Cycling-UCI to rely on informants in fight against tech cheats

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PARIS (Reuters) – The International Cycling Union has promised financial rewards in return for intelligence to help uncover anyone using technology on bikes to cheat, the governing body said on Friday.

The UCI said it would offer rewards to root out technological fraud, the “use of engines or other methods of propelling bicycles”, which has been a serious concern in cycling over the last 15 years.

Earlier this year, the UCI appointed a former criminal investigator as its Head of the Fight Against Technological Fraud, and it now wants to go further.

Bikes are regularly checked in the biggest races with infrared-equipped tablets, although no top names have yet been caught for technological fraud.

“The Management Committee approved the launch of a rewards programme to strengthen its fight against technological fraud. The aim of the programme will be to encourage people with information on this subject to share it – confidentially – with the UCI in exchange for a financial reward,” the UCI said in a statement as it presented its ‘Rewards Programme’, also known as FATF-RP.

“To incentivise the reporting of actionable intelligence related to technological fraud in cycling, the FATF-RP provides various types of rewards to eligible individuals…”

The governing body specified that rewards included material support, financial assistance and monetary or value reward.

“These measures are designed to appropriately compensate individuals or entities which contribute valuable information that aids in the detection, prevention, or investigation of fraudulent activities,” the UCI’s policy on the Rewards Programme states.

“The extent of the compensation or value shall take into consideration the material effort and potential investment put forward by the source as well as the potential risk of hardship or repercussion from such disclosure.”

(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Toby Davis)