The Cyclists' Alliance appoints ethics officer to support abused riders
'Our case-w♈ork regularly deals with routine mistreatment and sexual harassment' says TCA founder Slappendel

The Cyclists’ Alliance (TCA) Tuesday t🃏hat it has appointed an ethics officer in a🐟n effort to better support riders who experience mistreatment and abuse within professional cycling. Judith van Maanen, an experienced Legal Counsel, will act as the first point of contact for athletes with complaints and queries.
"Recent news and developments in women’s cycling make it transparent that the sport needs significant change to its culture," Slappendel said in a press statement. 🌳"Judith is an experienced Legal Counsel and an avid amateur cyclist with a detailed understanding of women’s cycling. ไOur case-work regularly deals with routine mistreatment and sexual harassment of riders, so this role will be hugely important as we make our next step to support as many riders as possible."
The voluntary role will focus on estaꦍblishing the extent of rider complaints; guiding riders through relevant regulations, codes and applicable law; and🍃 navigating them through various stakeholders involved in the process such as the UCI Ethics Commission, National federations or local police.
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The UCI Ethics Commission is currently investigating formal complaints of abuse against 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:HealthMate-Cyclelive manager Patrick Van Gansen and 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Doltcini-Van Eyck manager Marc Bracke. The allegations centre around the : Appendix 1, which covers pro✃tection of physical and mental integrity – sexual harassmen♚t and abuse.
TCA contributed to some of the more recent changes to the UCI Code of Ethics through its extensive rider surveys. The 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:UCI updated its Code of Ethics in November 2018 to better protect athletes in cases of harassment and abuse to include three main changes: better 'anonymity of plꦜaintiff' to protect the victim's privacy; dedicated reporting channels for filing complaints; and allowing teams to identify a person of contact who has the right to collect information relating to situations of sexual harassment and abuse and take action with the UCI Ethics Commission on 📖behalf of a team or rider.
TCA is widely considered the 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:de facto union for women's cycling, initially looking to pro🌳vide contract and educational𓄧 support, career advice, and legal and retirement assistance. It has since expanded to include services to improve career opportunities, advocate for fairness and equality, resolve disputes, and to support and elevate the popularity of the sport.
It’s support services also include f♍ree legal advice and dispute resolution; contrac꧟t health check and negotiation advice; now a dedicated Ethics Officer; education on athletes’ rights; a private electronic social platform for instantaneous communication on topics and important issues; financial planning and post-career guidance; mentorship programs; and preferential insurance offers.
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It was awarded a grantꩵ from Rapha Foundation that amounts to $75,000 in funding earlier this year. The association said that it will use the funds to help deliver a new seven-point plan to revolutionise the compensation and culture of professional women's cycling.
The seven-point plan intends to advocate for the national and international governing bodies of cycling to implement the following minimum standards for all rider - WorldTeam and Continental Team; earn a minimum salary, maternity leave, racing/training expenses covered, paid vacation, life and disability insurances, support team members to bꦫe qualified, checked and professional, and a standard approach to race safety.

Kirsten Frattini is the Deputy Editor of Cyclingnews, overseeing the global racing content plan.
Kirsten has a background in Kinesiology and Health Science. She has been involved in cycling from the community and grassroots level to professional cycling's biggesꦰt races, reporting on the WorldTour, Spring Classics, Tours de France, World Championships and Olympic Ga༺mes.
She began her sports journalism career with Cyclingnews as a North Am♎erican Correspondent in 2006. In 2018, Kirsten became Women's Editor – overseeing the content strategy, race coverage and growth of women's professional cycling – before becoming Deputy Editor in 2023.