The UCI has escalated its probe into Jan-Willem van Schip’s Tour of Holland disqualification by requesting the Dutch rider’s body measurements and other personal data, according to a report on WielerFlits.
Van Schip (Parkhotel Valkenburg) was thrown out of Stage 1 of the NIBC Tour of Holland on 15 October, after riding with a Tavelo seatpost mounted upside down in Dordrecht.
The reversed post pushed his saddle far forward, with UCI headquarters ruling it broke Article 1.3.013, which requires the saddle nose to sit at least 5 cm behind a vertical line through the bottom bracket. Local commissaires had initially allowed the set‑up before being overruled from Aigle, and team director Chris de Jonge was fined 500 CHF.
Team representatives say the configuration had been registered with the UCI and used for years, and they lodged an appeal. Now, in a letter reported by WielerFlits, the UCI has asked for detailed information not only on the Tavelo post, frame and cockpit, but also Van Schip’s “body measurements and other personal data” to help assess his position. The UCI has not publicly commented on the request or the appeal’s status.
At 1.94 m, Van Schip has repeatedly pushed the limits of the rulebook with extreme aero positions. He was famously disqualified at the 2021 Baloise Belgium Tour over unconventional handlebars, a case that already marked him out as a flashpoint between innovators and regulators.
This latest step folds privacy concerns into that tension. Anthropometric data are already used in time trial position checks, but asking for a rider’s full measurements in a road position dispute feels, in the words of Parkhotel Valkenburg staff quoted by WielerFlits, “quite strange”.
It also underscores how aggressively the UCI is now willing to enforce its equipment rules, even in smaller stage races.
Cover image: Ian MacNicol/SWpix.com
