UPDATE 01 MARCH 2024: Team Cynisca has fired directeur sportif Danny van Haute for his errant actions, saying, “The team did not and will never condone this sort of behavior. This was a one-time mistake by a rogue director.”

Multiple USA national champion, Olympian, former 7-11 pro and now directeur sportif Danny Van Haute, 67, was banned from the sport until 2026 by the UCI after trying to enter team Cynisca in a race by deceiving organizers – fraudulently dressing up the team mechanic as a bike racer.

The International Cycling Union (UCI) said that Cynisca had only four healthy riders prepared to race at the women’s 2023 Argenta Classic in Belgium, when teams of five riders were required. The team and Van Haute then tried to “deceive the Commissaires’ Panel into believing that a fifth rider was present and could take part in the event,” dressing up the mechanic in a team race kit to disguise their identity while signing the start list as the fifth rider.

“Upon being informed by the Commissaires that the team could not participate if all five riders did not sign the start sheet and take the start, Mr Van Haute instructed the team mechanic, Moira Barrett, to wear a rider’s clothes and a face mask, to present herself at the start and sign the start sheet as the team’s fifth rider,” the UCI said in a statement.

Adding, the Cynisca team, staff and riders “were therefore all found to have participated in a fraud,” with “Van Haute… found to be the main perpetrator.”

The UCI has banned the legendary American cyclist from the sport until 2026. Mechanic Moira Barrett is also banned, until August 2024. In addition, team Cynisca was fined an unspecified amount and suspended from competing in an upcoming race.

All of this drama announced the day after one of Cynisca’s top riders, USA National Road and Gravel Champion Lauren Stephens, won the one-day Clasica de Almeria in Spain.

Photo Credit: Winning, Facebook/elite.racing.service

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