The Riders Union's Cyclist Alliance (TCA) has introduced a new "Rider Hotline" service for the year 2022. The service is intended to be a single point of contact for riders to file complaints, report concerns, and seek advice on ethical, personal, and practical issues.

All inquiries submitted through the "hotline" (currently a contact portal on the Cyclist Alliance website) will be directed to Judith Van Maanen, TCA's Ethics Officer. Inquiries will be kept confidential and will cover a wide range of topics.

"Riders can contact us about ethical issues, health and wellbeing issues, legal issues, tax issues, visa issues, insurance issues, agent issues, etc. In fact, anything," Van Maanen said. [We want riders in need to contact us without hesitation. We can inform them of their options, discuss possible actions, and guide them to the next steps they want to take. Each situation is tailor-made and it can be very beneficial to talk them through the situation."

The Cyclist Alliance can provide assistance through its own channels, including legal support and advice on ethical procedures, or refer riders to outside professionals and services.

"We can simply be a support partner to listen and understand the situation," Van Maanen added.

Providing advice and support to riders has always been part of the Cyclist Alliance's work, but the decision was made to establish a Rider Hotline as the sole point of contact for riders in early 2022.

"The purpose of the TCA Rider Hotline is to make it easier for riders to connect directly with TCA's ethics officers," says Van Maanen. 'Riders can contact us at any time, but in most cases, emails are first read by our staff who manage the email account and then delegated to the appropriate professional on the team for the service needed.'

"By creating a "hotline page", riders will definitely know where to go when seeking advice, especially in a crisis situation.

The Cyclist Alliance has previously supported riders in various difficult situations, including Sara Mustonen, one of the riders who filed a complaint against Healthmate Cycle Live team manager Patrick Van Gansen.

"I was facing an incorrect situation within the team and didn't know where to go or what to do. The Federation of Cyclists helped me right away." Mustonen said.

The Cyclist Federation could not comment on the extent to which the new service has been involved so far, but hopes it will help in continuing to support members of the women's peloton.

"The Rider Hotline is still a relatively new tool we are working on and we want to make TCA members and those considering joining TCA more aware of it.