The UCI (Union Cycliste Internationale) has opened a formal investigation into the Dolcini Van Eyck Sport women's team. According to a report in Saturday's Le Monde (opens in new tab), Canada's Maggie Coles-Lister alleged sexual assault by a team assistant in 2017, and American Sarah Youmans alleged inappropriate behavior by team director Marc Bracke during contract negotiations for 2019 The team was.

"The UCI has been notified by the Ethics Committee to initiate formal proceedings. The latter is directly directed by the committee and is currently underway," a UCI representative confirmed in an email to Cycling News on Saturday.

The formal complaint centers on Youmans, 24, who filed a complaint in October. She told Le Monde that during negotiations to join the Dolcini Van Eyck Sport women's team, Bracke requested that she send him images of herself "in panties and bra." Le Monde viewed the message exchange, in which Bracke asked Youmans to send him a picture of himself in a bikini, saying, "Don't be shy. This is the beginning of a relationship of trust."

Youmans was offered an unpaid contract, but she told Le Monde, "I didn't want to put myself in a dangerous situation with no friends or family in Europe. If he was prepared to behave like that on the Internet, I was afraid to be in a camp where the balance of power would be in his favor."

Youmans told Cyclingnews that the message exchange between her and Blacke occurred on October 1, 2019, and that she filed a complaint with the UCI Ethics Commission that same month, citing the UCI Code of Ethics: protection of physical and mental integrity, That is, she filed a complaint with the UCI Ethics Commission that same month, citing Appendix 1, which covers sexual harassment and abuse. She received a response from the Ethics Committee stating that it had accepted her complaint. She has not been contacted by the Ethics Commission since.

Bracke denied the allegations and stated that her request for images of Ryder's legs was for professional reasons. 'It was for professional reasons. I am not interested in pictures of women in their underwear". Bracke told Le Monde newspaper.

One other rider, who wished to remain anonymous, told Le Monde that he received a similar request from Bracke when he applied to race for the team.

Le Monde reported that several of the cyclists said that Bracke had an authoritarian management style and that contradicting him would lead to provisional suspension or dismissal from the team. None of the other cyclists reported sexual harassment or inappropriate behavior by Bracke.

Youmans filed formal complaints against Bracke with the UCI Ethics Committee and the Belgian Cycling Federation. According to Le Monde, the Belgian Cycling Federation warned the athlete to observe "strict respect for integrity."

Cyclingnews called Bracke for comment, but received no response to a detailed message prior to the publication of this article.

This is the second known formal investigation into a Belgian-registered women's cycling team from 2019. Cycling News first reported that the UCI had received multiple formal complaints of abuse against Healthmate-Cycle Live director Patrick Van Gansen, and the UCI Ethics Committee was asked by the seriousness of the accusations, the years-long complaint, and the large number of people involved to investigate the case, it asked an outside agency, Sport Resolution, to investigate the incident.

Two years earlier.

In April 2017, 21-year-old Coles-Leister joined the Bracke program, which was under title sponsor Lares-Waodils. She had just turned 18 and was still a junior rider, but had signed a one-year contract as a development rider with the intention of competing in some of Belgium's one-day races. She told Le Monde that during her first week in Belgium, she was sexually assaulted by a team assistant who doubled as a soigneur.

"We were all between 16 and 18 years old. It was my first massage with him. 'He climbed up on my legs and ran his fingers all the way up my pussy. I was wearing underwear, so we weren't touching skin, but it seemed like a strange act to me."

According to Coles-Leister, the sexual assault was repeated in massage sessions over the next few days that she was with the team. She told Cycling News that she stayed with the team for less than a week before returning to Canada to finish her last semester of high school.

She said it was difficult to communicate with her teammates due to the language barrier, but through her little interactions with them, she learned that they too had experienced the same massage that pushed up to the vaginal area.

"I was uncomfortable, but I didn't want to pass by someone who had just arrived and complained that it was his first opportunity in Europe," Coles-Lister told Le Monde. 'He started taking pictures of me during group meals and sending them to me. He took my arm before the race and sent me more intimate messages."

Coles-Lister told Cycling News that she eventually confided in her parents about the sexual assault. She also told Cycling News and Le Monde that she sent an email to the team's sport director, Marc Bracke, 51, telling him that she was uncomfortable with her assistant, that he had overstepped her boundaries, that she did not want to live in the same team quarters as him, that she did not want to receive massages from him She stated that she told him that she did not want to be massaged by him. She did not explain the sexual assault to Bracke.

Bracke told Le Monde that she asked her assistant to distance herself from the team players. According to Coles-Lister, Bracke spoke with the assistant about her concerns and told her not to be afraid of him. However, Coles-Lister's discomfort over the massage and living in the same team quarters as the assistant was not resolved, and she felt her initial complaint had been brushed aside.

"Le Monde" reported further complaints from team players about the same assistants, but none of them felt comfortable enough to declare sexual assault to Bracke. After further complaints, however, the assistant was fired by the team in July.

Coles-Leister now competes on the road with Team DNA Pro Cycling in the United States and in track races with the Canadian national team.

In an interview with Cycling News, she said she did not file a formal complaint when the incident occurred in 2017, partly because she was embarrassed, partly because she did not want to cause problems within the team, and partly because she did not know the route to file a formal complaint of this nature

"I was 18 at the time and really didn't know what to do," Coles-Leister told Cycling News. 'It took me a long time to accept what had happened. I was young, naive and innocent. Sometimes it's just youth, but it's horrible that something like this can happen to anyone.

"My career was also at stake. As a female cyclist, I fear being the one to raise the issue.

Coles-Leister said she is considering filing a formal complaint after learning that Soignier is now working for another women's cycling team. She told Cycling News, "This is an issue that too many people are unaware of, that is happening in the cycling world, and it needs to be addressed now before more people become victims."