Meeting today for the fourth time by videoconference, the working group dedicated to rider safety created by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) examined a series of propositions aiming to improve safety conditions during road races. The aim was to determine the measures to be introduced from the 2021 season.
This meeting, which saw the participation of representatives of professional road cycling’s different families* - organisers, teams and riders -, came after several meetings, organised on 27 August in Nice the day before the start of the Tour de France, then the 13 October and 5 November. Three other meetings, each devoted to a specific theme (18 November: course protection and signalisation; 19 November: equipment and rider actions: 20 November: vehicles in the race convoy) enabled concrete propositions to be developed.
The subjects discussed covered different safety aspects of a road race, from general supervision of safety before the competition to the management of safety during the race.
Concrete measures were proposed and discussed at length, and the UCI will continue working on these.
The measures in question will be presented to the Professional Cycling Council (PCC) on 9 December then approved by the UCI Management Committee before their introduction. The first measures will come into force in January 2021, while the others will be gradually introduced throughout the year. Their effects will be under constant evaluation and will be examined by the UCI’s Security and Technical Regulations working group.
* The working group, led by the UCI President David Lappartient, with the participation of the President of the Professional Cycling Council Tom Van Damme, and coordinated by the UCI’s Sports Department, is composed of the following members:- AIGCP (teams): Iwan Spekenbrink, Richard Plugge, Carsten Jeppesen and Patrick Lefevere- AIOCC (organisers): Christian Prudhomme, Richard Chassot and Thierry Gouvenou- CPA (riders): Gianni Bugno, Pascal Chanteur, Laura Mora, Philippe Gilbert and Matteo Trentin.