The USA’s Hayley Batten was confirmed as the silver medalist in the women’s mountain bike race at the Paris Olympics despite a protest from Puck Pieterse and the Netherlands national team that she had accelerated through the feed zone to gain an advantage on her rivals during the final lap.
Batten finished 2:57 behind dominant gold medalist Pauline Ferrand-Prévot of France but beat Sweden’s Jenny Rissveds by six seconds after a thrilling battle, with Pieterse fighting back from a late puncture to finish fourth 24 seconds down on Batten.
The 25-year-old American managed to gain a few seconds on Rissveds during the lap of the Elancourt Hill circuit and perhaps opened the gap further by surging through the feed zone without taking a final drink.
Race officials apparently studied video footage of the incident but allowed the medal ceremony to go ahead and awarded Batten the silver medal.
Batten and US officials played down the incident during the press conference and said they were not concerned about an eventual fine. Rissveds also dismissed the incident and accepted the bronze medal.
In the end, Batten was fined 500 Swiss Franc (CHF) for "Failure to respect the instructions of the race organisation or commissaires (using the pit lane without feeding or heaving technical assistance)" according to part six of article 4.20.001 in the UCI MTB rules.
Pieterse was in second place when she punctured and was convinced she could have won the silver medal without her problem.
“When I change the wheel, I lose about 25 seconds. Then you are out of rhythm and then I make a few mistakes myself. It took at least half a lap before I got back into it. I overtook other riders again and in the last lap I actually started to believe in a chance of a medal again. Unfortunately, that turned out to be no longer possible," Pieterse told wielerflits.nl.
She added, "I ruined it for myself. In terms of values, I think everyone saw that I could have taken silver. That's the color I should have had."
Pieterse was understandably distraught immediately after the finish but returned to the finish area to talk to Rissveds and make a protest.
She hoped that the race officials would punish Batten, so that she would win the bronze medal. UCI rules are used for Olympics events but there is apparently no specific rule for feed zones.
According to the Dutch media, race officials looked at the incident via a video replay system but pushed back against Pieterse’s pressure. Race rules clearly state that rider or team protests are not allowed, with the judge's decision considered as final.
"The jury should have seen this, but now we’re not able to bring this up," said national coach Gerben de Knegt according to AD.nl.
"The race officials deliberated for a while and decided to give Batten a fine, that was the end of it.
“I don't think this was the way Puck would have wanted to win a medal but of course, the rules have to be followed. Batten obviously got a big advantage from this.”
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