This week, Dutch rider Jan-Willem van Schip was disqualified from the Tour of Holland for riding a seatpost with a bend in it. The UCI commissaires deemed it 'illegal' and he was unceremoniously booted out of the race. It’s not the first time van Schip - a regular on the six-day scene and a rider prone to pushing the UCI rules around a rider's position - has been pinged by the tech police, and he’s not alone.
If there’s one thing the Union Cycliste Internationale loves as much as acronyms, it’s an article and regulation. For every watt a rider saves, there seems to be a clause somewhere ready to take it away. From saddle angles to bar widths, how you hold the bars to gear ratios, the UCI’s Technical Regulations are a labyrinth of geometry, millimetres and, occasionally, common sense.
