German track cyclist Roger Kluge has accused the UCI commissaires at last week’s Track World Championships of “misconduct” after they were late to add up a rival team’s points in the Madison, leaving Kluge and his partner unexpectedly without a medal.
With 12 laps to go in the 200-lap event, Denmark's pairing attacked off the front of the bunch, securing 10 points in the final sprint that meant they overtook Germany for bronze. The scoreboard at the time of the attack, however, showed Denmark in fifth, 32 points behind Germany.
Previous points earned were added to the tallies following the race, and Denmark was awarded 20 points for a lap gained shortly after the halfway point.
Although the final standings were correct, Kluge said he and his partner Moritz Augenstein would have reacted differently to the Danish attack if they had known their points tallies were so close.
“There was no danger from our perspective,” Kluge wrote on Instagram. “If we, and certainly Team GB, had known that Team DEN also had about 60 points on their account, Team DEN wouldn’t have simply rolled away with 12 laps to go, we would have been on the wheel, and the final two sprints would have turned out completely differently.”
Belgium won gold in the event with 81 points, Great Britain silver with 73, and Denmark bronze with 71.
Germany’s Kluge and Augenstein, thinking they had a 30-point buffer in third going into the final two sprints, were later judged to have finished fourth with 64 points. The German pair initially turned up to the podium ceremony, but after delays in declaring the official results, were replaced by Denmark.
“This misconduct on the part of the UCI commissaires clearly influenced and distorted the race, which is simply unacceptable and definitely shouldn't be allowed to go unchallenged at a World Championship,” Kluge wrote of the points scoring during the event.
“If we athletes or personnel make mistakes, there are penalties or even disqualifications. We can’t just say, ‘We’re sorry, please accept my apologies.’ But the UCI is allowed to do that, and it’s depriving us athletes, and certainly the federations of a result in an Olympic discipline, which would have led to future advancement for both the individual and the federation.”
In points-based events like the Madison, riders rely on a table shown on a screen at the top of the banking to keep track of where they, and their opponents, stand. The event, which involves 18 pairs swapping in and out of the action with handslings, can often be chaotic, and 15 lap gains were earned by teams in the men’s race at the World Championships on Sunday.
Cycling Weekly has contacted the UCI for response to Kluge’s comments.
