Following yesterday’s furore over the Danish Olympic team pursuit squad's use of fabric tape to gain an aero advantage, multiple teams are reported to have protested about the tape on their shins – but also their undervests.
Great Britain’s performance director, Stephen Park, told Tom Cary of the Telegraph that the UCI commissaires ruled both pieces of equipment were illegal, according to the world governing body’s regulations.
According to Park, the undervests were not available for sale publicly on 1 January 2021 and therefore contravene the UCI’s strict rules on commercial availability.
As a result, the Danish team did not use either the shin tape or undervests from qualifying when they faced Great Britain in the first round of heats this morning.
Cary also quoted Park as saying the undervests could have contributed a “pretty significant advantage”, potentially “up to 3 per cent”.
As for how Park might know how effective such undervests (or baselayers as they're more commonly known) can be, it’s interesting to note WorldTour team Ineos-Grenadiers (who have a long-standing close relationship with Great Britain) have also been using baselayers with what appear to be integrated trip strips for a while. As far as we can tell, Great Britain is not using these at the Tokyo Games, though.
As things stand, the UCI has not released a public statement confirming or denying the ruling, but the absence of shin tape and baselayers on the Danish squad would appear to confirm the ruling did indeed take place.
