British Continental team Saint Piran broke UCI rules by applying frameset approval stickers to bikes that had not been formally approved.
The team, run by Richard Pascoe, began using unbranded bikes imported from China during the 2022 season after a sponsorship deal with Lapierre collapsed. Some riders used these bikes in multiple races during that season, including the UK's British National Road Series race, Lincoln GP, and several other races.
Sources told Cycling Weekly that they discovered the frames were not UCI legal; they are unbranded and the sticker does not conform to the UCI’s approval specification. A spokesperson for the team told CW that the stickers were applied “in-race”, contravening the UCI’s rules.
Sources told Cycling Weekly that Pascoe arranged for the counterfeit UCI compliance labels to be applied to the frames and then lacquered over with clear nail polish. It is understood that riders challenged Pascoe on multiple occasions regarding the legality of the frames - dubbed the “Wuhan weapons” by riders - and questioned him on whether they were UCI compliant.
CW has seen a series of WhatsApp messages from Pascoe in which he batted away safety concerns and insisted that the frames were UCI legal.
On Wednesday, in a statement, Pascoe said: "After a detailed inspection, we can confirm the unbranded frames were not compliant with the UCI regulation process."
A number of riders compiled a document outlining safety concerns with the frames but the problems were allegedly ignored and riders were accused of "moaning".
The UCI has strict rules and regulations regarding its approval process for framesets. The world governing body’s regulations state that "the fixing of the UCI frameset and UCI fork labels by private individuals is forbidden" and that labels must be "visible, indelible and inseparable from the frameset". UCI stickers have a frame code on them, which can be matched with approved framesets on the UCI website. The Saint Piran UCI stickers have no such code, merely stating "approved".
All approved frames are listed on the UCI website, ordered by brand and model name. Saint Piran was not able to provide Cycling Weekly with the brand or model name of the bikes raced by the team.
Images and videos provided by team sources have shown that in some cases, the labels on the Saint Piran bikes could simply be removed using a fingernail and were therefore not applied onto the frames at the time of manufacture.
Pascoe told Cycling Weekly: "Saint Piran acted on the advice of the manufacturer and an external expert and understood they were in line with UCI regulations at all times. It appears that advice was incorrect. We have now reported this to the UCI and will abide by their ruling.
"The Frames complied with all ISO standards and the geometry and design met UCI regulations so no advantage was gained in any way.
"We feel reassured that with internal changes in personnel and structure made since that time, we now have a robust checking and quality control process in place."
On Monday, a UCI spokesperson told CW that it would investigate the situation. British Cycling declined to comment.
Staff owed wages
Separately, former staff from the team have said that they are owed thousands of pounds, in wages, due to a variety of costs.
Steve Lampier, who worked for Saint Piran as a DS, alleges that the team owes him just under £30,000. Posting on social media last week, Lampier shared photos of his Giant Propel Advanced Pro 0 and Giant Trinity Advanced Pro TT road and time trial bikes with a short message explaining that he was selling the items, which read: “Sale because a team I spent years growing owing me a fortune. This covers a tiny percentage of what’s owed to me.”
Lampier says he is owed around £27,000 by Saint Piran, which covers a variety of costs, including unpaid team hotel bills which Lampier had been forced to cover personally when travelling to races.
Messages seen by CW show that Lampier regularly asked Pascoe to urgently put funds into team accounts after arriving at hotels across Europe and discovering that rooms for staff and riders had not been paid for.
Sources said that Lampier was regularly placed in "difficult situations" by Pascoe when travelling abroad with the team meaning he was often forced to put large transactions on his personal credit cards.
Three additional people, who asked to remain anonymous, have since come forward to say they are also owed money for unpaid wages and other costs.
The team denies it has invoices overdue and says it has committed to ensuring all monies owed are paid. "We are unaware of any other former staff members that have monies owing. We would encourage those individuals to come forward so we can discuss their concerns."
