Women’s cycling team sports director banned for five years over “inappropriate” sexual and psychological behaviour towards riders

The former sports director of a professional women’s cycling team has been banned from the sport for five years after allegations of “inappropriate sexual and psychological” behaviour were made by riders on the team, the UCI has confirmed.

The governing body has also suspended Velopro-Alphamotorhomes’ team manager for three years, half of which is suspended, for failing to report or take adequate measures to address the complaints made by riders on his squad.

Sports director Gert Vervoort, part of the managerial set-up at the second-tier women’s squad (then known as Proximus-Cyclis) in 2023 and 2024, was provisionally suspended in July 2024 after “several riders” on the team reported the Belgian to cycling’s governing body.

According to a statement supplied by the team at the time, the original complaint against Vervoort related to an incident alleged to have taken place on 13 February 2023 and was made by a rider “no longer employed by our team”.

Gert Vervoort

And following an investigation, the UCI today confirmed that Vervoot has been suspended for five years, effective from the time of his provisional suspension, banning him any role in cycling until July 2029.

According to the UCI, Vervoort was found to have committed breaches of Article 6.4 of the governing body’s Code of Ethics (Protection of physical and mental integrity), along with Articles 2.3 (Sexual harassment) and 2.4 (Sexual abuse) of Appendix 1 of the code.

The UCI said in its statement today that Vervoot was found to have engaged in “inappropriate behaviour with riders involving unnecessary physical contact of a sexual nature, taking advantage of his position of authority over them.”

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The team’s general manager, Eddy van Bunder, has also been handed a three-year suspension and fined CHF 5,000 (around £4,500) for his role in failing to safeguard the riders on his team and respond to their complaints about Vervoot.

According to the UCI, Van Bunder was found to have committed breaches of Article 6.4 of the Code of Ethics (Protection of physical and mental integrity) and Articles 2.5 (Neglect) and 3.1 (Obligation to Report) of Appendix 1.

The governing body states that the Belgian team boss was issued his ban for failing “to take adequate measures in response to complaints about Mr Vervoort’s inappropriate conduct and for failing to report these concerns to the [UCI] Commission in spite of his role of responsibility which implies a duty to ensure the protection of all members of the team.”

However, half of Van Bunder’s three-year suspension has been suspended for three years, on the condition he participates in an “awareness-raising” training programme on safeguarding. If he attends the course, and doesn’t commit another breach of the UCI’s Code of Ethics, Van Bunder will be able to return to the sport on 18 July 2026.

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When news of Vervoot’s provisional suspension first broke in July 2024, Van Bunder claimed that the team was taking the matter “very seriously”, and had responded to the allegations by holding a meeting with the riders about their concerns and agreeing to exclusively employ female caregivers from that point.

However, he also appeared to suggest that the allegations stemmed from a solitary rider looking to “settle a score”, and expressed frustration with how the UCI was handling the investigation.

“The management and board of our team takes this absolutely and without discussion very seriously and has already taken the necessary measures and, as instructed by the UCI, has placed Gert Vervoort on inactive status,” Van Bunder said at the time.

“As a team, we fully support the ethical code of conduct set out by the UCI. The original complaint came from a rider who is no longer employed by our team and concerns a complaint on 13 February 2023, in which she informed the UCI about this on 20 March 2024.

“The team was only informed of this on May 16 and from that moment on we immediately made the decision to work exclusively with female caregivers.”

He continued: “The only thing that frustrates us is that we can only communicate about this complaint with the UCI by correspondence. And no physical meetings or calls are organised with the team management for the sake of a better course of events. The timing and follow-up would also benefit from this.”

The Velopro-Alphamotorhomes squad was founded in 2021 before turning professional in 2023. It currently competes on the road at UCI Continental level and also as a cyclocross team, and in March 2024 signed then-reigning British cyclocross champion Anna Kay. The team also includes 26-year-old British rider Henrietta Colborne, who joined this month from the GT Krush squad.