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New World Champion nearly sacked by team - because she didn't ride sponsor's bike

Linda Villumsen makes it into rainbow jersey after five silvers and bronzes - but team supplier Wilier not happy

So, you win a rainbow jersey at the UCI Road World Championships and your team and sponsors will be delighted, yes?

Well, not so in the case of New Zealand’s Linda Villumsen, who was almost sacked by United Healthcare this week after she won the individual time trial in Richmond, Virginia.

Her crime? To do her gold medal winning ride on a bike that wasn’t from her trade team’s bike supplier, Wilier.

While the Italian brand, isn’t happy, Cycling New Zealand has defended the rider and says that she didn’t break any of the competition’s rules.

Perhaps not, but the team’s manager, Mike Tamayo, said that the 30-year-old – who had previously won two silver and three bronze medals in the time trial at the worlds before finally getting onto the top step of the podium on Wednesday – had come very close to being sacked.

He told Cycling News: "It was discussed in order to protect our sponsors but it wasn't something that was acted upon. We considered all of our options with all of our sponsors.”

Explaining that the late decision by Villumsen to use a black, unbranded bike said to suit her riding position better than the equivalent Wilier model had “caught us off guard,” he added “it was more a matter of fit than one of technology."

The rider, originally from Denmark but who began racing under a New Zealand licence in 2010, the year after she became a citizen of that country, may still be fined by her team.

But according to Stuff.co.nz, Cycling New Zealand say the rider did nothing wrong and it was decided ahead of the race that she would use the bike that would give her the best chance of finally winning the rainbow jersey.

"There is nowhere in the UCI rules that stipulates that a rider must use their trade team equipment at a world championship," the governing body said in a statement.

"They have used national federation equipment before at similar events including the Commonwealth Games [where Villumsen is reigning time trial champion] and Olympic Games.

"Aerodynamics is one the biggest factors in time trial performance," added Cycling New Zealand, which said it was in talks with Villumsen’s team about the situation.

The rider is under contract to United Healthare until the end of the 2016 season, which at least will be able to boast the current holder of the time trial rainbow jersey – on a Wilier, next year, presumably.

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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14 comments

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vonhelmet | 8 years ago
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I'm sure I remember seeing something on here about loads of pro riders using specialized shoes in spite of not being sponsored by them, so they had to have them in really generic colours with no logos.

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leqin | 8 years ago
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So I take it we can hope to see trade teams policing this kind of graven inconsiderate act much more vigorously in coming months... I cannot tell you how distressed I felt upon discovering that my hero's quite frequently use bits manufactured by companies who do not sponsor the team and which someone appears to disguise either to hide the make and model or actually make it look like a official team sponsors product  44

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jackseph | 8 years ago
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I think if it was a male riders who was gunning for the Worlds TT, then Wilier would have made their sponsored rider a custom bike, no?

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cat1commuter | 8 years ago
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So now we all know that Wilier doesn't make TT bikes in enough sizes to fit all riders!

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CarlosFerreiro | 8 years ago
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I've seen the story a few places now, but still nobody has managed to tell us the one thing that matters - Does her contract require her to use the sponsor's bikes when not riding for her trade team?

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Simon_MacMichael | 8 years ago
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Sorry for the version of this that originally went up - it was an uncorrected draft rather than final version.

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Ginsterdrz | 8 years ago
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I fort thiz wax a cyling forim no a grimmir aprisiation sosity.
Gget a ghrip!

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Kadinkski | 8 years ago
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Honestly, my eight year old has a better grasp of written English than whoever wrote this mess.

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The King | 8 years ago
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This should have been handled "in the locker room" so to speak. The speculation and drama serves no one, least of all the sponsor.

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JonD replied to The King | 8 years ago
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The King wrote:

This should have been handled "in the locker room" so to speak. The speculation and drama serves no one, least of all the sponsor.

Except that riding an unbranded bike is gonna get spotted pretty easily anyway....

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imaca | 8 years ago
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Just the threat of sacking has resulted in bad PR, because it turned a non-event (stealth non-sponsor components and frames are nothing new in professional cycling) into news. Wilier must be thrilled with United Healthare team management.

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Must be Mad | 8 years ago
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I think sacking a rider who had just won the WC would have resulted in substantially worse PR than not riding the correct bike (well done for highlighting that your bike was not used by the way ....)

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Meaulnes | 8 years ago
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Oh come on, I know it's Friday night but this is gibberish. Take it down, make a coffee and read it again before publishing. Yes, complaining about a free website is churlish but this is shoddy.

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Accessibility f... | 8 years ago
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I think you need a better editor - this article has more typos than a YouTube post.

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