The UCI was embroiled in an uproar when it refused to accredit the UCI Road World Championships to a journalist who had previously written an article critical of cycling's governing body.

Ian Treloar, who writes for the Cycling Tips website, had his application to cover the UCI Road World Championships in Australia rejected twice.

The UCI claims that Treloar was denied permission to cover the event because, due to space constraints, no publication is allowed to have more than three media representatives at the championships, and Cycling Tips had already reached its quota of accredited journalists. UCI President David Lapartient repeated this claim at Saturday's World Championships press conference. Treloar has investigated various thorny issues involving the UCI, including its relationship with controversial Russian billionaire Igor Makarov, who has been sanctioned by Australia and Canada in connection with Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

In an article published by the British newspaper The Guardian, Treloar said he believes that the denial of accreditation may have something to do with his investigative reporting.

"It was probably just the accumulation of a lot of articles that planted the perception in their minds that I was a troublemaker or something like that.

"But I think I'm asking reasonable questions about the governance of the sport.

According to the Guardian, the UCI did not answer the question of "whether Treloar's past coverage influenced its decision." Other Australian media reported that the World Championships press center was "relatively empty" this week.

The AIJC, an association of cycling journalists, sent two emails to the UCI "expressing their displeasure with the situation" and "urging the UCI to still grant Ian Treloar World Championship recognition."

A statement released by the AIJC to Cycling News on Sunday said, "The UCI claims that it only grants three accreditations per medium. At last year's World Championships in Leuven, several Belgian media outlets accredited more than three journalists.

"The UCI no longer even responds to our emails and our representatives during the World Championships did not progress further in their discussions with the UCI. We intend to raise this case with other organizations in the future, including AIPS (the association covering all professional sports journalism)."