A month after SRAM took the UCI to court over its controversial gear-limit rule, the Belgian Competition Authority (BCA) has stepped in, suspending the regulation just days before it was due to be tested at the Tour of Guangxi, and opening a broader fight over how cycling governs technology.
In its ruling, the Belgian watchdog sided with SRAM’s argument that the standard hurts innovation and unfairly tilts the playing field.
“The BCA recognises the legitimacy and importance for a sports regulator such as the UCI to ensure the safety of athletes,” the authority’s statement reads. “However, the procedures for determining technical standards enacted for this purpose, as well as the related tests, must meet essential conditions of proportionality, objectivity, transparency and non-discrimination in view of the economic consequences of these standards.
“They cannot result in an undue restriction of competition between sports equipment suppliers. The BCA considers prima facie that the Maximum Gear Ratio Standard and the procedures governing its adoption by the UCI do not meet the required conditions of objectivity and transparency.”
The ruling temporarily suspends the UCI’s Maximum Gear Ratio Standard, which limits bikes to a 54×11 top gear. The BCA says the standard “generates disproportionate negative effects on a sports equipment supplier, namely SRAM.”
The BCA agreed that the measure was “likely to cause harm to SRAM that is serious and difficult to repair,” extending that harm to “professional cycling teams equipped with SRAM transmission systems.”
What this means
In practical terms, the UCI must “suspend immediately, and no later than 13 October, the implementation of the Maximum Gear Ratio Standard” and is “prohibited from imposing transmission-ratio limitations” in any professional road event until it adopts a transparent and non-discriminatory replacement, or until a final decision is made.
The BCA also ordered the UCI to publish within 24 hours a press release stating that the rule “is not applicable” and referring to the Belgian authority’s decision. It warned that non-compliance could trigger penalty payments and further action.
Technically, the BCA’s legal powers stop at Belgium’s borders, but its decision still carries weight. The UCI’s technical regulations apply globally, including to Belgian riders and Belgian-registered teams. Thus, ignoring the order could expose the governing body to wider scrutiny under European competition law. Rather than risk a patchwork of enforcement, the UCI has chosen to halt the test everywhere.
That means the planned trial of the Maximum Gear Ratio Standard at next week’s Tour of Guangxi will not take place, and teams will continue to race using their current gearing setups until the case is resolved or a new protocol is approved.
The UCI, however, intends to fight back.
UCI pushes back
In a statement released on Thursday, the UCI said it would suspend the testing protocol but that it was “surprised at the intervention of a competition authority on a subject desired by all stakeholders of cycling,” noting that the decision came “in response to a complaint from a US company against a Swiss sports association regarding a test to be carried out on Chinese territory.”
It added:
“The UCI deeply regrets that riders’ safety does not appear to be a shared objective with those who challenged the implementation of the Maximum Gearing Test Protocol before the said Authority. However, the UCI will continue to act in the interests of the safety of riders, other members of the peloton and spectators.”
The governing body confirmed it will appeal the decision and may modify the Testing Protocol to allow its safety analysis “desired by all stakeholders in professional road cycling.”
