Schip\u2019s team manager to accuse the UCI of treating the Dutchman and his team differently from other riders in the peloton.<\/p>\n

Tabak told WielierFlits: \u201cI think it doesn’t matter a damn anymore what he does. Every single day they came to check Jan-Willem’s bike in the Tour de l’Oise. Every day! They measure it up\u2026 If they can find anything, they get you.<\/p>\n

\u201cJan-Willem was recently disqualified from the Tour of Greece because of the position he adopted on the bike. On that same day, Jonas Vingegaard did the same in the Giro d’Italia and received a yellow card. There needs to be clarity, because that is currently lacking. Those rules must apply to everyone, not just Jan-Willem.\u201d<\/p>\n

Why can\u2019t riders carry bottles in the front of their jerseys?<\/p>\n

According to the UCI, the move to ban riders from carrying items in the front of their jerseys stems from the \u201crecent publication of studies demonstrating the aerodynamic advantage provided by this practice\u201d.<\/p>\n

As demonstrated in triathlons and time trials, carrying a bottle or large object down the front of your jersey can help \u2018fill in\u2019 the gap between your torso and legs, thereby improving the aerodynamic efficiency of your body shape.<\/p>\n

The UCI regards this practice as contravening article 1.3.032 of its existing regulations, which outlaws \u201cnon-essential items\u201d designed to \u201cmodify the morphology of the rider\u201d for aerodynamic purposes.<\/p>\n

\"\"The UCI bans the use of “non-essential” elements that have an aerodynamic impact on a rider’s body shape. UCI<\/p>\n

As often with cycling\u2019s technical regulations, there are grey areas to this rule, however, because riders are permitted to carry water bottles and nutritional products to and from team cars as part of their domestique duties.<\/p>\n

Where it crosses the line from permitted to banned behaviour is clearly open to interpretation.<\/p>\n

Why does van Schip keep pushing the boundaries?<\/p>\n

When asked why van Schip doesn\u2019t simply dial back his setup to something less extreme, Tabak said: \u201cHe is a boy of extremes. He seeks out the spaces. He wants to cycle as aerodynamically as possible and be as aerodynamic as possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that is allowed by me, as long as everything stays within the rules and the law of the UCI.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tabak said he and van Schip have tried to engage with the UCI to get clarification on what is and isn\u2019t allowed, but said: \u201cIt is really very sad. If we can help him with anything, we will. But I don\u2019t think we will get very far with the UCI.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Notorious UCI-rules-challenger Jan-Willem van Schip, was reportedly \u201cforced\u201d to stop racing by French police following yet another disqualification…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":725418,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,784,85],"class_list":["post-725417","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cycling","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=725417"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725417\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/725418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=725417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=725417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=725417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}