Zaaf Cycling Team Folding After Failing to Pay Riders or Staff
After launching investigations into claims that the Zaaf women’s team has failed to pay both riders and staff, the UCI is allowing members of the team to change teams effective immediately.
The move circumvents the UCI’s normal framework wherein riders must stay with their teams until the transfer window opens on June 1.
The UCI recently told Cyclingnews that they will “consider requests for authorization to register with a new team before the next registration period in case a rider had manifest and compelling reasons for terminating their contractual relationship with their previous team.”
It remains unclear why Zaaf has been unable to pay its riders and staff. According to a report by VeloNews, parties involved are keeping cards close to their chests while lawyers for the team and its athletes attempt to resolve the issue.
Zaaf has already lost one prominent rider when French national champion Audrey Cordon-Ragot left last month after months of not being paid her salary nor reimbursed for her expenses. She submitted her resignation on March 22nd, three days after the conclusion of the Tour de Normandie in late-March.
In an interview with Le Télégramme, Cordon-Ragot said, “Since the beginning of the year, I was not paid, nor have I been reimbursed for my travel expenses. Beyond the financial aspect, the conditions in which we were evolving were really not worthy of a professional team. I could not continue under these conditions.”
The UCI’s transfer window was first lifted for Cordon-Ragot, who left Zaaf to sign with U.S.-registered Human Powered Health, thinking she’d have to wait until June 1st to race again.
“We agreed on a June 1 contract and then I was really pushing on my side to get rid of the rule and that they would make it a little bit earlier,” Cordon-Ragot said in a recent press conference.
“Suddenly the UCI president called me and said it would be possible,” she continued.
The exception was made in time for Cordon-Ragot to roll out for Paris-Roubaix, where she finished 35th, 1:45 behind winner Alison Jackson. It also set precedent for this most recent decision by the UCI.
The investigation into Zaaf comes at a tumultuous time for women’s racing, which has seen enormous strides made over the past few seasons, especially in regards to pay equity and television rights deals.
One of the major forces behind the movement to realize equal pay between the men’s and women’s pelotons, UK stage race the Women’s Tour, recently announced it was canceled for this season due to a lack of funding.
Meanwhile, late last year, Cordon-Ragot’s former team, Team B&B Hotels, announced it was folding due to a total collapse in sponsorship.
At the time, Zaaf was applauded for signing several of B&B’s former riders to its roster.
Whether Zaaf’s failure to pay is an isolated incident or something bigger and more in-line with the cancellation of the Women’s Tour and the collapse of Team B&B remains to be seen.
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