Total Energy issued a statement Friday condemning domestic violence. However, the team did not directly address the fact that its member Alexandre Genies was sentenced to a four-month suspended prison sentence for domestic violence against his ex-wife and that he was allowed to continue racing with the team.

"Team Total Energy condemns domestic violence in all its forms and wholeheartedly supports action to prevent and eliminate such abuse. Earning respect and responsibility for people is an important value that Team Total Energy upholds and shares within the team.

"The team will pay close attention to any situation that may violate these principles and reserves the right to take appropriate disciplinary action if misconduct is proven," a statement released by Total Energies on Friday reads.

UCI confirmed that the ethics committee will consider what further disciplinary action should be taken against Jenyes. According to their statement, Total Energy is waiting for the UCI before taking any disciplinary action.

Geniez's ex-wife, Lucie Garrigues, reported the violence to Rhodes police last November and accused him of physical abuse dating back to February 2020.

At a court hearing in January, Garrigues said that on November 7, Jenyes threw a cell phone at him and said: "You know what happens to you."

Further violence allegedly occurred on November 17, and Garrigues submitted medical certificates for both incidents.

Her sister testified as a witness in support of the allegations.

Jeniese's attorney refuted the allegations that he had been violent toward Garrigues, stating: "I acknowledge the threats, but I object to the physical violence. Mrs. Garrigues has always avoided discussion.

Audio recordings of Jeníez's threats and Garrigues's screams were used as evidence against him.

Rodes' prosecutors had initially requested a six-month suspended sentence, but on Wednesday Geniez was sentenced to a four-month suspended prison sentence.

Geniez attended a hearing in Rodez where the sentence was handed down.

While his trial continued, he continued to race with Total Energies, competing in the Tour of Saudi Arabia and Tour de Rwanda in February.

Total Energies has so far not responded to messages from Cycling News, and other cycling media publications have reported that there has been no response from the team regarding the domestic violence case against Jéniez, and that Jéniez has continued to race during the trial.

UCMedia.

The UCI told Cycling News on Wednesday that it had not been informed of the proceedings against Jenyes, but that the case is under the jurisdiction of the UCI's ethics committee.

"The UCI has not previously been informed of any criminal proceedings against Mr. Jenyes. We draw your attention to the decision of the French court, as this is a matter that falls under the jurisdiction of the UCI Ethics Committee in accordance with Appendix 1 of the UCI Code of Ethics."

"The Ethics Committee will consider whether to request the submission of documents with a view to initiating disciplinary proceedings."

"The UCI will also consider whether to request the submission of documents with a view to initiating disciplinary proceedings.

If the Ethics Committee conducts an investigation and determines that a party has violated any provision of the Code, the Committee has the authority to implement various sanctions. These include, but are not limited to, reprimands, educational measures, return of awards, suspension from cycling-related activities, and fines of up to CHF 1,000,000.

The UCI also announced that after its Steering Committee meeting last June, it gave the Ethics Committee the authority to sanction individuals, including provisional sanctions, without referring cases to the UCI Disciplinary Committee.

"In order to reduce the length and complexity of the proceedings opened for violations of the Code of Ethics, the UCI has decided to delegate full sanctioning authority to the Ethics Committee. The Commission may therefore impose sanctions without having to refer the matter to the UCI Disciplinary Committee as before," the UCI said of the new measure. [These include provisional sanctions, preventive and/or mandatory measures to avoid conflicts of interest, and temporary sanctions that may involve educational measures. This means that the Ethics Committee may impose preventive, educational, or punitive measures depending on the nature of the case, given the extremely diverse nature of the cases it reviews."