News broke this week that Olympic Champion, Jenny Rissveds would not be competing at the World Championships in Cairns, Australia next month. We spoke to her team manager, Thomas Frischknecht, to find out more about the situation.
So can you explain your side of the situation with Swedish Cycling?
Swedish cycling signed a contract with POC for the whole kit: jersey, shorts, helmets, eyewear, gloves and socks. The athletes have to wear all these products while competing for the national team. As Jenny already has a contract with her trade team Scott/SRAM to wear Scott helmet and she also has a worldwide contract for all competition to wear Oakley eyewear. So she didn't sign this agreement with the National Federation. Short term, talking with the president of Swedish cycling last year, I solved the problem saying, "Okay for the European Championships in Sweden we let Jenny compete in a Poc helmet as this is was on Poc's home soil. For the rest of the year - World Championships and Olympics - she'll ride whatever she is sponsored to ride, and he agreed to this. In the meantime, we asked the UCI to take action to actually define more precisely what national federations can ask the riders and what they can't because we saw a potential conflict there. This could go even further, say Swedish Cycling signed a contract with Specialized and their riders have to compete on Specialized bikes when they are competing for the National Federation?
So, we asked for some help from the UCI. This, unfortunately, didn't really result in any action from their side over the last year and this year. Swedish cycling came back and said if she wants to join the national team she is obliged to sign this contract which tells her then to wear POC products. This is asking someone to violate a contract, so it's against European law. As Jenny has already signed a contract with the team. This is not a common for national federations to actually sign contracts for personal equipment. We advised her to not sign this contract and this resulted in the Swedish Cycling Federation saying, "Okay then we're not sending anyone to Cairns." So it's now at the end and it was Swedish Cycling who took the decision to not send any athletes to the World Championship, which is a shame.
So every athlete who would be on the Swedish national squad was not in a position to sign this contract?
Yeah. Well, the same is for Alexander Engen and another girl that also didn't want to violate their existing contracts. Swedish Cycling put them in a position where they would have to violate an existing contract. From the team's side, we stayed firm and said that the UCI or Swedish cycling has to solve this problem. If that contract is signed then we would have our back against the wall to turn things around. So we said hey we are going to stay firm. Hopefully there will now be a big shitstorm over Swedish Cycling's actions. They just pushed it too far and now the Olympic champion is not competing at the World Championships, which is a shame. A shame for Jenny, a shame for the sport in general and a much bigger shame for Swedish cycling.
There have always been special kits for Worlds, right? For instance, in DH there were always the national skinsuits.
This has always happened. It's been the history of cycling at World Championships on the road, cyclocross, mountain bike - it's the national federation that supplies shorts and jersey to be raced in. This is fine. This is also where they get some revenue from sponsors and it has always been that way. But, in the UCI regulations, there is not such a strict definition stating that it is only jersey and shorts. Swedish Cycling used British Cycling as an example. Their riders were not just wearing the jersey and shorts through the year, but were also riding the bikes and all the kit. But the big difference between Swedish Cycling and British Cycling is that the athletes from British Cycling, this not only on track it's also the under-23 team of great Britain in cross-country, they were out but they were actually registered as a trade team. They were travelling to World Cup races as a trade team under the British Cycling flag, the athletes were actually paid a salary and bonuses and all of that made it possible for them to make a living with their national federation. Whereas Swedish cycling doesn't have a dime. Jenny doesn't get a cent from them. She lives only from what she makes with her trade team we make sure she has 99 percent of the support to bring her to all the World Cup races and we are responsible for all her equipment. Now they're basically taking away something that we believe belongs to her.
That doesn't seem fair to the athlete, surely it is you, the team who are there for her week-in, week-out?
Yeah. They just put her under the pressure. At the end of the day, it is the cycling federation that nominates an athlete to go to the World Championship. So they took this leverage to say, "You know what, you sign this contract or you we're not going to send you to the World Championship." So we remained firm, they remained firm and that's how we're now at a point where Sweden isn't sending a team to the World Championship.
To play devil's advocate, what if someone says, "Well why aren't you guys not more flexible?"
Because this eventually turns into a much larger issue where, in the future, a national team sees the potential to sign a lot more contracts. It can result in shoes, bikes, whatever and it kind of becomes an uncontrolled thing. Let's say it's then not only Swedish cycling, maybe we have the same issue with Swiss cycling and every other national team. If this kind of becomes a rule, then the national teams can do whatever.
The sport as it exists right now works by the industry paying for the whole sport. It's Scott, it's SRAM, it's Specialized, Trek, you name it. We are supporting cross country racing by putting the budgets together to send trade teams and athletes to World Cup races, and then the most important races, such as World Championships and the Olympics. For example, maybe Nino has to ride a Specialized bike because Swiss Cycling signed a deal with Specialized that requires all Swiss athletes that compete at the Olympics to ride a Specialized bike. So if we agree to Jenny riding in a POC helmet, it would be the beginning of the end. It could then continue to become a much larger problem.
This whole thing is a big part of the reason why Jenny didn't compete much this year. First, both her grandfathers died within a short period of time, then she had to fight against her own federation. Jenny is proud to be a Swede. Facing this issue and feeling the burden of an Olympic champion has taken the wind out of her sails. It’s actually not correct to talk bad of Swedish Cycling in general, it is basically only one person, Swedish Cycling marketing manager Anders Bromee, who has been terrorising Jenny for more than a year now. This has become a big, big issue so at this point, she would not feel comfortable to travel to Cairns with a team where everybody hates each other because of what happened. Right now she has zero trust and respect for Swedish Cycling. She does not feel she has been treated well enough to see how, in these circumstances, it would result in a good performance for her.
MENTIONS: @SCOTT-Sports
Welcome to the politics of cycling where it's all about the power clowns jostling for control (AKA $$$) and less so about the athletes. Always has, always will.
FYP
UCI was weak as well.
Mx
I guess she has to get herself to the airport.
@racerfacer: what does POC have to do with it? It's the Swedish fkng Cycling Federation which have always been a bunch of cnts. Sad to hear about that, I have no idea what were they thinking.
@matadorCE: you say that because you haven't seen a Swedish mountain bike. At least it's not like they are making her ride a fkng Crescent...
We are here talking about bikes, not f*cking football. I don´t care about SEAT or Madrid vs Barsa, I don´t have car and hate football,but maybe if you still looking at your good request "arse" you find something to touch me the balls...yeah thats your way Wakidesingns. Hahahaha you are a bad guy...
So you mean this zip t-shirt is sewn by a Swedish artisan with threads of silk to be worth $160?
On a serious note though, why do seemingly all national federations royally f*ck up the sport with a complete lack of common sense. This sucks.
So how could you blame either POC or SPec for wanting something for exchange for their cash after being asked to lash out some is beyond me... "POC is dead for me" you fkng twat...
"Hello, it's me. Messy times at the moment, no, actually not just at the moment. This has been an ongoing thing since February last year when my name got sold and contracts were unluckily signed above my head. I don't wanna hang out anybody or throw shit on anybody, that's not who I am. I'm the last one in this war who should excuse myself or apologize, but however I wanna apologize in advance to you who actually are innocent, but will get in trouble because of politics, people who are weak and people who are too proud to swallow their pride. Please, I beg you all out there to not throw shit at POC, UCI or anyone else who actually TRIED to solve the problem and who TRIED to help myself, my team and my Swedish riding colleagues out of this. It's not about which products are the esthetically nicest, it's not about my team making money out of this, it's not about the Swedish cycling federation in general and it's not about me. This is about so much more. Either way we are all gonna lose in the end of this story, but it's fair to say I'm the one who lost the most the last one and a half year. I feel sad, I feel used and if it wouldn't be for the people around me, who's fighting day and night for my rights, I would have been deeply worried about my future. Either you take your part, you stay natural and watch it from the outside or you don't give a shit about this whole mess. But what's the most important for me to know is that all the people who brought me all the way here will bring me even further and I know that they will always keep my back, no matter what. I'm sure the each of you who had the time to read all the way down here also know who's having my back and who's not having my back in this conflict.
Peace."
Keep being angry at somebody mate.
You can spare your own time trying to belittle me, because i dont give a flying crap what you think about me.
I am an old man now so want to impart some old man wisdom. Question what you read. Again, in all likelihood this person is being greedy. However, there have been multiple multiple times on here when the rhetoric has been "I wonder who paid them to write that article" about a review or whatever. This site is totally full of product launches pretending to be news. In this instance the manager of one of the biggest bike brands comes on here and his answers are typed up in a nice bland way and all the sudden we are ready to send hate mail to this Anders guy. Even if he is wrong (and again, likely he is) you can't do that to someone. It is morally incorrect to write an article and put someone's name and accuse them without facts. I am not a lawyer, but if these facts are incorrect I believe it was also be in the whole area of liable and slander. I don't care either way, what I am trying to say is that I feel we should be more discerning readers and know when something is a well written journalist piece, when it is an editorial, an opinion piece, advertising or what have you. What this is is not cleear. It appears to be an attempt to get the internet on the side of Scott cycling with less than perfect facts and with only one side fo the story.
I also do feel a need to add that whatever is happening here it is very sad that such an amazing athelete and wonderful person is being caught in the middle and as a result having to miss out on a premier event. Having dedicated her life to Mtbiking it likely is a great solace to her just to be on her bike. After she lost so many loved family members it is a tragedy that her chance to race and in so doing achieve some form of release is being denied by this dispute. Warm thoughts to you Mrs Rissveds. Thank you for your inspired riding.
Frischknecht did not actually confirm that Jenny's current sponsors would respond punitively through EU law if she wore the POC gear, only hypothesising that "...it would be the beginning of the end...", "Lets say if..." and "...this could go even further." etc etc. All of his positioning is merely conjecture, although not without logic.
So, Frischknecht himself is protecting his OWN sponsors interests over Jenny's right to compete with the Swedish cycling team at the world championships. He is the one that advised her not to sign the SC equipment contract, to protect HIS financial (and team) interests over her opportunity to represent her country.
If she hadn't followed Frischknecht's advice, she'd be booking her tickets to Cairns.
I think it would actually be more interesting to get POC's input - could they really have been completely unaware of the potential confilt these stipulations would cause? Are they willing to ease those stipulations so Jenny can race?
When UCI is aware of this situation for over a year, that's a severe case of negligence, but also not something new.
Well, Jenny you probably won't be reading this but, we support through these tough times. The pro XCO circuit is kind of missing a little something when you are not around. I am sure you will come back stronger than ever!
The position of the Swedish Cycling Federation (SCF) is they fund youth training programs and lay the foundation for young cyclists to blossom into professional riders. The deal with POC aids the investment in the next generation. So when riding for the national team they don't feel it's too much to ask that their own sponsor's equipment should be used. The trade teams do not have to fund youth cycling programs and can simply sign the riders the federation have produced without compensation. As the Swedish Cycling Federation paying for their riders and backup team staff to go to the Worlds they feel they are in a good position here.
Why should trade teams get the exposure for their products when the riders are on national duty? Even if there has been a tradition of trade teams' helmets and glasses being used it does not mean they had that right. And of course they have not had the cost for those cyclists attending those races where they then received free exposure. According to a board member of the SCF there was an unsuccessful attempt at the UCI Congress to allow trade teams to have the rights for glasses at national level. I understand the trade teams are worried as other nations may now follow Sweden's example. Whilst some people have made comparisons to football players' boots they have forgotten that the boot manufacturers often have to pay vast sums of money to the national football associations.
The trade teams have their cyclists for every other race throught the season. Isn't that exposure enough? One would assume trade teams would like to have the added value of having a World Champion on their squad for the coming year. And therefore should not stand in their way. If Jenny had won the Gold Scott could have dressed her is their own equipment for publicity shots with her in their helmets and glasses complete with medal.
I attended the AGM of the Swedish Cycling Federation in March 2017. The rules surrounding the national team were presented as part of the plan for 2017. Every delegate was made aware of the implications; that if Scott (and other teams) did not allow Jenny (and other riders) to compete with POC helmets and glasses then Jenny (and others) would not be riding in the World or European championships.
The plan won approval with 100 % support without opposition or reservations. So directly (or indirectly by non-attendance) it is actually 460 member clubs and 20 district Federations that stand united behind this in Sweden, (... and not just Mr Bromme as suggested in the article). Jenny's mother club in Sweden did not send a delegate to the meeting. The POC deal can be stopped democratically at the next AGM in March 2018. The AGM is the highest and final decision making organ we have. Any decision made there has to be abided to by the staff and board. For that to happen any Swedish member club can submit a motion for the AGM by December 1st 2017. Then there will be a discussion and a decision.
On a final note one has to wonder if the men in charge of the trade teams would have been as harsh on a male Olympic Road Gold Medallist?
Garry Jones
Cyclist from London, emigrated to Sweden in 1988.
Delegate at the 2017 SCF AGM
Footnote (question) for Matt Wragg
Any reason you did not contact Anders Bromee before you published? Frischknecht makes some pretty damming libellous accusations about Bromee and lays the "blame" solely at his feet. As I bare witness this is not true and were Mr Bromme now to grant an exemption he would be in breech of his own employment contract which locks him down on the plan and decisions taken at the AGM.
Has the fact that some of the companies involved in this "on the other side" advertise on pinkbike influenced the decision to publish this one-sided article?
If truth be told I am the President of the local district federation where Jenny has grown up. Our District opposed the National Federation when the news first broke in February 2016. We are part of a democratic organisation and as such we wondered what the fall out would be from this at the AGM in March of this year. When no other club or district had any objections to this being passed we fell into line, majority rule and all that.
UK Cycling was in a bad way in the mid-90's with lots of opinions, multiple governing bodies and lots of bickering. My Grandfather held national UK tandem records in the 1920's but was always at loggerheads with the powers that be. About 20 years ago more people realised that they need to be part of the process if UK Cycling was going to get out of the 19th Century. The results speak for themselves on what has happened in the last 20 years.
There has a history of squabbling, discontentment and disarray in Swedish Cycling. Now we are starting to see the signs of a more ground approach to how things are run. Varying opinions are tolerated and discussed in a variety of ways. The fallout of Jennygate has made national news. This very article on Pinkbike is the national sports headline this evening.
The Swedish cycling discussion forums are on fire. Three board members, other district presidents,Anders Bromee and myself have taken part in these discussions. There is no name calling or accusations and discussions are open with solid debate on both sides of the argument.
I find it refreshing when board members spend time on social media debating this and other questions.
The hope I now have is people from around the country will wake up and get involved in the future of Swedish Cycling. I hope they can bring their very valid opinions to the democratic process. There is room for them, the door is open. Pen-pushing? Possibly, but sometimes you need to push pens to get wheels turning.
As for the SCF position on this. I can expand. Even if Jenny has had a lot of help from those close to her over the years there has been a complete race program in place for her to take part in. There had to be other riders for her to race against. Some young riders without willing or able parents needed a lot of help from the federation. Somebody had to train and pay for those commissaries, marshals, medics, mc riders, trainers, race organisers, masseurs and mechanics.
And it's still going on as the SCF look to finding and raising the Jennys of the future.
I can actually understand the arguments behind the POC contract. When faced with POC-deal or no deal what should they have done?
...and that the Swedish Cycling Federation shoulder none of the blame?
"On a final note one has to wonder if the men in charge of the trade teams would have been as harsh on a male Olympic Road Gold Medallist?"
The answer is unequivocally no.
I see your point, and obviously the SCF needed to sign a deal - however, they must have expected at the time of signing with POC, that this potential issues would come about?
It's highly unlikely that the Scott team would ever allow one of their riders to race in competing products to those they are paid to ride in?
Did the SCF not consult the Scott team (who have the biggest MTB Swedish Cycling star on their team) beforehand and ask for their opinion on this? Maybe if so they could have come to some sort of agreement that Jenny would be exempt from the deal in return for Scott providing the team jerseys/paying for their team members travel?
Obviously this is only one side of the coin, and I'd be interested to hear from the SCF - but now it will be at a he said, she said point.
Also, I don't think it's fair that you bring the gender issues in cycling into this when asking about their view on male Road gold medallists as we're not talking about that here...
KAPICHE??????????
"I can actually understand the arguments behind the POC contract. When faced with POC-deal or no deal what should they have done?"
Quit your job and this Bromee should quit too because you're doing an awful job. If you had any proud and if you are working for the right reasons anyone would never agree on a decision that would remove the possibility for a mega star to go the WC. Thats the utmost importance that you and this other idiot doesnt get. Who do you think young children are looking up to? You or Rissveld?
Imo, Rissved's trade team Scott has more to lose from their star not racing worlds than does SCF. POC knows this and negotiated accordingly.
I do not work for the SCF. I am an unpaid elected official who works with cycling in my spare time.
Let¨s recap. I am President of the local district federation.
The deal was signed in December 2015.
At the European Championships in May 2016 Scott allowed her to wear Poc.
We - the district where Jenny has grown up - opposed the SCF. I went to the AGM this March year with the agenda of stopping the poc deal. When the plans were announced I turned to the delegates and made it clear what we were voting for. 460 member clubs and 19 other district federations have voting powers.
Not a single person in that room agreed with me. We have a democratic organisation with a yearly vote on the plans.
To now be told that I should quit my job because I have explained things and how all this came about is a bit much. I could quit as district president, but what would good would that do? I was the only person in that room who did anything about it. It is not easy for an Englishman in a room full of 100 Swedes to stand up and tell them they are wrong.
I took exception to the article's attack on Anders Bromee because he is not the one who has voted for the deal. The previous person walked out on his job having not been able to get a clothing deal. Anders was on the national board at the time and quit when offered the office job. He came in and tried very hard with all of the available suppliers. Many different solutions were discussed. In the end we ended up with the poc deal.
I was told about this in February 2016. I hit the roof and went ballistic at the board. After a year of protesting we finally came to the AGM of 2017 when we had a chance to break the contract. And it was voted in.
I was the only delegate in that room that has actively tried to avoid arriving at the situation we are in today.
The SCF and POC have now presented a proposition to the teams involved.
Watch this space.
scf.se/forbundet/2254-2
Google translate might do it for you, if not, "We and POC love cycling, bla bla bla, therefore POC have given us the possibility to propose a solution to the teams involved".
By the way its dumb to force people change gear for WC anyway. These proffesionals are extremely meticulous off their gear, just read last article here from whistler. Sam Blenkinsop added a gram weight to his rim to change the feel on high speed sections. Its just an annoyance to change from gear they used to. We want them to feel home to perform the best.
Ye that link was garbage, i only care about the results, that was just sugar coating each other.
Here is a radical idea.
Skip the national federations for MTB. The teams seem to be able to fund their riders, the best riders in the world.
Why do we need national teams getting in the way twice a year (Europeans and Worlds for us here)?
The only team event in the worlds is the road team time trial where riders now ride for their trade team and not for their country. Conflicts arise here about which hotel to stay in and who is paying for the journey and hotel.
The Swedes could still cheer for Jenny, just that she would not be in a national jersey. A professional road cyclist values about 15-20 events higher than the Worlds, but within MTB the Worlds are the major goal for most riders. So why not for the team as in Tour de France and other major races?
It's not like team sports such as soccer/football or ice hockey where the national teams have weeks together in their national colours.
"Without hesitation we are willing to consider all possibilities and avenues to ensure that Jenny Rissveds and other athletes are free to compete at the Championships and welcome the chance to support our athletes."
news.pocsports.com/2017/08/16/poc-position-on-swedish-athlete-jenny-rissveds-not-attending-the-world-championships-in-cairns-australia
Alternatively, where you have a star athlete like Jenny, you often make sure the national sponsor is the same as the athlete's sponsor to avoid a conflict.
I reckon this is a question of agents or lawyers getting the sponsorship deal wrong.
Bunch of god damn roadie crooks!
But hey, let's end this on a positive note! Since you mentioned the Dream Team, I need to mention the Lithuanian Basketball Team from that period, one that had a few awesome players ans were in charge with beating the USA in 1988, but in the colors of the USSR. Well, because of the chaos of the dissolving USSR, they had no money for the Olympics, so Sarunas Marciulionis (who played for the Warriors before it was cool, wink-wink) put some sponsorship deals together. The best part is that The Grateful Dead read about his struggles in the San Francisco Chronicle and ended up sponsoring the entire Lithuanian team. The best part? Their official gear included a tie-dye T-shirt with a slam-dunking skeleton and they wore it with every occasion. This is probably one of the best story in sports and a total opposite to the greed we are debating here.
Proof: www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/european-olympic-qualifying-tournament-portrait-of-team-news-photo/103650367?esource=SEO_GIS_CDN_Redirect#basketball-european-olympic-qualifying-tournament-portrait-of-team-picture-id103650367
Have a good one!
Mx
(Google Translated)
translate.google.com/translate?sl=sv&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=https%3A%2F%2Fhappyride.se%2Fforum%2Fread.php%2F1%2F2916896&edit-text=&act=url
So f*ing frustrating knowing we have a great spearhead of the sport and also would give the sport a great push forward if participating.
It's allways mony and that sux!
You are a hero Jenny!!!
In this case the judge argued that the judo suit is 'technical equipment', which the athlete should be able to choose freely. Apparently the judo suit has a big impact on the athletes performance. This is of course a judgement call. In football the jersey is not considerd technical equipment, but the shoes are. In biking surely the bike is technical, but the question is if the helmet is as well. I would say it's difficult to prove that it has a big impact on performance, so probable Jenny just has to wear whatever they give her. With the sunglasses I can actually imagine that she would be able to wear her own. In any case, if UCI doesn't do anything, she should go to court and try to get it resolved there. Would be a real shame if she can't take part in any world champs/olympics any more.
I could imagine giving the athletes the gi ahead of time so it could be custom-fit, or allowing the athletes to use their preferred gi with official branding.
Imagine asking a Crankworx Joyride competitor to change his grips!
By the way, how many languages do you speak PERFECTLY?
PS - Your American "English" grammar isn't any better!
It might be similar to football stars have to play in advertisement when playing Worldchamps.
As said, just devils advocate and more the question, if she didnt force SCF into this via a private Sponsor-contract, which counts including the worlds. So I am on her side, It´s a brave call to take that fight. I just think she has foreseen this.
In general I find UCI and all national Federations in Enduro and DH useless and hindering the sport. They do close to nothing for their athletes! And are they really fighting vs.the biggest enemy of sport at least for CC, which is Doping? At least on road-cycling the UCI closed their eyes over year, just for money.
So lets get "inofficial" Worldchamps and riders might want to ignore the official. It would just need Red Bull to support that (If Red Bull is any better, that is another topic, I guess)
This robs not just the riders, it also robs the fans, World Champs should be best riders from the Countries competing against each other, not bullshit Commercial branding & politics. We all know that a lot of sponsered riders will use manufactures equipment, such as tyres but with the logo's removed.
I can see this from Jenny & her teams side and fully support them. Otherwise what next we will have Rachel Atherton & Danny Hart competing at World Champs on Halfrauds Carrera Specials or Aaron Gwinn on a Walmart (insert make here) special.
Just such a shame that one knobhead can ruin it for the entire team.
No different to a footballer wearing an adidas club kit, but then wearing Nike for his country - while still wearing his personal sponsored Puma boots.
I'd love to hear POCs take on this and why they thought it would be a good agreement/partnership in the forst place.
"I will get personnummer. I will que with ticket. I will go on holiday the same week as everyone else. I will holiday in the same location as my fellow swedes. I will not ride a bike without POC equipment. POC IS GOD"
Ever been to a Swedish bikepark? It's like POC & Specialized puked everywhere.
Shame for Jenny. Shame for cycling.
Yes, it is a shame for Jenny, but it is her sponsors that are telling her that if she is sent by the SCF to represent Sweden at the WC, she is breaching her contract. She should not have a contract forcing her to wear clothes at a race, where she is representing someone else.
I don´t understand how POC´s PR does not revoke their contract with SCF as being accomplice on this f*ck up is not the best image for the company... although there is no such thing as bad publicity...
Regarding exceptions, she may still ride a Scott bike but, what about Oakley? glasses are their only product...
Regarding POC´s PR, they are now trying to fix their image with a news release... we will see if it is all fake...
Way back when only amatuers(well, the Russians and East Germans used 'Pro's', but we beat 'em anyway) could compete in WC/Olympic competitions, they used whatever equipment the team supplied, end of story
In all other sports it is perfectly acceptable for athletes to wear team kit when representing their country and their sponsors kit the rest of the time. Why have her sponsors got a problem with this?
Helmets and Eyewear in the case of cycling are argueably the most prominent (and therefore valuable) pieces of kit in film and images.... and likely to be in media circulation for a long time after Worlds. So it is a major issue for an athletes personal sponsor.
Shirt/Shorts/Suits? Not so much. They are clearly national uniform and accepted as such.
Is hard to blame them. But Jeese, gotta have serious butt hurt on all sides to have no representative for the world champs.
I really hope this ends well for jenni and Thomas but I have a sad suspicion they are out of their depth. Probably the best would have been to suck it up and let the horrible Swedish commission to win, at least she'd get to race. Now no matter how the legalities are decided there is no racing.
Wouldn't it be more effective to force the Swedish team to pay for consequence of illegal rule?
at WC/Olympics roadies do use their national federation jersey (and sometimes bibs) but wear their own shoes/helmets/glasses.
WorldTour(Professional teams are just another story. But it's not the case.
And for those sending the necessity of the National Federation should consider who else is going to send an athlete? This does not work on a grassroot base.