The UCI (Union Cycliste Internationale) has allowed members of the Zaaf women's team to change teams effective immediately after investigating allegations that the team has not paid its riders. The team has already lost Audrey Cordon-Lago, who resigned earlier this month and moved to Human Powered Health before Paris-Roubaix.

"Since the beginning of this year I have not been paid and my travel expenses have not been reimbursed. Not only financially, but the conditions under which we evolved were not really suitable for a professional team. We could not continue under these circumstances," Cordon-Lago told Le Télégramme last week.

Normally, athletes cannot change teams until the official mid-season transfer period on June 1, but the UCI made an exception, telling Cycling News that "the UCI will, if an athlete has obvious and compelling reasons to terminate his contractual relationship with his former team, consider his application for registration with a new team before the next registration period. The application for registration approval will be considered."

The Zarf Team is run by owner Riad Beratresh, who named the team after his grandfather Abdel Kader Zarf, who raced in the 1950s; after racing as a club in 2022, the team upgraded to a UCI Continental team this season upgraded and won Cordon-Lago with Maggie Coles-Lister and Heidi Franz.

The Zarf Cycling Team submitted a bank guarantee to the UCI, but the Spanish Cycling Federation confirmed to Cycling News that it would only ask for withdrawals from the bank guarantee if the riders were not fully reimbursed by March 31, 2024.

The riders are scheduled to compete in the women's Vuelta a España and La Vuelta Femenina on May 1, and AS.com (opens in new tab) reported that several riders have received some of their back pay.

Cycling News contacted the Zarf Cycling Team to clarify the team's financial situation, along with allegations that some riders and staff have not been paid and an alleged lack of professionalism, to which the team has yet to respond.