Nice (AFP)
The International Cycling Union (UCI) announced on Friday that it had launched an investigation into the fall of Belgian Remco Evenepoel in the Tour of Lombardy on August 15, and is particularly interested in an object taken out of his pocket and the possible transmission of data race.
"We seized the CADF (the anti-doping foundation, editor's note) on the images that we could see on television so that it conducts its investigation, hears the people involved and that we know more about what could be out of Remco Evenepoel's pocket, "said UCI President David Lappartient during a press point held on the eve of the Tour's departure in Nice.
Images in which Davide Bramati, the runner's sports director is seen extracting an object from the runner's back pocket, have raised questions on social networks.
David Lappartient also mentioned the subject of the data that would have been transmitted from Evenepoel's bike.
"At one point the sporting director declared that they had thought that he had fallen because he had stopped transmitting his data. What data are we talking about?", Asked the president of the UCI, in Nice on the eve of the start of the Tour de France 2020.
"It is forbidden to transmit a certain number of them. We are investigating this point," said David Lappartient. "If it's just location data, it's different. It's the + data + that we are not allowed to transmit."
Remco Evenepoel, 20, who was the favorite of the event, crashed heavily during the Tour of Lombardy.
About forty kilometers from the finish, on the descent of the Mur de Sormano, he fell into a ravine after hitting a stone wall. The young Belgian must be observed a period of absolute rest of at least six weeks.
© 2020 AFP