The UCI has confirmed that Mark Cavendish and his HTC Highroad team-mate Tony Martin were both issued with fines last month in relation to unauthorised design of their rainbow jerseys. World road race champion Cavendish and time trial champs winner Martin were each handed down penalties of 5000 Swiss francs, which were later paid by their team.
UCI spokesman Enrico Carpani confirmed to VeloNation the rumours of fines, and disclosed both the circumstances and the sums involved.
“The issue concerned both Mark Cavendish and Tony Martin,” he said, “and a letter was first issued to Mark Cavendish on October 7th in relation to this. That letter was just a warning, not a fine. We reminded him and his team of the obligations he should fulfil after winning world title.
“Based on article 1.3.064 of our regulation, any equipment with the rainbow jersey has to be submitted to the UCI for approval. Based on this, after a rider wins the worlds, we are expecting to get from him the proposal of his first customised rainbow jersey.”
Carpani explained that the UCI informed Cavendish [and, presumably, his team] on October 7th that they hadn’t yet received the jersey proposal. It stated then that a fine of ‘up to 100,000 Swiss Francs’ could be applied if the regulations were not complied with.
Cavendish then lined out in Paris-Tours on October 9th, finishing 42nd in the race. Carpani said the team still had not submitted a design for approval. “On October 10th, we wrote another time to him as it was after the Paris-Tours race. In this case, it was no longer a warning, but a reaction. In Paris-Tours race he was wearing a non-compliant jersey by our regulations and, based on the article 1.3.072, we imposed a fine of 5,000 Swiss francs due to the infringement of the article 1.3.064 and 1.3.067.”
He said that the team finally submitted a jersey design for approval at 9pm on October 10th, one day after Paris-Tours. This was approved on October 11th.
When asked as to where the jersey design fell down, Carpani said that he personally wasn’t told of the precise nature of the problem. Team logos need to be positioned in certain places on the jersey and be within certain dimensions, and this is one area where issues may have arisen.
Cavendish has also been wearing rainbow stripes rather than the more usual bands which extend the full way around the chest, although it is not sure if this is itself against the UCI regulations.
Cavendish’s fine of 5000 Swiss Francs was paid on October 27th. The penalty applying to Martin has also been settled.
With HTC Highroad stopping, both riders will compete with different squads next year. Cavendish will race with Sky Procycling, while Martin will ride as part of the Omega Pharma – Quick Step squad.
Both teams will have to submit their own rainbow jersey designs to the UCI for approval.