4 days ago
Spanish cyclist given one-year ban for sexual harassment of female rider
The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) has banned a cyclist from the sport for a year for the sexual harassment of another rider.
The governing body's independent ethics commission found that downhill and enduro mountain bike rider Edgar Carballo Gonzalez, 36, had been found guilty of 'sexual and non-consensual actions' that 'violated her dignity' and constituted sexual harassment. The decision was published in a press release on Monday.
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The incident took place at a 2023 mountain biking World Cup event in Leogang and was reported through the confidential platform UCI SpeakUp.
Carballo Gonzalez's actions were described in the release as non-consensually 'making sexual advances, with inappropriate physical contact and the use of the word 'rape''.
The survivor was not by the UCI but later on Monday, Ares Masip posted on Instagram addressing the sanction, saying: 'After 9 months of breaking the silence about the sexual abuse I suffered during a MTB World Cup, the UCI has taken action and the sanction is public.' The 30-year-old Spaniard had previously posted in December 2024 about being sexually abused at that event in Leogang, making her experience public as 'these cases are way too frequent'.
A post shared by Ares Masip (@ares_masip)
'This happened in the paddock of the World Cup – the biggest platform and the top competition in our sport,' she said in a separate interview with Esport3 last December.
'Our sport is a niche environment. The physical spaces where we stay tend to be small too, and it is very difficult to not see anyone. You coincide with everyone at some point.
'I have limited and reduced significantly the number of races I go to. I have done it for multiple reasons, but one of them is to not bump into him again.'
Carballo Gonzalez was found to have violated Article 6.4 (protection of physical and mental integrity) and Article 2.3 (sexual harassment) of the cycling code of ethics.
'It has been a tough process, one filled with fears and doubts,' Masip said on Monday. 'But this is a small victory that gives me strength to keep going, a small step that I hope will help create a safer and more dignified space.
'This doesn't end here. The legal process is slow but continues to move forward. There is still much to be done, but now I have broken the silence, I will not take a single step back.'
Masip has spoken publicly about her experience on the Spanish psychotherapy platform Somos Estupendas. She most recently came fifth overall in mountain-biking event Megavalanche in June-July, having not raced for most of this season.
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