For over 120 years, the Tour de France has been held in July, with winners from Maurice Garin to Tadej Pogačar triumphing at cycling's biggest race in the height of the summer.

But will things always be this way? Or will rising temperatures caused by climate change one day provoke a shake-up in the professional cycling calendar?

The question has been asked about cycling's other Grand Tours – the Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a España – before. The Italian race is sometimes forced to skip high-mountain tests as heavy snow lingers deeper into May, while racing through Spain in late August poses obvious heat-related challenges.

The Tour de Frances Femmes, which runs in early August, the hottest time of the year in the country, is another race that will surely be affected by the rising heat, too.

This year, the same questions have been posed of the men's Tour as Europe faces a record-breaking heatwave just a week before the Grand Départ in Barcelona. Much of Western Europe has dealt with air temperatures of 35°C (95°F), while highs of 43°C (109°F) have hit parts of France and Spain.

On Monday, French newspaper Le Parisien raised the question, referring to a scientific study titled 'The future of European outdoor summer sports through the lens of 50 years of the Tour de France', published by a collective of experts based in France, Spain, the UK, and Italy in the journal Scientific Reports in February.

The study stated that, given the increased frequency of heatwaves, "it seems only a question of time as to when the race will encounter the extreme heat stress days that will test the existing heat safety protocols," citing Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) – a measure of environmental heat which takes humidity, air movement, and heat radiation, along with the standard air measurement temperature, into account.

A WBGT reading above 28°C (82°F) stands out as high risk, and so the study looked back over 50 years of July data around France. The focus was on key cities including Paris, Nîmes, Bordeaux, and Toulouse (and a secondary focus on six others), as well as the famous mountains of Alpe d'Huez and the Col du Tourmalet.

The study found that the highest mid-afternoon WBGT occurrences in each location "since 1974 have all been recorded post 2018", while all four cities have passed the high-risk mark in recent years.

"Excluding the two mountainous locations, each of the above-mentioned WBGT records would fall well in the high-risk category according to the UCI's [High Temperature] Protocol," the study noted.

"The WBGT trends over the entire Metropolitan France are positive, demonstrating an increase in afternoon heat stress values in July over the 50-year period."

Fortunately, a high-risk WBGT event has yet to occur concurrently with a Tour de France stage. But with air temperatures and the WBGT trending upwards over time, it looks like it's a matter of time before that eventually comes to pass.

The High Temperature Protocol and its consequences

What could happen when that mark is eventually passed during a race?

Cycling's governing body, the UCI, has taken steps in the past to assist with the challenges of the weather. The well-publicised Extreme Weather Protocol was introduced in 2015, while the lesser-known and less often-utilised High Temperature Protocol was adopted in 2023.

The High Temperature Protocol assesses risk in line with various WBGT ranges, with a WBGT between 23°C and 27.9°C in the orange zone of moderate high risk, and anything above 28°C in the red high-risk zone (other sporting federations, including football's FIFA and tennis' ITF, define high-risk zones above 32°C).

Once the protocol is invoked, various race stakeholders, including the commissaires, race director and doctor, and team and rider representatives, would meet to discuss the next steps in line with the UCI's risk zones.

Suggested countermeasures for the orange zone include adapting race start times, adding shading and motorbikes with drinks and ice socks. Red zone countermeasures include adapting start times, neutralising sections of stages, and even race cancellations.

At the time of writing, none of cycling's biggest races has been neutralised or cancelled in line with these measures, though more and more races are being affected by the heat.

Earlier this month, the Canadian Gravel National Championships were cancelled due to safety concerns as air temperatures hit 34°C, while in Europe, several national federations have made extra accommodations due to the ongoing heatwave.

Back in January, a combination of temperatures hitting the 40s and bushfire risks caused the cancellation of both Surf Coast Classic races and the alteration of a stage of the Tour Down Under.

Four years ago, stage 15 of the Tour saw riders racing to Carcassonne in air temperatures exceeding 40°C as the UCI enacted the Extreme Weather Protocol, allowing riders to take on drinks until 10km from the finish and extending the time cut as race organisers ASO sprayed water across select portions of the road.

"I would say other sports would be cancelled if it's that warm, but I think mostly in cycling we learn if something bad happens, which is very unfortunate," Bob Jungels told Cyclingnews at the time.

The Scientific Reports study notes that the lack of neutralisations and cancellations at the Tour due to the heat is "apparently by chance."

"It is interesting that the Tour de France race dates have thus far managed to avoid the worst of the July heat stress," reads the paper's conclusion alongside recommendations to keep developing and re-evaluating cycling's heat protocols.

"However, given that the route and the race dates have to be planned months in advance, while reliable weather forecasts are available maximum 14 days beforehand this outcome is apparently by chance.

"Accordingly, it is critical that both organisers and participants (and to a lesser extent, the spectators) remain vigilant and prepared. In the absence of detailed daily weather forecasts several months before the event, awareness of the locations with a history of dangerous heat stress occurrences, as well as emerging ones, is of key importance."

Measures to beat the heat

So could the Tour de France be moved, then? Shifting the race, or any other long-established major race, for that matter, seems unlikely in the near future.

In recent years, races have managed to avoid running in air temperatures and WBGT which stray into the high-risk category as defined by the UCI and the Scientific Reports study, so there's no present danger of shifting the Tour to May, let's say.

There could be scope to shift stage times around, given that riders race during a point of the day when the highest temperatures occur. This seems the most likely outcome in the near future, with races shifting away from the mid-afternoon heat and further into the morning.

"In July in France, morning hours are the safest part of the day," notes the study. "While high heat stress can persist during most of the afternoon, planning the race for the morning hours and avoiding the afternoons could substantially increase rider and spectator safety."

In the meantime, the Tour is also taking other measures to beat the heat. Speaking to Le Dauphiné Libéré recently, race director Christian Prudhomme said that he and route designer Thierry Gouvenou have sought out shaded areas more than they had in the past.

"Our approach to designing certain routes," he stated, when asked if the race has a solution for the rising temperatures.

"The Col du Haag [on stage 14 – Ed.], which is one of the new features for 2026, is entirely under the trees. Five or six years ago, when we were designing a route, we thought it had to be in the open for television coverage and for the public.

"Today, on the contrary, we look for climbs in the undergrowth whenever possible. But obviously, we will never remove places like the Galibier or the Tourmalet from the Tour de France."

At the Vuelta a España, which this year, in a rare move, will be run entirely in Spain's southern regions, among the hottest in the country, race director Javier Guillén has taken a different stance.

"The heat cannot prevent us from going to certain areas. It's part of the competition, and we must adapt to those conditions," Guillén told Marca last week.

"Furthermore, we have protocols in place for extreme situations. They are planned for cases of extreme temperatures. We are prepared and will assess each situation as it arises."

The Tour de France, and La Vuelta for that matter, will remain in the afternoon for now, then, and there's no talk yet of inverting cycling's calendar to avoid the summer months. But with record-breaking temperatures and extreme heatwaves becoming ever more common across Europe, that may not always be the case.

The world’s biggest bike race deserves world-class coverage. Subscribe to Cyclingnews for unlimited access to our unrivalled reporting of the 2026 Tour de France. From Barcelona through to Paris, our experienced team will bring you breaking news, expert insight, and in-depth coverage from every stage as the battle for the yellow jersey plays out. Plus, access the Cyclingnews app to follow the action on the go! Find out more.

The use of rider power data as a form of anti-doping is likely to be a hot topic at next month's Tour de France, after the International Testing Agency (ITA) revealed details of a two-year feasibility and pilot study exploring whether power data could be a supplementary source of intelligence for anti-doping purposes.

Using rider power data, like how biological samples are used to create the Athlete Biological Passport (ABP) has been discussed for several years but critics have often cited a lack of accuracy and concerns about privacy.

However, the ITA has revealed that 60 riders have consented to participate in the trial project, including riders from Visma-Lease a Bike, Picnic PostNL, Jayco AlUla, Decathlon CGM CMA and Cofidis. Others are said to be in advanced discussions continuing with the ITA.

The research is being carried out in collaboration with the University of Kent and University College London. The ITA was founded by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as an independent non-profit foundation to carry out a multi-sport approach to anti-doping, taking it out of the hands of individual governing bodies.

Depending on how the trial project goes, using power data could eventually be part of the fight against doping in pro cycling and even other sports such as triathlon.

However, there has been considerable pushback against power data analysis from some part of the sport. Tadej Pogačar's agent Alex Carera described it as 'stupid' and an extra burden on athletes. Earlier this year, he told The Athletic that measuring any evolution in performance was not needed because "we do not have a doping problem."

Adam Hansen, the president of the CPA riders’ unions also has concerns about using power data as an anti-doping tool, with different stakeholders in the sport at loggerheads about who owns and controls rider data.

“I highly believe it won’t be successful. And then it will be scrapped. But we will see how it goes," Hansen told Road.cc.

“At first they said it’s just a test. I said, 'OK, that’s fine. But what happens when it’s not a test? What happens when a rider does not submit his training data? What happens if his SRM or Garmin is flat? What happens if his power meter does not work?

“While this is voluntary at the moment, I’m really worried when it becomes mandatory.”

However, the ITA claimed it has the support of the UCI, who is funding the research from revenue that is partly paid by riders, teams and race organisers.

"If validated by the ITA and approved by both the UCI Funding Committee and the UCI Management Committee, the UCI regulations will be amended to require the mandatory sharing to the ITA of individual power data for all professional men’s road riders," the ITA said as it detailed the testing.

It also said that "The study is being conducted with riders participating on a voluntary basis and in full compliance with applicable data protection regulations."

ITA said the research includes two incremental phases over two years after first revealing the idea in 2025.

"The first year focuses on retrospective analysis using historical rider data to determine whether a meaningful and sufficiently reliable longitudinal monitoring approach can be developed.

"If the feasibility phase demonstrates that the modelling principles are scientifically and operationally robust, the project would progress into a pilot implementation phase using current season data.

"Its purpose is not to establish anti-doping rule violations through performance data, but to evaluate whether certain patterns or evolutions in performance may, in the future, help inform areas such as targeted testing strategies, sample retention decisions, additional laboratory analysis or investigations."

The ITA could use power data to look for what it calls “excess performances” compared to their peers and across their careers, much like the Athlete Biological Passport does for blood values.

“We are constantly looking at how to make the cycling anti-doping program smarter and more effective," said ITA Director General Benjamin Cohen.

“Power data has been part of the conversation in cycling for many years. It is one of the sport’s most widely used performance tools, yet until now its potential contribution to anti-doping has remained largely unexplored.

"Thanks to the commitment of riders, teams and recognised experts, we now have the opportunity to assess its potential through a structured scientific process and determine whether it can meaningfully complement the anti-doping toolbox in the future."

The world’s biggest bike race deserves world-class coverage. Subscribe to Cyclingnews for unlimited access to our unrivalled reporting of the 2026 Tour de France. From Barcelona through to Paris, our experienced team will bring you breaking news, expert insight, and in-depth coverage from every stage as the battle for the yellow jersey plays out. Plus, access the Cyclingnews app to follow the action on the go! Find out more.

"Secrets are poison. They suck the life out of you." Tyler Hamilton.

"I viewed this situation as one big lie that I repeated a lot of times." Lance Armstrong.

"This place has been my home. They liked me here. Not anymore. Now they will look the other way. Now I don't belong." David Millar.

Is doping worth it? To live everyday looking over your shoulder? To enhance performance but diminish character? Cheating equals high anxiety and, of course, little sympathy. The stress-free solution? Don't dope. It's simple. Or is it?

These days, the advanced anti-doping and testing system means athletes face 'strict liability' for every single substance they consume, vigilance so high that they can't even buy vitamin C at a pharmacy, and surveillance that requires them to provide their location at a specific time every single day.

Is adhering to an anti-doping system that monitors you every day of the year, where you're guilty until proven innocent, in need of reform for athlete sanity? Cyclingnews investigated the system, the rules, and the mental impact they have on riders who are just trying to stay clean, and prove it.

The contamination issue

Michael Woods enjoyed a stellar 13-year professional career, primarily for Cannondale (now EF Education-EasyPost) and Israel-PremierTech (now NSN Cycling Team). He won four Grand Tour stages – one at the Tour de France, three at the Vuelta a España– and the prestigious one-day race, Milan-Torino. Woods retired from the WorldTour at the end of 2025 but, like many modern-day pros, he soon swapped road for gravel. When we caught up, he'd just 'won' the Canadian gravel national championships. Possibly. Extreme heat led to the event being cancelled while riders were still out on the course, meaning Woods' result was in doubt. Unlike his stance on cheats.

"I'll start off by saying that dopers ruin the sport for all of us," he says. "I'm all for clean sport and forged a career from clean sport. But the anti-doping system, while a necessary burden, is a massive burden. It's a huge stress. During my entire career, I guarantee that I never intentionally took a performance-enhancing substance. But I couldn't guarantee that I wouldn't have tested positive for one."

That's not an admission of guilt or Machiavellian Armstrong wordplay – "I've been tested 500 times and I've never failed a drug test" – but an honest appraisal of a system that can end careers if an athlete's urine or blood sample shows traces of one of more than 400 prohibited substances.

According to WADA's (World Anti-Doping Agency) Athletes' Anti-Doping Rights Act, 'strict liability' means that the athlete is solely responsible for any "any banned substance you use, attempt to use or is found in your system, regardless of how it got there or whether there was any intention to cheat". In anti-doping, not knowing isn't an excuse. You must live pure in an impure world.

"Unless you live on a farm, isolated from the rest of the world, growing your own food and ensuring no-one touches it, can you guarantee that something isn't contaminated?" says Woods. "Whenever I took a drugs test, that played on my mind. It's stressful and it's the same throughout the peloton.

"One of the biggest stressors is that you're guilty unless you can prove your innocence. And even if you prove how you ended up consuming contaminated food, by virtue of how the media handles the story and how the sport deals with you, you're tainted. I have friends who tested positive but discovered the source of contamination and were exonerated. But the damage to their finances and reputations was irreparable.

"They're especially damning in Canada. I'm proud of the fact that our country is vehemently for anti-doping, but it means any positive test results in you being crucified. Arguably, this goes back to Ben Johnson and what happened in South Korea. We were burnt and embarrassed on an international scale."

For our younger readers, the muscular Johnson won the 100m men's race at the 1988 Seoul Olympics in a new world record, before ignominiously leaving the Games and being stripped of gold after testing positive for the steroid stanozolol. It was arguably the biggest story in Olympic history. A piece of graffiti in the Olympic village encapsulated the drama: "Hero to zero in 9.79 secs."

Hormone-fuelled food system

Johnson confessed to doping. Many banned athletes don't, blaming their positive test on contamination. In the monochrome world of doping, it's seen as a convenient excuse. But the evidence suggests many grey areas.

Take the steroid trenbolone, used in the American food industry to boost the efficiency and yield of meat production. It's legal in the USA. But trenbolone is on WADA's prohibited list. Maximum residue figures are set for how much trenbolone commonly remains in a slaughtered animal from farm to fork for anti-doping purposes. Several assumptions are made that impact these residue figures, including point of administration. Trenbolone is mixed into a compressed pellet and injected into the back of the cattle's ear. The steroid then dissolves into the bloodstream. After around 200 days, the animals are 'harvested', whereby the ears are removed to prevent potential contamination.

If the farmer follows standard practice and an athlete records an anti-doping violation, the contaminated meat excuse is flimsy. But not, many a defendant has argued, if the pellet was misplaced and entered muscles from which rib-eye and loin steaks are cut. Or oxtail. That was the defence of runner Erriyon Knighton, who tested positive for trenbolone in March 2024. An independent arbitrator initially cleared him after accepting that contaminated meat likely caused the result, allowing him to compete at the Paris Olympics where the American finished fourth in the 200m. However, the Court of Arbitration for Sport later ruled the contamination evidence was insufficient and imposed a four-year ban. Knighton continues to protest his innocence.

Clenbuterol is another WADA-prohibited substance used to increase meat yields, albeit it's banned around the world because residues are high enough to cause health issues. Despite that, there's a huge black market in many Latin American and South-east Asian countries.

Alberto Contador was handed a two-year ban and stripped of his 2010 Tour de France victory after testing positive for clenbuterol. The Spaniard's contamination defence – that it was down to eating meat brought across the border from Spain to Pau on the rest day – didn't hold up because the illegal clenbuterol farming practices are rare in Spain, despite Contador passing a lie detector test.

(As an aside, for my new book Dope I interviewed Morten Hostrup, associate professor of physiology at the University of Copenhagen, who'd recently undertaken human studies on clenbuterol. Hostrup told me it's great for muscle building but actually impairs endurance performance because it 'suppresses mitochondrial function' in the muscle. "It's one reason why the current regulations would have accepted Contador's explanation," he told me. "He wouldn't have been suspended.")

In short, contamination is a very real stressor for professional athletes. "I raced the Vuelta a Mexico [which last took place in 2015 but is scheduled for a return in 2027] and the Tour of Qinghai Lake in China and basically you eat rice and eggs," says Woods. "You have to be hyper-vigilant and it's an extra stressor."

Supplementary pressures

It's the same with supplements. According to a 2025 survey by Sport Integrity Australia, one in three sport supplements – around 35 per cent of 200 samples – bought online contained at least one substance prohibited by WADA. Why is down to two reasons: accidental (the equipment wasn't cleaned thoroughly) and intentional (the manufacturer purposely added a prohibited performance-enhancer to crank up its effectiveness and have the athlete coming back for more).

WADA recommends athletes take supplements that are third-party tested. These products will feature the testing company's respective logos, and include NSF Certified for Sport, Informed Choice and Informed Sport.

"You couldn't take anything not approved by the team," says Woods. "It makes sense, but if you're feeling under the weather and want to buy vitamin C, you can't go to the pharmacy and be an adult. You have to report to mom and dad and ask if it's OK. It's for the right reasons, but it becomes crazy. You lose any autonomy and it's something you're constantly thinking about."

"When I first started competing, I was proud of making sure I was doing everything right," Woods adds. "Come the end of my road career, I'd been on some form of anti-doping programme for nearly 15 years. After all that time, you start to think, ‘Fuck this. I am so over it!'"

Or I'm not just over this, but I'm over life, in the case of former British cyclist Lizzy Banks, whose contamination case left her battling suicidal thoughts. In July 2023, Banks tested positive for traces of the banned diuretic chlortalidone. April 2024, UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) cleared Banks, accepting that contamination likely stemmed from a tablet she took for asthma. June 2024, WADA appealed her case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, ruling that she'd failed to prove the source of the contamination despite overwhelming scientific and contextual evidence and so banned her for two years.

"This case demonstrates the high bar set by the application of the 'strict liability' principle," UKAD pronounced, "and the challenges in identifying and establishing unintentional violations."

The 'will they, won't they?' sanction left Banks in turmoil.

"I'm not sure yet whether I regret having carried on the fight," she wrote at the time. "I'm so empty right now that I barely know what I feel anymore. But this is what they do to people like me. They crush us. They expect that we will just walk away and they will never have any consequences. But there must be consequences."

Banks proposed a series of anti-doping changes to protect athlete welfare including easing the burden of proof – that athletes shouldn't be required to provide the exact source of contamination when strong scientific evidence shows the substance level is incompatible with intentional use. She sees the current system as creating prolonged uncertainty and psychological harm.

Whereabouts is the welfare?

As do a dozen professional tennis players, including Nick Kyrgios, who in January 2025 filed a legal case against tennis federations and the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) for a complete disregard of athlete well-being when enforcing anti-doping policing.

The case came off the back of doping allegations against the men's world number one, Jannik Sinner, who twice tested positive for the banned steroid clostebol. WADA accepted the Italian's story that he didn't cheat and exposure came via his fitness coach's massage cream. Both parties agreed to a three-month ban that some felt conveniently expired before the second Major of the year, the French Open. The civil class-action cited his preferential treatment due to potential financial implications and access to superior legal representation.

A team of academics – including Alex Smith, senior researcher at Bern University in Switzerland – examined the complaint in a paper entitled, 'Coercive compliance? Anti-doping systems in tennis and athlete mental health.' It's a fascinating read and draws attention to the need for fairness when enforcing anti-doping policy.

"The focus of most anti-doping bodies remains firmly on detection and deterrence, which is understandable, but the inadvertent psychological implications of compliance sits largely outside that frame," co-author Smith tells us. "Research has documented what some call ‘clean anxiety' among athletes, which is a persistent fear of inadvertent rule violations and the reputational damage that would follow.

"For younger athletes who are still developing, that could be particularly problematic. They're trying to establish themselves in elite sport, managing uncertain incomes, unpredictable travel, sometimes young families, and on top of all that they carry this background fear of making an administrative error that carries the same punishment as failing a drugs test."

For administrative error, read the Whereabouts system. This is a requirement in any sport signed up to the WADA Code and allows anti-doping authorities to conduct unannounced drug tests on athletes between 6am and 11pm (and, in some cases like targeted testing, also between 11pm and 6am) on any day of the year. Athletes must update their ADAMS (Anti-Doping Administration Management System) to give a specific 60-minute time slot each day when they guarantee they'll be available for testing. You can update it any time before that 60-minute time slot begins. If you miss three tests within a 12-month period, you're banned.

"Athletes have described the constant need to remain organised, available and compliant, particularly during periods of travel, family commitments, illness or other major life stressors," says Smith. "The concern is often less about being monitored and more about the possibility of making an administrative mistake that could carry significant professional consequences. In that respect, the psychological burden may be less visible than other stressors in elite sport, but it does remain present in the background of athletes' lives."

Smith stresses that the integrity of anti-doping testing is vitally important and out-of-competition testing is an effective tool. "However, athletes are required to disclose their whereabouts around the clock, submit to surprise testing and provide highly sensitive health data, including biometric identifiers and medical information," he says. "Nowhere else in a democratic society would we accept that level of surveillance as a condition of employment."

That's the academic viewpoint. What about the athletic one? "Of course, out-of-competition testing and monitoring is important," says Woods. "Dick Pound [former president of WADA] had a great saying that if you fail in competition, you've failed two tests: the doping control test and the IQ test!

"So, things like the Whereabouts system are useful but I'd actually have preferred a tracking device, especially in the off-season when you're looking to switch off from cycling mode. That's when your plans tend to change. You might head to your mate's for a couple of drinks and the last thing you're thinking of is logging into your phone to change the address on ADAMS. You then awake the next morning and panic that if the doping officer visited, you've messed up.

"Thankfully, I was pretty diligent and only had one out-of-competition miss, which I contested because the tester made fundamental errors and it was removed. The area – Andorra, where I was living – was unfamiliar to them and they went to the wrong building. But it was stressful."

Woods says he has friends who missed three tests in the 12-month period but fought the last one and won. "And I know others who missed three and were banned."

Punished for neurology

Further pressure arises from the therapeutic usage exemption (TUE) system, which allows prohibited substances to be used for medical reasons. It's supposed to be performance-enabling rather than enhancing, though is perceived to be widely abused.

"The burden arises from the additional documentation and evidentiary requirements imposed by the anti-doping framework," says Smith. "For conditions such as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), it's a challenge. Many cyclists take medication for ADHD, which is on the prohibited list, but the process of sorting a TUE is extremely involved. That's not great for a disorder associated with forgetfulness and disorganisation. You're almost punishing someone for having the disorder, which means many might not bother taking the medication to avoid form-filling. If you're in the middle of a peloton and you've got a disorder that's linked to hyperactivity and impulsivity, that has clear implications for you and your fellow riders."

"That's me," says Woods. "I've never been officially diagnosed but I was almost held back a grade and repeatedly told I had 'attention issues'. If I was younger, I'm confident I'd have been diagnosed with ADHD at school. Keeping on top of these forms and apps is a real issue and can kill careers. Miss tests and teams won't sign you. Sponsors won't sponsor you. You can't race."

Smith says British Cycling has delivered TUE courses specifically aimed at riders with ADHD, but suggests all levels of elite athletes should be better supported, as they can face considerable costs simply to demonstrate eligibility for a treatment that's medically needed. More broadly, he says that greater focus must centre on the daily strain of adhering to anti-doping policy.

"The argument is always that athletes consent to it, but that consent is functionally coerced," he says. "An athlete who refuses compliance faces immediate exclusion from international competition. The balance shifts when you build genuine welfare support into the framework. Right now, the obligations are clearly defined and the consequences of failure are clearly defined, but the psychological support available to athletes navigating that system remains largely absent. We believe that you can uphold rigorous testing and provide mental health resources."

"We'd suggest introducing mandatory welfare assessments as part of the anti-doping relationship as standard practice for any athlete in a registered testing pool," Smith continues. "Right now, the system is entirely focussed on compliance. There's no touchpoint where anyone asks how an athlete is actually doing. A welfare check-in, delivered through the existing infrastructure, would catch athletes who are struggling before they reach crisis point, and it would send a signal that anti-doping organisations view athletes as people with lives and health needs rather than just samples to be collected."

This humanising of the anti-doping system is picked up on by those dozen tennis players, who contested the ITIA policy of "requiring players selected for drug testing to shower under direct observation if they choose to wash before providing a sample".

Woods echoes the indignity. "I've had testers come straight after my morning coffee. Let's just say I'm regular after that first caffeine hit. The chaperone can't take their eyes off you once you've opened the door, so I've had times when I've taken a shit staring eyeball to eyeball with a tester. I get it because there are cases in the past of athletes passing off clean samples by using a prosthetic penis. But you don't want it, the tester certainly doesn't want it. I must admit, you do sit there thinking fuck the dopers."

Anti-doping remains essential. Few athletes and researchers would argue otherwise. Yet as sport pursues cheats with ever greater vigilance, it must also consider the cost borne by those playing by the rules. For every doper trying to evade detection, thousands of clean athletes are navigating surveillance, suspicion and the fear of inadvertent error. Protecting sport's integrity matters. Protecting the well-being of the people who uphold it matters, too.

The Tour de France green jersey is reportedly getting a revamp this year, with the points system reallocated in what could be read as an attempt to stop the imperious Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) from challenging for that jersey too.

The official Tour rules and regulations for 2026 have not yet been published widely, but have been provided to the teams, and Belgian outlet Sporza reported on Friday that the new system will make more points available on stages designated 'Flat' and therefore likely to finish in a bunch sprint.

In previous years, flat stages awarded 50 points for the winner at the finish line, whilst climbing stages awarded 30, so the points classification has always been weighted towards sprinters and is seen as a competition for them.

However, last year Pogačar came dangerously close to winning the green jersey – he has already won the yellow, polka dot and white jerseys – wearing it mid-race after winning atop the Mûr-de-Bretagne and then breathing down sprinter Jonathan Milan's (Lidl-Trek) neck in the final week.

In the end, Milan just about held on to the green jersey, but Pogačar finished second in the classification, only 78 down on Milan. GC rider Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) also finished fourth in the classification, further exemplifying the possible flaws in the system.

And this was all without Pogačar particularly trying, either – the yellow jersey did not chase down stage wins in the final week, suffering from knee pain, nor did he target intermediate sprints. If he had, he was close enough to challenge for green.

Perhaps in response, ASO appear to have further categorised the stages for the 2026 race, with expected sprint stages now carrying a maximum of 70 points for the winner, 50 for second and 40 for third – which is double what third place earned last year.

My view

Stages 5, 7, 8, 11, 12, 17 and 21 are all classified as 'Flat' in the Tour de France route this year, despite the addition of the Montmartre climbs in the final stage, which should mean that it is more likely for sprinters to rack up more points than the GC riders in the green jersey standings.

It is not yet clear if the Tour is creating a third classification for sprint points, and whether some stages will still carry 50 points at the finish, perhaps punchy stages, or if all other stages will still have only 30 points available at the line.

The world’s biggest bike race deserves world-class coverage. Subscribe to Cyclingnews for unlimited access to our unrivalled reporting of the 2026 Tour de France. From Barcelona through to Paris, our experienced team will bring you breaking news, expert insight, and in-depth coverage from every stage as the battle for the yellow jersey plays out. Plus, access the Cyclingnews app to follow the action on the go! Find out more.

Rider union the CPA Women has called for a "substantial review" of the UCI's road race safety initiative, SafeR, after an incident in the final kilometres of stage 2 of the Tour de Suisse Women that saw Urška Žigart (AG Insurance-Soudal) break her jaw.

Several riders crashed going over a bump in the road within the final kilometre of Thursday's stage, facing the uneven road surface at high speed. Žigart went down the hardest, suffering a fractured jaw and an overnight stay in hospital.

SafeR, a multi-stakeholder project set up in 2023, is dedicated to making road cycling safer through various initiatives, one of which includes SafeR representatives working with race organisers to review courses for safety and analyse any race incidents.

Potentially dangerous course features, such as road furniture or uneven surfaces near finishes, especially those where riders are travelling at high speed, are the types of things SafeR try to work with organiers to identify and avoid.

The CPA is UCI-affiliated – unlike other women's union, The Cyclists' Alliance – which means its men's and women's managing directors, Adam Hansen and Alessandra Cappellotto, sit on SafeR's various committees.

However, the project has been under fire recently after the controversial UCI vs SRAM legal case – which the UCI used SafeR funds to pay for – and this week, CPA Women managing director Cappellotto was the latest figure to raise criticisms over SafeR.

"Following the serious accident that occurred yesterday in the final kilometre of Stage 2 of the Tour de Suisse Women, CPA Women, representing the riders, calls for a substantial review of the current SafeR operating model," she said in a statement

Currently, SafeR operates three main committees which all feature representatives from race organisers, teams, riders and the UCI.

The Supervisory Board meets quarterly to "take strategic and budgetary decisions", the Commission meets monthly to "advise on matters such as regulations, equipment and education" and the weekly Case Management Committee "review[s] race incidents, anticipate issues on upcoming races and conduct safety audits of teams and races", according to the UCI website.

However, Cappellotto questions whether this process is working in light of recent incidents.

"From the very beginning, CPA and CPA Women have strongly believed in the SafeR project. We have invested time, energy and resources in its development, participating actively and constructively in its work. We have always considered SafeR an essential tool to address the challenges of modern professional cycling and to respond to the expectations of riders, teams, organisers, governing bodies, sponsors and fans," she said.

"The progress achieved in recent years should be recognised. However, serious incidents continue to occur, and it is our responsibility to ask whether the current system is providing all the answers that our sport requires."

Whilst the UCI has regularly updated on SafeR's work with statistics about incidents and their causes, and new – not always well-received – recommendations for rule changes and regulations, they are yet to publish any data demonstrating a reduction in crashes or accidents since the project's beginning.

SafeR has recommended a host of regulations, some of which have worked or been received better than others, from the yellow card system to handlebar width restrictions and the contentious gear ratio limit test, which was ultimately blocked and led to a court case between the UCI and SRAM.

Three years into the project, the CPA Women is calling for a shake-up of the system and processes to improve their work, and avoid incidents like the crash in Switzerland this week.

"Cycling must not be afraid of change. Together with the UCI, AIOCC, AIGCP and all stakeholders involved in professional cycling, we have developed considerable knowledge and expertise. We believe the time has come to review and strengthen the way SafeR operates, ensuring that it has the tools, structure and authority necessary to identify risks more effectively and to prevent incidents before they happen," Cappolleto said.

"The riders remain fully committed to contributing constructively to this process. Safety is a shared responsibility, and continuous improvement must remain at the heart of our collective efforts. Our common objective is clear: to make professional cycling safer while preserving the integrity, credibility and future of our sport."

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The jury handed out nearly 10,000 CHF worth of fines on Tuesday at the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes as three sports directors were penalised heavily for lateness at the start of the team time trial.

Mathew Hayman (Jayco AlUla) and Benoit Genauzeau (TotalEnergies) were fined 3,500 CHF each on Tuesday for failing to present their team's bikes for inspection at least 15 minutes before their TTT start time, whilst Lotto Intermarché's Mario Aerts earned a 3,000 CHF penalty for the same offense, just committed by fewer riders.

UCI rule 2.5.009 outlines that for TTTs "riders of each team shall present themselves with their equipment at the bike check area no later than 15 minutes before their team scheduled start time. This check is mandatory and must be passed before the rider is allowed to start. After this final check, riders must remain within the controlled area, composed of the bike check, warm-up and waiting areas, until their start."

Failure to do so will result in a fine of 500 CHF per rider, per rule 2.12.007-9.2, which is why Tuesday's fines were so large – Jayco and TotalEnergies were fined for lateness of all seven riders, whilst Lotto only started with six.

In an individual time trial, the riders are fined directly, but in a TTT, the total fine falls on the head of the lead DS who is responsible for getting their riders to the start on time.

As a result, the jury racked up a total of 9,500 CHF in fines on Tuesday, approximately €10,300 or $11,900.

No other fines were handed out on stage 3, with only minor penalties given out on stages 1 and 2 for more minor infringements, making the TTT by far the most expensive day for teams so far.

This isn't the first time we have seen big financial penalties handed out at a TTT. At last year's Vuelta Femenina, Movistar were fined 1,600 CHF for arriving to the bike check late. The fine per rider is only 200 CHF in a Women's WorldTour event, compared to 500 CHF in men's WorldTour races.

Generally, fines will be deducted from a team's total prize money pot at the end of a race rather than paid directly, but a penalty of over 3,000 CHF will make a much bigger dent in any winnings than normal.

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The UCI confirmed a number of minor safety and bike technology improvements after the recent Management Committee. Some people quickly dismissed them as too little and too late but Brent Copeland, who sits on the SafeR Supervisory Board, has defended the work of the structure dedicated to race and rider safety in professional cycling.

Copland is also the Jayco AlUla team manager and the President of the AIGCP teams association. He spends time in SafeR meetings and represents the teams in discussions with the UCI and the other stakeholders.

The UCI announced the extension of the yellow cards punishment process for dangerous riding and other offenses in races. Race safety signalisation will also be harmonised, while the UCI have ruled that finish straights, especially when races are likely to end in sprinter finishes, have to be "as long as possible, at least 200 metres."

"Unfortunately people do not see all the work SafeR does, instead it just gets continuous criticism," Copeland said.

"There is a lot that's happening in the background. There's a lot of energy, there's a lot of meetings happening where people are discussing motorbike slipstreams, airbags, concussion detection devices on helmets. All of those things are all works in progress, which when they're ready, we'll be able to roll them out."

Copeland highlighted the limits in technology for the delay in implementing some safety improvements. The tragic death of Muriel Furrer during the 2024 UCI Road World Championships in Zurich understandably sparked calls for accurate rider tracking.

The current systems use mobile phone data but are not always reliable.

"When you take a deep dive into the technology of it, it's pretty complicated," Copland said of rider tracking.

"For example, at the moment on Veloviewer, you can see a red or green light; if a ride is moving it's green, if they stop it's red. But did the rider stop for a natural cause or because they had an accident?

"We'd like to get to the point that the technology also detects the angle of the bike, but the problem is technology. The satellite systems that are similar to TV signals work well but are very expensive and not yet really in place."

The SafeR Case Management Committee meets on Monday afternoons to analyse race incidents, gather data and suggest improvements.

"Until you're in those meetings, no one really understands the challenges that everyone's facing. All stakeholders and all families in the sport are trying to improve things," Copeland said.

"You need data collection in order to make improvements and now we have that. Like in everything in life, everyone's going to have their own point of view. If you have data, you can get to the facts and make confirmed decisions."

Copeland was in Milan for the Giro d'Italia stage finish, when confusion arose about road safety decisions and some riders suggested the breakaway had benefited from television motorbike's slipstream.

Copeland suggested SafeR could carry out an analysis of rider data from the race to confirm or deny any slipstreaming.

He hopes for less squabbling and more unity between everyone in the sport.

"Everyone's got a responsibility to ease the tension about safety and the frequent accusations that emerge," Copeland told Cyclingnews.

"The teams are putting too much pressure on the riders to get ranking points, riders then want better contracts and there's also less respect between riders. They've got to start to respect each other more, they must discuss things with each other more.

"Organizers are often to blame regarding race safety and certain improvements need to be made. We've all got to look at ourselves in the mirror and make improvements together."

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Along with appealing the Belgian courts' decision in the SRAM/maximum gear restriction case, the UCI announced that it will limit the size of bike computers allowed during professional races and prohibit the use of inside front jersey pockets as new safety measures.

The governing body announced an update to rule 1.3.006 bis covering onboard technology, adding a size limit of 126mm x 71 mm for bike computers starting on January 1, 2028.

Cycling computers have evolved from simple speed, time and distance measurements to more sophisticated devices with GPS tracking and maps, and screens to capture physiological data from sensors such as heart rate monitors.

The UCI rule allows for computers to show heart rate, body temperature and sweat rate, but bans glucose and lactate monitoring. Now, the federation has taken a further step to keep riders from being overwhelmed by data during a race by limiting the size of their onboard devices.

"This decision was taken in light of the impact of on-board technologies on the cognitive load experienced by riders," the UCI stated in its press release. "Several studies have shown that the increasing volume of data available to riders during competition can contribute to an increased cognitive workload, a key factor in the occurrence of accidents.

"Limiting the size of bike computers is intended to prevent an excessive increase in the amount of data available during races, which could significantly compromise rider safety."

Perhaps learning from its expensive legal battle with SRAM, the UCI gives manufacturers a lead time of more than a year to make sure the best bike computer offerings are compliant with the new dimensions.

Currently, the Garmin Edge 1050 is the largest, measuring 118mm x 60 mm, well within the UCI's proposed limit. Other popular models, such as the Wahoo ELEMNT ROAM and Hammerhead Karoo, all come in under the size limits.

"Members of the UCI Management Committee also emphasised the importance of engaging with the relevant stakeholders to gain a better understanding of how riders interact with the various data streams available to them during competition," they stated.

"To ensure that sanctions are proportionate, new penalties have been introduced into the respective tables of sanctions, specifically targeting bike accessories and other accessories worn by riders. These new provisions include fines and sporting penalties. The primary objective of this modification is to strengthen its deterrent effect and ensure a more systematic application of consistent sanctions."

Front pocket no-no

The press release also announced a new rule would come into place on July 1, 2026 to prohibit riders from using inside front jersey pockets.

The UCI rule 1.3.032 already bans 'non-essential elements' that 'modify the morphology of the rider' to get aerodynamic gains, but riders have tucked their race radios in the front of their jerseys without being sanctioned.

During the Unbound Gravel, some riders were seen using hydration bladders in the front of their jerseys, which offers an aerodynamic advantage. The UCI rules on clothing only apply to road, track, cyclo-cross and mountain bike races.

The rules date back to 2011 when Frank Schleck wore a hydration pack down the front of his jersey during a race and faced an investigation by the UCI before the federation banned the practice.

In 2021, the British team's use of the front of their skinsuits to store radios raised some concerns that it fell afoul of the rules, but that practice may still be allowed.

The new addition comes, according to the press release, because the UCI "observed that several riders were wearing jerseys featuring front internal pockets containing nutritional products that were generally not consumed because they were extremely difficult - or even impossible in race conditions - to access".

"These pockets result in significant alterations to the riders' body shape. This trend follows the recent publication of studies demonstrating the aerodynamic advantage provided by this practice.

"Given the established link between aerodynamic gains, increased speed and the severity of accidents, and considering that the practice also raises issues of sporting fairness, the UCI has decided that jersey pockets must be located exclusively on the rear of the garment. Consequently, from 1 July 2026, any pocket positioned on the front of a jersey will be prohibited, with the exception of a possible pocket intended solely to hold a radio communication device."

Cycling's governing body is doubling down on its insistence that gear ratios are the answer to safety in professional cycling. Following the meeting of the UCI Management Committee, the federation issued a press release on Friday, noting its intent to appeal a Belgian court's decision to block the UCI's gear restriction test.

"Recommended by SafeR, the maximum gear ratio test was intended to gather riders' views on the relevance of introducing gear ratio limitations in professional road cycling as a means of improving safety," the UCI stated in its press release.

"In light of the Brussels Court of Appeal's decision, and concerned by both the very low threshold applied by the BCA for imposing interim measures and the limited scope of the Court of Appeal's review in the appeal proceedings, the Management Committee confirmed the UCI's intention to lodge an appeal before the Belgian Court of Cassation [Belgium's Supreme Court -ed]."

Safety has been at the forefront of the UCI's agenda for the past five years, and a spate of record speeds in races like Paris-Roubaix led the federation to introduce a Maximum Gear Ratio Standard that was to be tested during the 2025 season.

The limit would rule out any gear ratios exceeding the equivalent of a 54-tooth chainring and 10-tooth cog, which would propel a rider 10.46 metres per pedal stroke.

However, SRAM pushed back against the rules, which would have forced them to mechanically disable its 10-tooth cog. SRAM is the only manufacturer of cassettes with 10-tooth cogs, and is disproportionately affected by the proposed UCI limits.

SRAM argued that there is no evidence that higher gear ratios correlate with an increased risk of crashing. Speeds are dependent not just on gear ratios, but on crank length, pedal revolutions per minute and tyre width/wheel size.

The company claimed in their suit that the rules cause them reputational damage and potential civil liability, loss of retailer and OEM support, erosion of global market share, and 'up to a decade of reinvestment to recover'.

"Although the UCI refers to the Maximum Gearing Protocol as a 'test', its implementation has already caused tangible harm," the company said in a statement last September. "SRAM's gearing has been publicly labelled as non-compliant, creating reputational damage, market confusion, team and athlete anxiety, and potential legal exposure."

In October, 2025, the Belgian Competition Authority (BCA) sided with SRAM and blocked the UCI's plan for a gear restriction test at the Tour of Guangxi. Following a lengthy exchange of writs, a public hearing was held in April where the Brussels Markets Court upheld the BCA's decision. The case was finalised on May 21, with the UCI being ordered to pay nominal fees to the BCA, among others.

The UCI has already set aside €300,000 from the safety initiative SafeR's budget to fight the case, despite several SRAM-sponsored teams being obliged to contribute to the SafeR budget.

Following the finish of stage 1 of the Giro d'Italia Women, after Lorena Wiebes had sprinted to victory and subsequently collected the race leader's jersey, the UCI issued a shock ruling to disqualify her from the race.

The reason, according to the UCI, was a "breach of article 2.12.007 – 2.2: use of a bicycle not in compliance with the regulations, specifically failing to meet the minimum weight requirements."

In plain English, she'd been banned because her bike was lighter than the UCI's minimum mandated weight limit for bikes, by - as it was later claimed by the team - just 20 grams.

The ruling is extremely rare. There is no high-profile case of a similar infraction since the rule came into force in the year 2000. The most recent we know of is Fabiana Luperini, disqualified from the Giro Rosa in 2013 after finishing 4th on stage 6.

Since Wiebes' ejection from the race, her SD Worx-Protime team has threatened legal action against the UCI, the rule itself has been dubbed outdated, blame has been passed around, and the accuracy of the UCI's bike-weighing process has been called into dispute.

This has led to countless questions, so here we're going to try to break it down and answer them. If you have more, simply drop them into the comments below, and we'll do our best to answer those too.

What is the minimum weight rule?

The UCI minimum bike weight rule is included in the UCI technical regulations under Article 1.3.019, which states; “The weight of the bicycle cannot be less than 6.8 kilograms.”

This includes the frame and all fixed components, with the exception of “items that may be removed during the event”. That means that accessories like bottles or bike computers do not count and are removed for weighing, but bottle cages and computer mounts do.

Why do we have a minimum weight rule?

The UCI 6.8kg weight rule’s roots stretch back to the UCI Lugano Charter which was signed in 1996. The minimum weight rule was then enforced officially from the year 2000.

The Lugano Charter put a limit on things like experimental, aerodynamic frame design, bringing many progressive designs to a halt almost overnight and placed an emphasis on athleticism, not technological advantages.

Four years later, the minimum weight limit arrived, putting a limit on the perceived technological explosion of the time as materials like carbon fibre became more common. Bikes were also becoming lighter, and it was seen as a way to prevent components or frames from being made dangerously light, which would have put riders at risk.

Twenty six years later, the minimum weight figure remains the same, and the 6.8kg rule is one of the most consistently debated UCI rulings in cycling.

Why do some riders have to make their bikes heavier?

At times, a rider’s stock team bike simply ends up being under the 6.8kg minimum weight limit. A small frame size, or particularly light wheels could contribute to this, as well as just an overall build comprised of lightweight parts.

In years gone by, team mechanics would add weight to bikes to bring them up to the limit. Bikes being under 6.8kg is certainly nothing new. For instance, in 2003 Team Saeco and Cannondale launched a ‘legalize my Cannondale’ marketing campaign after the brand’s Six13 road bike with rim brakes and tubular aluminum wheels came in under the limit.

In later years, bike brands ‘made weight’ by making frames and parts more aerodynamic, a more effective method than simply just adding brass weights to a frame.

For a while, disc brake technology and aero bikes made things heavier again, but in 2026, some pro race bikes are comfortably down at the UCI weight limit, even with disc brakes, aerodynamic frames, wheels and parts.

How does the UCI weigh the bikes?

The UCI’s official weighing protocol, and any calibration of its equipment, is unclear at this stage. The UCI’s technical regulations show an image of a bike being hung from a scale, which itself is mounted to a solid scaffold, but nothing further is to be gleaned.

According to Bikeradar, the UCI commissaires use a Kern CH 15K20 weighing scales to assess the legality of competitors' machines, backed up by the product description: “Also essential in the private sector to determine the weight of fish, game, fruits, bicycle parts, suitcases etc.”

This is similar in form to the Park Tool options you’ve probably seen in use almost ubiquitously, and requires the scales to be hung from a solid structure, with the bike hooked onto it below. Interrogation of the Kern website shows that the scales have a ‘reproducibility’ (read: accuracy) of 0.02kg, which is the amount SD Worx-Protime are alleging the bike was out of spec by. It also states a ‘linearity’ (the ability of the scale to read accuracy across its entire range) of 0.04kg.

From our experience of similar scales, the results can vary quite considerably if there is any motion or instability introduced to the suspended bicycle.

Cyclingnews has asked the UCI for detailed information surrounding the protocol and procedure for testing and enforcing its rule, but has yet to receive a response.

How heavy was Wiebes bike?

This, we do not know exactly. The UCI has not stated the weight it was measured at, or how much it failed by – just that it failed. According to the SD Worx-Protime team, it fell short by 20 grams, which would mean it weighed 6.78kg. However, this has not been verified, and one source has indicated to Cyclingnews that the bike weighed significantly lighter than that.

The complicating factor is the suggestion that the bike gave different readings every time it was weighed. The team have themselves stated there was “a weight difference of more than 50 grams between the first and second weighing of Wiebes’ bicycle”, which would indicate the bike came in around the 6.73kg mark on one test. Team manager Erwin Janssen has claimed to Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf that the team later weighed the bike in their team truck at the race and found a reading of 6.83kg.

So how many times was it weighed?

This isn’t clear. Janssen said it was tested twice by the UCI behind the podium, adding that the team’s proposals for a third test were denied – “the jury members were initially willing to go along with that, but they were ultimately called back by higher authorities”.

Team director Danny Stam separately said that the bike was weighed 26 times, presumably referring to the team’s own tests in their team truck, but he added of the UCI’s testing: “It kept fluctuating. One moment it was 6.75, then it was 6.78, but eventually they made the decision.”

How can those discrepancies be explained?

Firstly, it’s worth noting that those discrepancies are only claimed by SD Worx-Protime; the UCI has not given any figures or responded to those claims. There is potential for external factors to influence the readings of a weight measurement. Janssen has said “there was a strong wind” inside the tent in which the bike was being weighed, but took the legal 6.83kg reading in the “wind-free” team truck.

Wind could certainly appear to affect the reading if downward force is being exerted on the bike. The other suggestion from Janssen is that the testing jig was not calibrated properly: “The weighing equipment must be recalibrated if it has been at altitude. In our opinion, that has not happened.”

The UCI declined to comment on this allegation.

Could a change in Wiebes’ set-up be to blame?

One potentially important factor is that Wiebes decided to run a single front chainring for the opening stage of the Giro, as opposed to the standard double chainring set-up she’d use for hillier days.

Swapping from a 2x set-up to a 1x set-up does more than simply lose the weight of a redundant chainring. Aero chainrings, solid as they are, usually weigh more than their spidery counterparts, but swapping can result in an expected loss in the region of 200g dependant slightly on whether the rear cassette is enlarged in range to account for the loss of range at the front – helped by ditching the front derailleur, its mounting hardware and battery.

Effectively, if Wiebes’ bike was on the cusp of the limit before the gearing swap, and nothing was done to ameliorate the situation by way of adding mass elsewhere, this could well have tipped her bike into illegal territory. Wiebes' agent looked to dismiss this suggestion, stating: "Lorena has ridden with a single chainring on this bike before."

What difference does it make?

If we are indeed talking about 20 or so grams, then hardly any, especially on a flat stage where the weight of a bike has far less of an impact on speed than when climbing steep gradients. When you factor in that Wiebes won by a country mile, any slight shortcoming in weight would not make any difference to the sporting result in this case.

However, if you are going to have a rule then you have to draw a line somewhere in the sand and you are going to have to enforce it strictly otherwise subjectivity and grey areas emerge.

What has Wiebes said about this?

Nothing, so far. The Dutchwoman has not been interviewed on the matter and has not directly addressed it on social media. Her agent has said "she was a complete mess" and has gone away in her camper van for a few days, but he added: "Knowing her, she will only come out of this stronger."

How have her team reacted?

SD Worx-Protime have not held back.

In a statement, they described themselves as “astonished” by the disqualification, and threatened to take legal action against the UCI. Separately, team boss Erwin Janssen and team director Danny Stam have given interviews in the Dutch media in which they have questioned the veracity of the UCI’s readings – see above – and doubled down on the threat of legal action.

“They will receive a letter stating that we are going to hold them liable for damages suffered,” Janssen told De Telegraaf. “We have been in the peloton for 15 years, have been a top team for twelve years now, so we really do know what we are doing,” he added. "We have won a lot, and we are also good sportsmen when it comes to losing, but this does not sit well.”

What happens next?

Wiebes is out of the Giro, and there’s no going back. The most pressing question is whether SD Worx-Protime follow through on their threats of legal action.

If they do take it to court, the UCI faces another serious test of its authority. Only two weeks ago it suffered a humiliating defeat as SRAM successfully and definitively blocked its gear restrictions protocol via the Belgian Competition Authority, and upheld by the Market Court in Brussels.

Whereas that was a test of its ability to introduce new regulation, this would be a test of its ability to apply its existing rulebook. This specific case risks being one word against another but if SD Worx think they can indeed poke holes in the reliability and credibility of the UCI’s weight testing procedure as a whole, then the governing body has a potential headache. The team and the rider could in theory sue for lost earnings and reputational harm from the Giro specifically, but any such case could have far wider ramifications in terms of the governing body’s ability to govern.

The other thing to note is that this affair will - and indeed already has - reignite the debate surrounding the wisdom of the 6.8kg rule. It has already seen more than its fair share of criticism, notably in its pertinence in women’s cycling, and this incident will surely push that back up the agenda and strengthen calls for reform of the rule.

Our tech team will have some analysis and insight on that front later in the week, so watch this space.

Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) used his influence as the overall leader to request that race officials enforce a GC-times neutralisation on the last lap of a four-lap final circuit, citing collective concerns among the riders about the rough road surfaces on stage 15 of the Giro d'Italia on Sunday.

Speaking about rider safety in a post-race press conference, he emphasised the importance of all stakeholders in the sport working together to keep the peloton safe.

"I would have done it anyway, even without the pink jersey, but with the pink jersey, it has more power, in some way," Vingegaard said.

"I think during the race and when we hit the laps, we realised it probably is not the most safe course. We were speaking in the bunch. And I don't think you could actually see it on television, normally you cannot see how it is."

Vingegaard did not want to reveal who in the peloton discussed the conditions of the circuits, but instead said he took full responsibility as the rider who approached the officials' vehicles during the race to discuss the neutralisation.

"I will take responsibility for going to the car, but also, we speak within the bunch, and we take care of each other. I think that is something we showed today, for once, we banded together a bit, and the organisation was meeting us somewhere, which was really nice today."

Stage 15 closed out the second week of racing at the Giro d'Italia with a 157km race from Voghera to Milan. The route included four 15km finishing circuits held on narrow city streets and rougher road surfaces.

"We went to the jury and organization," Vingegaard explained. "We talked with them. They were really friendly with us, listened to what we had to say, and I think we as riders should thank them today for meeting us somewhere."

Safety in professional cycling has been a major discussion point over the years, but when asked why the riders hadn't looked at the course in the months leading up to the race and expressed their concerns in advance, Vingegaard said, he felt the responsibility of rider safety rests with the UCI, race organisers, rider associations and the athletes themselves.

"I don't think it's our responsibility as riders. I think it's more the responsibility of the UCI and the organisation to make routes. We have our CPA group. It should be a mix of everyone," he said.

"I think that safety in cycling is in everyone's interest. Not only in the riders but in the UCI. We can't just point fingers at each other; everyone has a responsibility, and obviously, we as riders ourselves."

The time of the general classification was therefore taken at the start of the last lap of the race. A four-rider breakaway narrowly succeeded at the finish line with Fredrik Dversnes Lavik (Uno-X Mobility) taking the victory ahead of Mirco Maestri (Team Polti VisitMalta), Martin Marcellusi (Bardiani CSF 7 Saber), and Mattia Bais (Team Polti VisitMalta).

Paul Magnier (Soudal-QuickStep) won the bunch sprint for fifth place, crossing the line 57 seconds later.

Despite the neutralisation, Vingegaard said that racing onto the city streets of Milan wearing the maglia rosa for the first time in his career was a special moment.

"Obviously, it's been a dream coming true for me. Today, riding into Milano, it was special to ride in the pink jersey. As I said yesterday, it is one of the most special jerseys in cycling, so to have that going into such a big city is something special for me," he said.

The peloton will take a much-deserved rest day on Monday before kicking off the final week of racing, which includes a back-to-back grand climbing finale on stage 19 at Alleghe (Piani di Pezzè) and stage 20 at Piancavallo.

"I felt pretty good today. I was having a good day out there. It was very warm again today, but we managed to get through the day well."

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When the sprinters and their lead-out trains failed to catch the breakaway in the streets of Milan, there was a sense of defeat, disappointment and suspicion. Only stage winner Fredrik Dversnes (Uno-X Mobility) was happy in the hot streets of central Milan on Sunday.

Dylan Groenewegen (Unibet Rose Rockets) admitted defeat and sportingly admitted that the breakaway riders were just stronger. Others were less praising, convinced there was another reason that the peloton was unable to catch the break after a stage raced at a new record average speed of 51.391 km/h.

Lidl-Trek's Max Walscheid was the first to go public with suggestions that the four attackers had benefited from the television motorbike that rode ahead of them. Other riders repeated the accusations, even though they had been in the peloton during the stage rather than watching on television.

The doubts were based due to the high pace and that the breakaway held off the chase made up of several sprint teams.

"What went wrong is difficult to say for the moment. Every sprinter used all their teammates to chase it back, but we never caught them, it was surprising," Paul Magnier (Soudal-QuickStep) said, choosing his words carefully, after winning the bunch sprint but only for fifth place.

Magnier did not want to make specific accusations.

"I want to take my time to analyse the race and see how we lost," he said.

Lukáš Kubiš of Unibet Rose Rockets was more praising of the riders who stayed away and stole the show from the sprinters.

"It was a big effort from the breakaway boys. It was just hard to bring it back, We didn't manage it, so it is what it is," he said.

"It's just cycling, and it's also the good part of cycling."

Dversnes remained proud of his victory and refuted any accusations that the breakaways benefited from the television motorbike slipstream,

"The only motorbikes in the race were the guys in the breakaway," he told Cyclingnews and FloBikes post stage.

"I didn't believe in our chances from the start. It was a hopeless plan to start with, but it got better and better along the way. If you have strong enough guys, it's very, very favourable to be ahead of the bunch on the city circuits.

"The guys who said that motorpacing was involved also know that it is a known thing in the sport," Dversnes continued in the press conference.

"Since it was not in their favour, they will of course complain about it."

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Organisers of the Giro d'Italia have opted to neutralize the lap stage 15 for GC purposes after riders including Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) protested in-race over dangerous conditions in the centre of Milan.

With around 40 kilometres to go, the decision was made public on television that the last five kilometres of the course would not count for GC purposes and everybody's overall would be taken at that point. The sprint battle, the second last of the 2026 Giro would go ahead.

Stage 15 of the Giro d'Italia took the race deep into the centre of Milan, ending with four final 16.3 kilometre laps of the city. At the time the decision the race was made, a four rider break of non-GC threats was around 2 minutes, with interest in chasing them down varying wildly.

The neutralisation would be increased to the whole of the final lap, thus allowing those who did not want to participate in the stage win battle.

Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Italian Giulio Ciccone, a former leader of the race, were amongst those dropping back to the commissaires and saying the mixture of road furniture was too risky. Ben O'Connor (Jayco-AlUla) was another reportedly involved in the in-race protest.

The Giro d'Italia was hit by a massive crash on stage 1 of the race in Burgas, but at least up to 30 kilometres to go, there had been no major fallers on stage 15.

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The UCI’s defeat in not one but two Belgian courts represents a significant success for component manufacturer SRAM, which is celebrating not just the legal victory but also the wider implications as it pushes for more industry involvement in UCI decision-making.

On Wednesday, SRAM’s October victory over the UCI at the Belgian Competition Authority was upheld by the Market Court in Brussels, which rejected the UCI’s appeal against the BCA ruling that had put a halt to its gear restriction protocol.

That protocol, designed with a view to improving rider safety by reducing speeds, was based on a maximum gear ratio equivalent to a 54T at the front and 11T at the rear, whereas SRAM’s top-tier road groupset comes with a 10-tooth smallest cog. SRAM argued that the proposed trials ‘exclusively and unfairly’ impacted SRAM, both in terms of the teams and riders it supplies, as well as the reputational and financial damage linked to the possible perception of its groupsets as unsafe.

“This case began as a dispute about our 10-tooth cog. Today's ruling is much bigger than that,” said SRAM's CEO, Ken Lousberg, in a statement sent to Cyclingnews.

“The Brussels Court of Appeal has issued a groundbreaking ruling on how sports federations across Europe must exercise regulatory power. The Court upheld the Belgian Competition Authority's previous findings that open, transparent, objective, and non-discriminatory governance is the legal standard for rule-making in sport.

“It endorsed that reasoning in full, applying well-established European Court of Justice case law in a way that will guide federation governance well beyond this case, and sharply rebuking the UCI's appeal.”

The UCI has not responded to requests for comment on the latest ruling.

The 'disc brake fiasco' and industry exclusion

To understand the broader point SRAM is trying to make, there is some interesting reading buried in the Market Court’s 50-page ruling document.

In excerpts of internal minutes from a meeting with the UCI in April 2025, SRAM representatives noted: “They [UCI] seemed motivated by the disc brake fiasco a few years ago in order to exclude the industry from what they consider as the stakeholder groups.” [Editor's note: this has been translated from French as it appears in the ruling document, which notes that it was 'freely translated' from the original English'.]

Disc brakes were first introduced to the pro road peloton in 2017, with the adoption of the technology controversial at first, but now ubiquitous.

The proposed gear restriction tests stemmed from the work of SafeR, a safety group set up in 2024 comprising the UCI, and the associations of riders, teams, and race organisers. SRAM argued that both it and other equipment manufacturers were not adequately consulted on the protocol – arguments that were supported in both court rulings.

“For SRAM, our legal action was always about how the stakeholders of this sport work together to improve every part of it, including rider safety, in a clear, transparent, and fair way,” said Lousberg. “What comes next is the work this sport has needed for a long time: building that process together, with the common goal of improving our sport.”

Lousberg then pointed to the potential role of the World Federation of the Sporting Goods Industry (WFSGI), which already had an influence in this case, having written a long letter to the UCI expressing concerns over the gear restriction protocol on behalf of a ‘unified industry’.

“The WFSGI, as the neutral voice of the cycling industry, is the natural partner in that work alongside the teams, athletes, race organisers, and the UCI,” Lousberg said.

“The door is now open, and there should be a seat for everyone willing to help build the future the sport deserves through collaboration, not exclusion. The first step is straightforward: the UCI should bring the WFSGI into rule-making as a full partner and start this reform now. SRAM is excited to get to work.”

The UCI has been defeated in its efforts to introduce gear restrictions in the pro peloton, with its appeal against the Belgian Competition Authority (BCA) – which had upheld a legal complaint from SRAM – thrown out in court.

According to multiple sources close to Cyclingnews, the Market Court in Brussels ruled on Wednesday in favour of the BCA, which in October had sided with component manufacturer SRAM and blocked the proposed trials surrounding what was officially known as the Maximum Gear Ratio Protocol.

The full court ruling document, later seen by Cyclingnews, states that the UCI's appeal was deemed "admissible, but unfounded".

It failed in all its arguments, which sought to pick holes in the procedural approach of the BCA as well as its very authority to act in this case. The UCI also argued that the contributions of several top-level SRAM-sponsored teams in the case were inadmissible, but failed on this count.

The UCI was ordered to pay €1,883.72 to the BCA and €400 to Belgium's Federal Public Service Finance body, as well as making a contribution to the country's legal aid fund.

The legal bill from the whole affair will be much higher – the UCI had ring-fenced €300,000 from the SafeR safety group to fight the case, which was controversial because SafeR includes the association of pro teams, some of which are sponsored by SRAM.

The decision effectively marks the end of the UCI's legal avenues to pursue its proposed gear restriction initiatives in their current guise, forcing it to go back to the drawing board and setting a precedent that could have a significant impact on the governing body's ability to impose equipment regulations in the future.

Cyclingnews has contacted both SRAM and the UCI for comment, and is awaiting response.

How we got here

The appeal centred around the UCI's plans to impose a gear restriction trial at the Tour of Guangxi in mid-October 2025. These restrictions limited riders to a maximum gear ratio equivalent to a 54T at the front and 11T at the rear.

However, because SRAM's top-tier road groupset, Red AXS, is specced with a cassette with a 10-tooth smallest cog, the American brand argued it unfairly penalised riders using its groupset, and by proxy of making its groupsets illegal, SRAM argued that it indirectly labelled its groupsets as unsafe.

On these grounds and others, it sought to block the trial via the Belgian Competition Authority, triggering an investigation by the anti-trust authority to "determine whether the adoption of the ‘Maximum Gearing’ technical standard by the UCI amounts to an anticompetitive decision".

On October 9th, six days before the race was set to begin, it succeeded. The trial was blocked.

"The standard, adopted under disputable conditions, is likely to cause harm to SRAM that is serious and difficult to repair, thereby justifying its suspension," the BCA said in a statement at the time.

"The BCA recognises the legitimacy and importance for a sports regulator such as the UCI to ensure the safety of athletes. However, the procedures for determining technical standards enacted for this purpose, as well as the related tests, must meet essential conditions of proportionality, objectivity, transparency and nondiscrimination in view of the economic consequences of these standards. They cannot result in an undue restriction of competition between sports equipment suppliers."

It marked a world first instance of a national competition authority blocking the moves of an international sports governing body, setting a precedent not just in cycling, but all sport.

The UCI immediately stated its intention to appeal the ruling, and In the months since, the UCI and the BCA had been arguing their cases via an exchange of writs – the formal legal process in which both sides submit their legal documents – including an initial 70-page appeal document from the UCI.

The affair has seen further controversy after Cyclingnews revealed that money from SafeR – an organisation of several cycling stakeholders, including the teams' association (AIGCP) – was being used to fund the appeal, creating the situation whereby SRAM-sponsored teams were effectively funding litigation against their own sponsor.

What now?

Fastforward back to today, and the Market Court in Brussels overseeing the case has ruled in favour of the BCA, throwing out the UCI's appeal.

The ruling means the UCI ultimately faces a legal obligation to reform its standard-setting process.

Future attempts at equipment trials, or even rule-making as a whole, could require the input from teams and the wider industry, such as the WFSGI (World Federation of the Sporting Goods Industry), which is a collection of experts from teams, brands, and governing bodies.

Exactly how this plays out is currently unknown, but it's definitely a case of 'watch this space' as it could be transformative to the way the UCI operates and regulates the sport.

Even before the finish of stage 6 of the Giro d'Italia in Naples, riders expressed concern about the design of the final kilometres. Rather than find a straight approach, the organisers chose a cobbled road with a 180-degree bend into the hilltop Piazza del Plebiscito.

As feared, a light rain began to fall just as the peloton approached the finish, and the combination of uneven cobbles and rain resulted in a mass crash.

"I don't want to say that it really looks super dangerous already. I mean, if it rains, of course, it's not going to be funny, but I think Napoli is always known as a tricky run into the city," Soudal-QuickStep rider Jasper Stuyven said one day before finishing second to XDS-Astana's Davide Ballerini n Naples.

Unibet Rose Rockets were in the lead at the 180-degree corner, leading out Dylan Groenewegen, when the Dutchman's final man, Elmar Reinders, hit a hole and slid out. Groenewegen fell at the same spot milliseconds later, setting off a chain-reaction crash.

"It was a bit slippery. We did an amazing job we crashed - it can happen in a sprint. It was really slippery, and that's what happens," Groenewegen said, adding that the fall has made his shoulder a bit stiff.

"We were in the right position again to go for victory but sometimes you have bad luck."

Behind them, a touch of brakes in reaction to the crash caused more riders to fall, including Tobias Lund Andresen, Orluis Aular, a rider from UAE Team Emirates-XRG and Astana's sprinter for the day, Matteo Malucelli.

Lead-out men Ballerini and Stuyven were the only ones who managed to avoid the wreck to finish one-two on the stage.

Four-time Giro stage winner Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek), a sprint favourite at this race, finished 107th after getting caught in the carnage. He was far from happy after the stage.

"It's just painful," Milan said of the incident, taking away another opportunity to gain points or win a stage. "It's even more painful to see riders crashing in front of you."

The Italian didn't mince his words when asked about the choice of roads for the finale.

"I really don't get why we have to try to find this complicated finish - I really don't get it," Milan told Eurosport.

"You know for sure, we could think that it would rain, and maybe to be safe, like some years ago, we could just go straight. But no, with two drops of water, we create a huge mess.

"Luckily, I didn't crash. I was able to stand on my bike, but they fully, completely crashed in front of me. I mean, it's not their fault. We know that it could be super slippery.

"I'm just a bit disappointed, because I was in a good position, having good shape, and feeling good. But yeah, we have to try to look for these things now for a bit of hype - I really don't get it."

The Italian now lies 66 points behind maglia ciclamino rival Paul Magnier (Soudal-QuickStep), who pulled off some amazing on-the-bike acrobatics to remain upright, even if he had to slam on the brakes. The French phenom still took third on the stage.

"I think I could have gotten a better result if not for that crash," Magnier said. "The whole team worked hard and Jasper put me in a perfect position, but sadly, it was impossible to avoid that pile-up. I was still able to sprint and take third, but there's some frustration after today's outcome.

"On the other hand, I'm happy with the fact I cemented my place at the top of the points classification."

Elsewhere, German sprinter Pascal Ackermann (Jayco-AlUla) added his voice to the chorus of disapproval, saying that the Giro organisers got what they wanted.

"It’s 70 to 30 that we won’t make it. We’ve all been wondering if this is really necessary. But the spectacle is back. You saw us crash," he told German Eurosport.

Aular, meanwhile, was pushed to the line by his teammate Ivan Garcia Cortina. He later told Eurosport he was OK.

"I wasn't badly hurt. It's a shame because we were in a good position. I tried to keep a bit of a gap. Then I wanted to try it. But the cobblestones didn't allow it. It was simply the braking on the wet pavement that caused the crash," Aular said.

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Two 19-year-old men are facing charges after attempting to push riders of the Giro d'Italia off their bikes on Thursday.

Corriere della Sera reported that the pair were identified and charged by police for endangering public safety during sporting events.

In professional cycling, fans are increasingly encouraged to respect the riders, but that memo did not reach the pair of spectators at the Giro d'Italia.

In extraordinary and alarming scenes, the two men looked like they were about to knock riders off their bikes at a roundabout near San Vitaliano. Thankfully there were no crashes.

The incident occurred on stage 6 of the 2026 Giro d'Italia, a 141km stage from Paestum to Naples. A group of young men were standing in a roundabout and, as the peloton approached, two of them began lunging at the riders.

One put his foot out toward them repeatedly, and even touched and pushed a Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe rider as he raced past.

Another rider attempted to strike back but did not deter one of the men, who continued to lunge toward the peloton.

The race organisation posted a video of the incident on X.com, writing, "Respect the riders. Respect the race. Respect the #GirodItalia".

The incident is likely to spark a reaction from the peloton, who have had to call for respect from roadside fans with increasing force in recent years.

There have been multiple incidents of fans getting too close over the years but spectators looking like they are actively about to assault riders is another matter.

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Brushes between the peloton and the animal kingdom are nothing new in professional cycling, which saw its latest episode at the Tour de Hongrie on Thursday as a deer skidded across the road right in front of the oncoming peloton.

The incident occurred in the early phases of stage 2, when a small deer ran into the road looking to cross to the other side.

It stumbled as it landed in the middle of the road and then skidded on its side into the path of the leading riders.

Remarkably, it skidded all the way to the side of the road before bouncing up onto its feet on the grassy verge and bounding away.

It could have been a different story were it not for the awareness and fast thinking of the riders on the front of the peloton.

The Soudal Quick-Step rider on the very front of the bunch – which looked to be Martin Svrcek – must have come a hair's breadth from hitting the deer, but he managed to grab two huge fistfuls of brake and avoid contact.

You can watch the incident in the video embedded below.

There have been many run-ins with animals in pro cycling races over the years. Earlier this season, there was a crash involving a kangaroo at the Tour Down Under, while at last year's Giro an Albanian goat jumped at a rider's wheel. Brushes with dogs are a relatively common occurrence.

Riders competing virtually on MyWhoosh will have to be ready to provide blood and urine samples, as the indoor cycling platform rolls out a first-of-its-kind anti-doping testing programme.

We’ve seen virtual riding platforms such as MyWhoosh and Zwift aim to crack down on 'robo-doping', where riders digitally manipulate their performance data, but this is a new regime to test riders for physically doping, based on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) Prohibited List of banned performance-enhancing substances.

The testing programme will apply to the MyWhoosh virtual events that offer significant prize money, most notably the Sunday Race Club, where weekly prize purses run into the tens of thousands of dollars. MyWhoosh indicated that "as prize-money events continue to grow" it’s becoming increasingly aware of the need to "ensure that competition results reflect genuine performance".

The testing programme, which is carried out by the International Doping Tests & Management (IDTM), comes into force on Sunday, May 10 and will see the first samples taken on Sunday, May 17.

"The introduction of anti-doping and integrity testing is about protecting fair competition and rider trust," said Matt Smithson, Director of Esports & Game Operations at MyWhoosh.

"As our Sunday Race Club grows, the standards around fairness must match the seriousness of the event. Our goal is to protect clean riders and ensure that our global community can trust in the integrity of every podium finish."

How will it actually work?

For relevant races, riders will be required to declare their exact physical location in advance of the event. If selected for testing, they must remain at their declared location for up to three hours after the race, during which the testers would come round to collect a sample.

A rider could be notified of an impeding test shortly before, during or immediately after the event.

Samples to be taken could include urine, a blood sample collected from a vein, or a dried blood spot sample taken from a finger-prick.

Selection for testing is at MyWhoosh’s discretion and could be both random and targeted. The platform says results, performance data, and even intelligence could help target the testing but that racers could equally be selected at random.

If a rider refuses to comply – either through refusal, evasion, or tampering – they would face "severe sanctions such as disqualification, prize money claw-backs, and suspension from the platform."

MyWhoosh did not state the sanctions for a positive test, but they would likely be the same as the above.

The challenges

One challenge would appear to be the spread-out nature of the competitors, who can race from home in any country in the world.

The IDTM, which is carrying out the sample collections on behalf of MyWhoosh, would need agents near enough to the selected rider to reach them within three hours of the conclusion of the race in question. Even WADA struggles with global reach with its out-of-competition testing strategy.

That ties into the cost of the operation, which is likely to be significant. MyWhoosh is already handing out significant prize money, and the bill is set to be footed by the fee-paying riders themselves, but it will be interesting to see how much the whole operation ends up costing.

Another challenge would be the legal basis for all this, and whether a racer could look to challenge the legality of a positive test, either through an appeals process or even in court.

Sanctions would only apply to the MyWhoosh platform, which is, in effect, its own governing body for this programme but has no jurisdiction beyond it, so racers banned from MyWhoosh would not face any restrictions in any other area of competitive cycling. And while this is low-level competition in the grand scheme of things, potential lost earnings and reputational damage could form the basis for legal challenges if a banned rider has the inclination and the cash, so MyWhoosh will need to make sure its system is water-tight from that perspective.

MyWhoosh says its anti-doping programme operates under the 'MyWhoosh Cycling E-sports Rules and Regulations', establishing "a 'private contractual and sporting integrity framework' that draws from recognised international standards, including the WADA Prohibited List."

The Cyclists' Alliance (TCA) have provided a response to the UCI's consultation request about the future of the sport.

In a letter to the UCI, the rider advocacy body expresses concern about the lack of progress, despite apparent improvements in women's racing.

"The UCI has stated that women’s cycling has experienced 'remarkable growth' in recent years," stated in the letter published on Monday. "However, as noted above, we are gravely concerned that this momentum has not led to a 'stronger structure for women’s professional cycling'.

"Despite outward signs of progress, the sport remains built on fragile foundations," the letter continues, quoting Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ), who talked of her fear "the WorldTour could implode at some point."

The TCA's letter to the UCI includes suggestions for radical changes to the funding structure, including revenue sharing and redistributing Women's WorldTour race days, such as rescheduling the Vuelta Femenina to follow the men's race in September.

The association also pointed to poor coverage of some races, suggesting more should be mandated by the UCI.

Safety is also a concern, the TCA making a number of suggestions, including a "rider-centred approach" to GPS tracking, the elimination of sharp turns inside the final 500m of races and reform of the yellow card system.

Also, the letter included suggestions for improvements around the instability in the lower levels of the sport, which it identified as a major concern, pointing out the loss of races and higher budgets causing teams to fold, both of which are eroding development pathways for riders.

"At a time when women’s cycling is experiencing increased visibility and momentum, The Cyclists’ Alliance emphasizes that long-term success depends on strengthening the sport’s underlying structures," their press release states.

“Our goal is to ensure that growth in women’s cycling is matched by a strong and sustainable foundation,” said TCA Interim Managing Director Deena Blacking.

“This submission represents the collective voice of riders and a shared vision for how the sport can continue to evolve."

The full letter runs to over 5,600 words and can be read on the organisation's website.

Noemi Rüegg (EF Education-Oatly), the winner of stage 1 and race leader of La Vuelta Femenina, has been forced to abandon the race after suffering a crash during the 109.8-kilometre stage 2 to San Cibrao das Viñas.

Rüegg appeared to touch wheels with another rider with 12km to go and careened into best young rider Eleonora Ciabocco (Picnic-PostNL).

Both riders crashed into a culvert and were quickly attended to by medics.

It was announced not long after that Rüegg had abandoned. On Tuesday morning, her EF Education-Oatly team announced that she had sustained a fractured right shoulder in the crash and will require surgery.

"Noemi suffered a fracture to her right shoulder in the crash that forced her to abandon the Vuelta. The fracture will require surgery. Join us in wishing our champ all the best on her recovery," the team announced.

Rüegg led the Vuelta after winning the stage 1 sprint in Salvaterra de Miño over Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-ProTime).

German Franziska Koch (FDJ United-SUEZ), who picked up a six-second time bonus at the intermediate sprint on Sunday, was second overall tied on time with Rüegg at the start of Monday's stage.

After finishing second in the stage 2 sprint, Koch assumed the race lead by six seconds ahead of stage winner Shari Bossuyt (AG Insurance-Soudal).

Ciabocco, 16th on stage 1, was in the best young rider's jersey on the same time as five other riders. The Italian finished the second stage in 62nd, 2:29 behind Bossuyt.

Lore De Schepper (AG Insurance-Soudal) moved into the white jersey after stage 2.

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Twenty-one-year-old North American racer Evan Boyle has accepted a 16-month sanction for committing three 'Whereabouts Failures' in the space of 12 months, United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) announced.

Boyle is best known for his top USPro National Championships results last year, which included a silver medal in the elite men's road race. He also scored a silver in the U23 time trial in 2023.

After riding the last two years with Hagens Berman Jayco devo squad, the rider from upstate New York had signed to race with Team Winston Salem-Flow but had not started his 2026 season. He had been listed to start for the US domestic elite team at Ronde de l'Isard in May.

According to the USADA statement on its website, Boyle was included in the USADA Registered Testing Pool, athletes who are subject to Whereabouts requirements, so they can remain located for out-of-competition testing.

"Within a 12-month period, Boyle accrued three Whereabouts Failures: the first on July 16, 2025, the second on August 16, 2025, and the third on October 2, 2025," the statement added.

"The accumulation of three Whereabouts Failures within a 12-month period constitutes a rule violation under the USADA Protocol for Olympic and Paralympic Movement Testing, the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee National Anti-Doping Policy, and the International Cycling Union Anti-Doping Rules, all of which have adopted the World Anti-Doping Code.

"The period of ineligibility for Whereabouts rule violations ranges from one year to two years, depending on the athlete’s degree of fault.

"In this case, USADA determined that a 16-month period of ineligibility was appropriate given the circumstances of the case."

The statement notes that Boyle's 16-month sanction began on December 8, 2025, when he was notified of his third Whereabouts Failure. He has been disqualified from all competitions as well as forfeiting medals, points and prizes from October 2, 2025, onwards.

Tadej Pogačar's victory celebrations were cut short at Liège-Bastogne-Liège on Sunday after the race jury handed him a hefty fine of 5000 CHF shortly after the podium presentation. The fine was outlined in the official race communique directly following the event on Sunday.

However, the fine was later removed with the World Champion's team, UAE Team Emirates-XRG, telling La Gazzetta dello Sport that it had been revoked.

The UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider initially was said to have violated Article 1.3.072.6: World Champion Equipment for the "wrong place of the publicity on the world champion jersey during the award ceremony," according to the official race communique.

The fine may have been in relation to the addition of a personal sponsor, watchmaker Richard Mille, to the sleeve of Pogačar's long-sleeve podium jersey.

However, the world champion has been wearing the jersey with this logo all year.

According to Sporza, the UCI previously prohibited additions to standard jerseys but have since relaxed their regulations. The UCI officials at Liège-Bastogne-Liège later acknowledged their error and the fine was removed.

There doesn't seem to be any provision in the UCI rules for sponsors on the wrist of a jersey, and the maximum fine (rule (1.3.072) for non-compliant advertising on jerseys is typically CHF 2,100.

Pogačar produced a masterclass performance to win Liège-Bastogne-Liège for the fourth time in his career, finally dropping worthy challenger Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM) on the Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons with 13.9km to go and riding solo to the finish.

The Frenchman hung on for second place while Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) won the chase-group sprint for third. The three riders celebrated their successes on the podium.

At the time the initial race communique noted the fine, it was unclear what the specific issue was with his jersey, as Pogačar had worn it on other podiums this year. The race jury and the UCI had offered no other explanation at the time of writing.

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The ITA has announced that Hungarian racer Bálint Makrai, who rides for ProTeam MBH Bank-CSB Telecom Fort, has returned an adverse analytical finding for the anabolic steroid Metandienone.

The 19-year-old returned the positive sample in an out-of-competition test on March 30, 2026, and has been provisionally suspended as a result.

Metandienone, known by its trade name Dianabol, is an anabolic steroid which, in the words of the ITA, "increases testosterone levels, causing muscle-mass growth, endurance and strength."

Makrai has raced with the Italo-Hungarian squad MBH Bank-CSB Telecom Fort as the team has grown from an amateur club setup to a Continental squad and, from this year, a ProTeam.

This year, he started the Tour de la Provence but didn't finish the first stage. He has also raced the .2 races, the UMAG Classic, Popolarissima, and the GP Slovenian Istria, the latter two won by MBH Bank racers Davide Persico and Nicolò Buratti.

Makrai hasn't raced since the GP Slovenian Istra on March 22. Eight days later, he returned the positive test.

"The rider has been informed of the case and has the right to request the analysis of the B-sample," the ITA stated.

"If the B-sample analysis is requested and confirms the result of the A-sample, the case will be considered as a confirmed anti-doping rule violation. If the B-sample analysis is not requested, the case will also go ahead as a confirmed anti-doping rule violation. The rider will have the opportunity to present his explanations for the result.

"Further, in accordance with the World Anti-Doping Code and Article 6.2.1 of the UCI Regulations for Results Management, a mandatory provisional suspension has been imposed on the rider. The rider has the right to challenge the provisional suspension and ask for its lifting."

A brief collision between a Lidl-Trek team car and EF Education-EasyPost rider Markel Beloki during stage 5 of Itzulia Basque Country has led to the expulsion of Kim Andersen, the sports director driving the vehicle, from the race.

The incident happened during stage 5, some 45 kilometres from the finish when Andersen's car was to the right of a stretched-out group of riders, including Beloki, 20th overall on GC, on a broad stretch of slight uphill

Beloki dropped back, his back wheel briefly grazing the left-hand bumper of the Lidl-Trek car - which had failed to notice the Basque rider's manoeuvre in time. Beloki then angrily waved one arm to remonstrate the car, but fortunately neither fell nor seemed injured by the incident.

As a result of the collision, commisaires later decreed that Andersen be expelled from Itzulia Basque Country, leaving the team bereft of one in-race car during the final stage. As well as the exclusion, Andersen also received a fine of 1,000 Swiss francs and a yellow card.

On stage 2 of the Itzulia Basque Country, the race doctor's car driver was also expelled from the race after his vehicle collided with Mikel Landa (Soudal-QuickStep) on the downhill from the Cat 1 San Miguel de Aralar climb. After falling heavily as a result of the crash, Landa could complete the stage, albeit considerably delayed. He did not fracture any bones, but with severe bruising and scratching, he opted not to start the next day's racing.

Beloki is currently 19th overall, having completed the stage over nine minutes down. With one day's racing remaining, Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM) continues in the overall lead.

New 'Elite Feed Zones' will be introduced this year at Unbound Gravel events and Leadville Trail 100 MTB, both owned by Life Time and anchor events of the Life Time Grand Prix series. Regulations for crew member and media access at these feed zones will also be implemented at both races.

For Leadville Trail 100 MTB in Colorado, access to Lost Canyon will be closed to public traffic on race day. Organisers will also implement a lottery for amateur access in this area, described as a 'narrow, high-impact' area that becomes congested for crews supporting riders.

"Age‑group racers remain a central priority of both Unbound Gravel and the Leadville Trail 100 MTB, with robust on‑course support, accessible checkpoints, and the same community‑driven energy that define each event," a press release by Life Time said.

"By introducing clearer structure and separation where speeds and dynamics differ most, Life Time aims to enhance safety and fairness while preserving the grit, camaraderie, and challenge that have made these races iconic for decades."

Called 'checkpoints' at Unbound and 'aid stations' at Leadville, these regulated feed zones are where athletes, amateurs and pros alike, can refuel and get mechanical support. They are open areas that have been shared by all competitors, so have been more chaotic rather restful as the athletes go faster.

Life Time listened to feedback from pro athletes, crews members, media and local partners to determine concerns and address solutions with these changes.

Unbound Gravel 200 has two checkpoints, and the second checkpoint is also shared with riders in the Unbound Gravel 100 event. For the pros in the 200-mile distance, there will now be separation at both checkpoints from age-group competitors in that race and the 100-mile race.

Leadville Trail 100 MTB has four aid stations, with Carter Summit, Outward Bound and Twin Lakes Dam serving outbound and inbound traffic on the two-way dirt route. All competitors pass Columbiine Mine once, as the turnaround point at the 52-mile mark. These will also have separate areas for pros and age-group riders.

"These zones will be tightly controlled to enhance safety, reduce congestion, and protect competitive integrity. Specific guidelines, including feeding from the right side only and no support from moving vehicles (bikes, motos, etc.), will be implemented," Life Time noted.

In the Elite Feed Zones, crew and media access will be limited to designated areas. This is to make the environment "safer and more predictable" for racers and non-racers aliike, and "improving course flow".

The operational details and updated course maps will be finalised as part of the official tech guides ahead of each race. Unbound Gravel 200, the second race in the Life Time Grand Prix, is scheduled for May 30 in Emporia, Kansas. Leadville Trail 100 MTB is the third stop of the series on August 15 in Leadville, Colorado.

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The UCI announced on Thursday that it has suspended New Zealand's Kiaan Watts (NSN Devo Team) from April 9, 2026, through May 2, 2026, following disciplinary proceedings.

The 24-year-old was competing in the 1.2-ranked Ster van Zwolle in the Netherlands when he was caught on video hitting Marijn Maas (BEAT CC p/b Saxo) at the front of the peloton with 33km to go. The race jury disqualified him for the incident, and his team pulled him out of his next race, the Dorpenomloop Rucphen.

"Video footage of the incident at the Dutch event on 7 March 2026 showed Kiaan Watts reaching towards another rider and delivering him a closed fist punch," the UCI announcement stated.

"The rider acknowledged the violation of article 12.4.009 of the UCI Regulations and accepted the sanction proposed by the UCI. Besides the sanctions imposed by the Commissaires’ Panel during the race (cf. the disqualification from the race, the payment of a fine of CHF 200 and the deduction of 25 UCI Points), Kiaan Watts will serve a period of suspension of 25 days, with the one-day suspension imposed on the rider by his team on 8 March 2026 being credited from the period of suspension."

"The UCI issues a reminder that, as holders of UCI licences and members of the cycling community, riders enjoy rights and assume responsibilities aimed at promoting the values of cycling and protecting the integrity of the sport. These rights and responsibilities are set out in the Riders’ Charter of Rights and Responsibilities. Respecting this Charter fosters an environment in which sportsmanship, fairness, and respect prevail."

UCI commissaires have expelled the Itzulia Basque Country race doctor's car – although in practice this means the individual driving the vehicle in question – from the event after causing the crash that left local star Mikel Landa (Soudal-QuickStep) injured during stage 2 and finally out of the race.

On the high-speed, narrow descent of the first-category San Miguel de Aralar, Landa fell heavily after he collided with the race doctor's car.

It was unclear how the accident actually happened, but television footage showed the 36-year-old moments afterwards lying on the ground next to the road. The Basque veteran looked to be injured but was conscious and talking to an unidentified race medic and some concerned spectators, and he was subsequently able to continue.

67th and over 13 minutes down at the finish line behind stage winner and race leader Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM), Landa was then taken to hospital for a checkup, where fractures were ruled out.

However, he was badly beaten up with multiple bruises and road rash, and his team decided on Wednesday morning that he would not start stage 3 of the race.

In their update after stage 2, the UCI confirmed that the race doctor's car would be removed from the race, although in practice this refers to the driver, not the actual medic or the car, and the individual behind the wheel would be fined 500 Swiss Francs. After being initially penalised with a yellow card, he was later fully expelled from the race.

A former double stage winner in Itzulia, his home race, and a runner-up overall in 2018 and 2023, Landa's bad luck regarding crashes has regrettably been something of a defining element during much of his career.

A huge fall in the Giro d'Italia last year was his most recent major crash before Itzulia, leaving him out for the count for much of the season. He also suffered a bad fall in Itzulia in 2024, breaking a collarbone.

Soudal-QuickStep management was highly critical of the incident in Itzulia Basque Country, with team CEO Jurgen Foré telling Het Nieuwsblad, "He was just 10 seconds behind the group in front. Why would a doctor’s car need to overtake riders in that situation? It’s incomprehensible.”

“We do everything for safety, and then something like this happens. As a team, you are left with nothing, and you still have to handle the consequences.”

Later in the same stage on the final unclassified rise to the summit finish at Cuevas de Mendukilo, a spectator could be seen lying in the road, after he was reportedly struck by a race motorbike.

Following the closed level crossing incident at Sunday's men's Tour of Flanders, the East Flanders Public Prosecutor's Office has identified 54 riders who could face sanctions, including fines and driving bans.

The riders, almost a third of the 175-man peloton, ran through a red signal at a level crossing with 213km to race. The peloton was split as a result, with most of the group held up before regrouping at the behest of UCI commissaires over the following kilometres.

UCI regulations call for fines, yellow cards, and potential disqualification if riders ignore level crossing warnings and race on. However, in this case, no penalties were handed out to those who ran the red signal, including eventual winner Tadej Pogačar and third-place finisher Remco Evenepoel.

According to Het Nieuwsblad, the riders involved could face fines ranging from €320 to €4,000 and an eight-day driving ban. Out-of-court settlements are also possible.

"Ignoring a red light at a level crossing is a fourth-degree offence, the most serious category under traffic law, which can have severe consequences," the East Flanders Public Prosecutor's Office stated, according to Het Laatste Nieuws.

"Such an offence poses serious risks to the safety of both the riders and third parties. Therefore, these infringements are severely punished."

The investigation continues, while elsewhere Soudal-QuickStep directeur sportif Sep Vanmarcke has said that the fault doesn't lie fully with the riders.

He told Sporza that organisers sometimes can't avoid their races passing level crossings, while on Sunday, riders would have had little chance of stopping in time.

"They often arrive there in a peloton at around 55kph," Vanmarcke said. "The first riders have a good view, but the rest are looking at the back of the rider in front, and sound is often lost too, so not everyone realises what is happening.

"You also saw on Sunday that the first riders clearly started braking, but then you have to make a quick assessment – do I slam on the brakes here and risk them falling behind me? Or do you keep going?"

Vanmarcke said that riders don't set out to break these rules, but rather have to make a split-second decision on what to do at that moment.

"As a rider, you make that choice based on your own ability and with safety in mind. It is certainly not the riders' intention to mess things up or deliberately break the rules.

"You can't expect riders to know every train schedule by heart, can you? Anyone with a certain authority, such as the police and the organisers, can also take responsibility and intervene safely. If you do that in time, no one is put in danger."

Vanmarcke concluded by saying that the various stakeholders involved – including Belgium's National Railway Company (NMBS) and the rail infrastructure manager Infrabel – should work together to avoid similar incidents in future.

"There was no malicious intent, and in a race, it is not easy to always make the right decision," he said.

"So let us work together to find a better solution, because cycling effectively has a role model function. Such a situation could occur again in the future, so we might as well seize this moment to change something collectively."

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The closed level crossing incident in the Tour of Flanders could carry potential consequences of fines and short driving bans for those riders who ignored or did not see a red signal at a level crossing and carried on riding, according to Belgian media.

With more than 200 kilometres to race at the level crossing in the town of Wichelen, the light turned red just as the peloton was approaching, with the bunch split as a result. Once the barriers had gone up again after the train had passed, the peloton then regrouped over the following four kilometres as the commissaires ordered riders to slow down.

A 13-rider breakaway, in keeping with UCI regulations, was not stopped and saw its advantage increase by two minutes as a result of the delays behind, but there were no other consequences for the race overall.

Both race winner Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), who finished third, were in the front group when the incident happened. Others like Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech) were caught behind and stopped.

"It was not nice," Pogačar said in the post-race press conference. "Suddenly we were riding, and I don't know, Mikkel Bjerg was riding all day and and suddenly three guys jump on the middle of the road and start waving to stop. How can you stop in one second?

"So I think they could prevent this by stopping us before, no? Not 10 meters before the crossing, three guys jump on the road. I was thinking, maybe it's like some protesters or something, like, something crazy is going on. And yeah, then the bunch was split from the crossing."

Normal traffic regulations also state that it is obligatory to stop at red level crossing warning lights, even if the barriers are yet to come down. According to Belgian media, the East Flanders Public Prosecutor's Office has now said that it planned to identify those riders in the front group, estimated at being around 20 to 30 in number, and issue penalties.

“The Public Prosecutor's Office reports that the offenders will be identified and an official report will be drawn up,” Nieuwsblad said, with reports that riders might face a fine of around 320 euros and a ban on driving for eight days. An out-of-court settlement is, apparently, also possible.

As happened at Paris-Roubaix in 2015 when a large group of riders passed through a level crossing when the lights were red, race commissaires opted not to disqualify those involved and nobody was excluded from the Tour of Flanders as a result of the incident.

According to unconfirmed reports from Het Laatste Nieuws, commissaires also believed that stopping the peloton suddenly just as the barriers were coming down could have caused a crash.

"The rule is a little bit weird," Pogačar said. "I don't know why they don't stop the breakaway, stop us and then restart like it should be, but yeah, in the end, yeah, no complaints. We have Mikkel to pull he was so strong that he could control them even two minutes more of the breakaway. It was, in the end, all OK."

The UCI post-Flanders communique regarding penalisations for Flanders did not refer to the level crossing incident, according to Belgian media.

However Pogačar will have to pay a 500 Swiss Franc fine (about 540 euros) for littering outside the stipulated area for throwing away race trash, as well as being docked 25 UCI points. Equally, Evenepoel has received a 200 Swiss Franc fine for a 'sticky bottle' incident.

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Dwars door Vlaanderen winner Marlen Reusser (Movistar) voiced her support for the use of GPS trackers in cycling, in light of the death of her compatriot Muriel Furrer at her home World Championships in Zurich two years ago, as well as her own experiences of crashing and being lost.

Earlier this week, an investigation into Furrer's death found that the 18-year-old was not found for an hour and 22 minutes after crashing out of the junior road race in Zurich in 2024. Races at the World Championships do not have race radios. She was eventually found, but later died of her traumatic injuries.

The investigation concluded that there was no "criminally relevant breach of duty" on the part of the organisers or UCI in contributing to Furrer's death, but the incident has sparked action on GPS trackers in races.

Just last week, Tom Pidcock (Q36.5 Pinarello) crashed into a ravine at the Volta a Catalunya and was only found because he was still able to talk into his radio – otherwise no one knew he was there.

Reusser, who is from Switzerland, is particularly close to the topic, and praised the fact that cycling seems to be moving closer to implementation of tracking technology.

"In Switzerland, the cycling community, the organisers – Tour de Suisse, Tour de Romandie – are very aware of this problem [and] are pushing, as you know. Tour de Suisse is pushing also to have these trackers after we had the case of Muriel and also the case of Gino Mäder," she said.

"So I think there is a lot of awareness and I am also really happy that this is going forward."

Steps are being taken to introduce GPS technology into the sport, but it has not been straightforward, and there is currently no concrete plan for their implementation.

At the Tour de Suisse last year, GPS trackers were used in the men's and women's races, intended to be fitted to every rider and race convoy vehicle. However, teams were free to opt out, and it is not entirely clear how many teams used the technology.

At the women's Tour de Romandie, the UCI attempted to mandate the use for a test, requiring one rider from every team to test a GPS tracking device, but a stand-off with the teams ensued over the details of how the trackers would be fitted, how the one rider would be chosen, and debates over the rights to the data collected. The result was that several teams were disqualified for refusing to comply with the test.

Trackers were then used for all riders at the World Championships in Rwanda, but are still not widely used in UCI road races. The latest is that UCI president David Lappartient has written to teams to urge collaboration to find an agreed-upon system, but he stated that "If a reasonable and satisfactory solution is not accepted ... the UCI will have no option but to enforce effective GPS tracking."

Whilst the exact form of GPS tracking needs to be ironed out between the UCI and teams, it is clear that many riders think it is a good thing to have. Reusser recounted her own frightening incident of crashing out of sight, which spurred her to think about trackers already some years ago.

"I also had this experience once when I was new in cycling and I crashed out of a corner in a Spanish race and I was wrapped into a thorn field down the hill somehow and they couldn't find me," she explained.

"Only because I was still conscious [she could touch her radio], but I was really wrapped up [in thorns], I was on my bike, and suddenly I could hear that my team car turned and was out of the race just to search for me. After I don't know how long, I suddenly heard them and I could say 'you're coming closer, I hear you' and then after maybe an hour they found me.

"Then I was thinking, if I was not conscious, then how could they ever find me? This was five or six years ago and I was already thinking that's a problem. Not in races like here [in Belgium], we have a lot of people, you know where people are, it's open fields, but in stage races in the middle of nowhere, it's a good thing to have."

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An investigation into the death of Muriel Furrer during the 2024 Road World Championships in Zurich has been closed without any fault being found against the UCI, according to the Zurich public prosecutor's office.

"Based on the police investigation, the cyclist's fall is considered a racing accident with no evidence of criminal conduct or contributory negligence on the part of the organiser, other race participants, or third parties," the public prosecutor's press release stated.

Furrer, 18, was competing in the junior women's road race when she crashed out of view on a downhill section of the Zurich circuit. The investigation revealed that Furrer was obscured by underbrush as she lay unattended for one hour and 22 minutes before she was located and treated by emergency responders.

"The accident occurred at approximately 11:04 a.m., out of sight of support vehicles, race officials, spectators, and marshals," the press release stated.

"The injured cyclist lay hidden in the undergrowth and was not visible from the road. As was customary at previous editions of this World Cycling Championship, live tracking of all athletes was not used at the event. Therefore, the sudden disappearance of an athlete was not automatically reported. Due to these circumstances, the injured cyclist was not discovered until 12:26 p.m."

The investigation found no fault with the emergency response, stating, "According to the investigation, the first emergency responders arrived at the scene of the accident just minutes after the cyclist was found and immediately began providing initial medical care.

"This was followed by the rescue of the seriously injured cyclist from the undergrowth and preparations for her transport to the hospital. No evidence of any criminally relevant breaches of duty was found, either in connection with the time-consuming rescue operation or with the subsequent medical care at the University Hospital Zurich."

Furrer died of her injuries while in the hospital the next day. It is not clear whether she would have survived with more prompt treatment.

However, her death and that of Gino Mäder during the Tour de Suisse in 2023 have put the UCI under pressure to implement more safety reforms.

The UCI implemented a GPS tracking system for the first time at the Road Worlds in Rwanda in 2025, and has issued a call for proposals for a more widely adopted system for road events, saying in a letter to teams that tracking will "become mandatory and phased in across event classes".

"We are striving for the best solution to be found in collaboration with the stakeholders and within the best possible timeframe," Lappartient said.

"The risk of a rider going off course unseen is a fundamental danger to the safety of our riders."

Last week, Tom Pidcock (Pinarello-Q36.5) crashed on a descent during the Volta a Catalunya and fell into a ravine out of sight of anyone. He was fortunately able to climb out and finish the stage, but later dropped out of the race.

Visma-Lease a Bike confirmed that two spectators, believed to be 'intoxicated,' had behaved 'aggressively' toward their staff members while they were in the team's race vehicle during stage 4 of the Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali on Saturday.

Footage shared across social media platforms appears to show one spectator jumping onto the roof of the Visma-Lease a Bike team car while the other stood beside the vehicle and punched the closed driver's-side window.

In a statement issued by Visma-Lease a Bike following the race, the team said that the spectator who jumped onto the car had "attempted to remove a bike from the roof." The team also said that the second spectator "behaved very aggressively towards the occupants of the car."

Visma-Lease a Bike CEO Richard Plugge said in the official team statement following the race that the team has reported the incident to local authorities and the event organisers.

“We take this incident very seriously, as it put the safety of our colleagues at risk," Plugge said.

"Our staff on site immediately went to the police and also reported the incident to the race organization. In the end, no equipment was stolen and no damage was caused.

"The colleagues in the car are okay, but understandably shaken.”

Cyclingnews has reached out to the organisers of Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali to request comment and additional information.

Axel Laurance (Ineos Grenadiers) secured another victory on stage 4's 159.6km race from Ponte di Piave into Valdobbiadene and moved back into the overall race lead as the race is set to conclude on Sunday.

Visma-Lease a Bike have offered an apology after Axel Zingle was disqualified from the E3 Saxo Classic for taking a long tow or sticky bottle from a team car on Friday.

Zingle suffered a flat tyre during the race and whilst chasing back on was towed back, at speed and at length, by the Visma car. Though not caught on the race broadcast, a roadside fan took a damning video of the incident, which ultimately led to the Frenchman's punishment.

Disqualified from the race and pulled out by commissaires before the finish, Zingle was subsequently awarded a yellow card and a deduction of 100 UCI points.

Later on Friday, it also emerged that Visma team boss Richard Plugge, who was driving the following car, had also been given a yellow card and a 500-CHF fine.

"We received a report 10 kilometres from the finish line that Zingle had been taken out of the race," team DS Maarten Wynants told Sporza. "At first we didn't know what it was about, but later we heard there were images of him hanging onto the car."

The team then issued a formal apology in a statement shared with the Dutch and Belgian press.

"We regret the incident," they said. "This does not contribute to the image of cycling. It happened [off the back of the bunch] after a flat tyre, and it did not affect the result, but it should not have happened.

"Once again: we regret the incident and accept the blame. Just because something like this happens frequently in races does not give us the right to do the same."

Under the relatively new yellow card rules, if Zingle or Plugge receive subsequent yellow cards in the next 30 days they will face further punishment, including possible suspensions.

Sticky bottles and longer-than-permitted towing or drafting are not uncommon sights at the back of a race, but are often not caught on TV coverage and not seen by commissaires, so often go unpunished. In this case, however, Visma have fallen foul of social media, where fans and commissaires can see much more than ever before.

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Tom Pidcock (Pinarello-Q36.5) tumbled out of his runner-up position overall in the Volta a Catalunya on the mountain stage to Coll de Pal, but not because he didn't have the legs to follow stage winner Jonas Vingegaard but because he never had the chance to try.

Unbeknownst to the television commentators, race officials and, at first, his team, Pidcock had crashed with 30km to go on the descent of the Collada Sobirana and tumbled down into the ravine, he revealed.

Pidcock began the stage in second place overall, 13 seconds down on Dorian Godon (Ineos), but ended stage 5 a full 29 minutes down on Vingegaard, dropping to 74th in the GC standings.

"I was drinking on the descent and misjudged a corner," Pidcock said in a team press release. "I overshot it and went down the ravine. It was like one of these horror crashes you see, but I'm very lucky that I am OK.

"I'll go for a check, but I think I'm OK."

"I am lucky I could talk on the radio. I was far from the road, and nobody knew I was there. I'm happy I could finish the stage."

On his social media channels, Pidcock titled the post "Today I lost a life for sure", writing, "I'm going to self-proclaim as a ninja crasher, 60kph off a mountain and I'm relatively OK."

However, later medical diagnosis was not so optimistic and he subsequently was a DNS on stage 6 on Saturday.

After several similar incidents, including the death of Muriel Furrer during the 2024 UCI Road World Championships in Switzerland, the UCI has been trying to implement mandatory GPS tracking (speed and position).

However, teams at last year's women's Tour de Romandie objected to the sudden imposition of GPS tracking and were disqualified from the race. Since then, the UCI has developed a GPS tracking system with partners Swiss Timing and used it at last year's Worlds in Rwanda.

The race jury disqualified Visma-Lease a Bike rider Axel Zingle from the E3 Saxo Classic after the Frenchman held onto a team car to get back into the peloton following a puncture.

The punishment came after a Belgian cycling fan with the handle Lv_Cycling posted a video taken from the roadside to X that showed Zingle in the midst of holding onto either the team car (towing) or a bidon held by its driver (sticky bottle) for the entire five-second clip, if not longer.

While it is unclear what Zingle was holding onto from the video, his punishment suggested he was getting a tow.

The UCI has two rules that could apply in the incident: a fine and a possible yellow card for a sticky bottle - holding on for a few seconds - and a harsher punishment for towing.

Zingle appears to have been sanctioned under rule 2.12.007 part 4.6, for holding on to a team vehicle. Violations result in a CHF 500 fine, removal of 100 points from the rider's UCI rankings and disqualification or elimination from the race. It can also come with a yellow card.

Zingle could also have been disqualified if he had received two yellow cards in the same race. In that case, he would also receive a seven-day suspension, and be at risk of a 14-day ban if he were to get a third yellow card within 30 days.

While sticky bottles and towing have long been part of cycling, they rarely make it onto the television coverage since they happen in the convoy behind the race. Since the advent of social media, videos of tows either taken by fans or on television have caused outrage among cycling fans.

In 2015, a video of Vincenzo Nibali being towed by his Astana team car during the Vuelta a España made its way to the race jury and, after a long debate, they ejected Italian from the race along with his sports director, Alexandre Shefer. Nibali got so much abuse on social media that he suspended his social media accounts.

More recently, Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious) was given a fine and docked UCI and mountains classification points for taking three sticky bottles while climbing the Col du Glandon during the 2025 Tour de France. He also had to withstand social media backlash. The Frenchman apologised and insisted he had no intent to cheat.

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The climate activist who sat in front of an oncoming peloton at the Ronde Van Brugge has been arrested and is facing public prosecution as well as legal action from a number of different parties.

A man wearing a white t-shirt with the message 'kids dying by the climate crisis in 3,2,1...' sat facing the riders before jumping out of the way. Soon after, there was a crash behind involving the defending champion Juan Sebastian Molano, although it's unclear exactly how it occurred.

It was later widely reported in the Belgian media that the protester is a well-known climate activist who has previously pulled a number of high-profile awareness-raising stunts, including running onto the course of the Tour of Flanders. They have not publicly claimed responsibility for the incident.

According to reports in Belgium, they were arrested by police at the scene and remain in custody pending an investigation.

“The necessary investigative actions are currently being carried out to determine the precise circumstances of the incident,” said a spokesperson for the West Flanders public prosecutor's office on Thursday morning, according to the De Morgen newspaper. “This includes analysing camera footage and questioning witnesses.”

Police spokeswoman Lien Depoorter added: "We are investigating whether the crash was caused by him and what his intentions were," according to De Standaard.

According to the press agency Belga, he has been arrested on suspicion of "intentional assault and battery and malicious obstruction of traffic".

Molano's crash was not captured in the race footage, although he was seen remonstrating with a race official, who had stopped and parked his motorbike at the side of the road near where the protester had been sitting.

Even before the peloton reached the activist, there was a crash, with a bump of shoulders sending a Decathlon CMA CGM rider out into the field. It is unclear whether that particular crash is part of the public prosecutor's investigation, but it could be part of the legal complaints coming the way of the protester.

VRT reports that four teams have filed formal complaints, while race organiser Golazo and the Belgian Cycling Federation have also filed complaints of their own. In theory, a team could seek compensation for damaged equipment or rider injuries if they can be proven to have resulted from the actions of the protester.

Golazo will not seek financial compensation – "because it is difficult to prove any specific damage apart from the damage to the reputation of the race and cycling in general" – but was scathing in its view of the disruption to its race.

"It's completely irresponsible, because his action put the riders, spectators and staff all at risk," said Golazo director, Christophe Impens, according to VRT. "All in all, it didn’t turn out too badly, so to speak. But imagine if the entire peloton had crashed into him en masse. This could have been so much worse."

Belgian Cycling added its name to the list of plaintiffs on Thursday morning,

"The incident caused a delay in the caravan, which resulted in a crash within the peloton," read a statement from the federation, which openly linked the crash to the protester. "It is a reckless act that Belgian Cycling strongly disapproves of. As the injured party, Belgian Cycling has decided to file an official complaint.

"Although the federation does not condemn the right to freedom of expression or the message, the safety of the peloton and the followers in the caravan must never be jeopardised by this type of action."

Belgian Cycling had recently launched a new campaign dubbed 'support with heart, not hate', in response to a growing number of disruptive incidents, including abuse and objects being hurled towards riders.

"The message is clear: respect for the race also means respect for everyone's safety," Belgian Cycling reiterated.

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The organisers of the Volta a Catalunya announced late on Wednesday that Thursday's stage 4 to Vallter, which was due to finish at 2,110 metres in elevation, will be cut short due to high winds.

"Due to the activation of a Level 3 VENCAT (sic) warning, with wind gusts of up to 90 km/h forecast at the summit of Vallter, the Volta a Catalunya has been forced to shorten the route of its 4th stage, scheduled for Thursday 26 March.

"The stage, starting from Mataró, will finish in the town of Camprodon, shortening the final climb to the resort."

Camprodon comes 150 kilometres into the planned 172.8-kilometre stage and is at the base of the Vallter climb, well before the steeper final 13 kilometres.

The warning comes from Catalonia's Civil Protection Agency's special emergency plan for high winds, VENTCAT.

The VENTCAT alert reads, "Looking ahead to Thursday, early in the morning, the entire Pyrenees and Pre-Pyrenees area will be added to the wind warning, as well as the Pla de l’Estany and the Gironès. As the day progresses, the episode will be restricted to the Pyrenees and Pre-Pyrenees, especially in the high altitudes of Ripollès, Pallars Sobirà and Alta Ribagorça, where more than 90 km/h could occur. The wind will also remain in the Alt and Baix Empordà, where the north wind will strengthen throughout Thursday."

The agency also warns, "As for outdoor leisure activities, it is necessary to avoid doing them in wooded areas and on the coast and postpone them as far as possible if their safety cannot be guaranteed."

A similar scenario happened in 2025 when the queen stage of the Volta a Catalunya was replaced with a flat 73-kilometre stage. Once underway, organisers further cut the stage to just 28 kilometres. Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek) won with a late attack.

French champion Dorian Godon (Ineos Grenadiers) leads the Volta a Catalunya after winning stages 1 and 3, and holds an 11-second lead on Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), who crashed late in stage 3 on Wednesday. Tom Pidcock (Pinarello-Q36.5) is third at 16 seconds, while favourite Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) is fourth at 18 seconds.

The toughest stage of the 2026 Volta a Catalunya route comes on Friday with a high altitude finish on the Coll de Pal. There is a second summit finish on Saturday at Queralt before the Barcelona circuit around the Castell de Montjuïc concludes the race on Sunday.

A climate protester sat down in the middle of the cobblestone sector in front of an oncoming peloton at the Ronde Van Brugge on Wednesday.

The protester, wearing a white t-shirt with the message 'kids dying by the climate crisis in 3,2,1...' jumped up and out of the way at the very last moment.

It would appear, however, that the incident did result in a crash. Defending champion Juan Sebastian Molano (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) hit the deck and was seen remonstrating with a race official, who had stopped and parked his motorbike by the side of the road.

The official had apparently stopped to deal with the protester at the side of the road and it appears that Molano collided with the motorbike or crashed avoiding it.

Even before the riders reached the protestor, there was a crash, with a bump of shoulders on the narrow sector sending a Decathlon CMA CGM rider out into the grass, which can be seen in the photo at the top of this page.

Protests have been a regular occurrence in pro cycling races over the years, with climate protestors accounting for a number of notable disruptions to races. At the 2022 Tour de France climate activists had to be dragged off the road by policemen and even race officials, while protestors glued themselves to the road at the 2023 UCI Road World Championships.

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Vini Fantini-BePink rider Linda Laporta has tested positive for the Selective Androgen Receptor Modulator (SARM) Enobosarm, also known as ostarine.

The International Testing Agency (ITA) announced the finding on Monday, revealing that Italian racer Laporta returned an adverse analytical finding for the substance on the opening stage of the UAE Tour Women on February 5.

The test was conducted as part of an intelligence-led mission, the ITA stated.

Laporta finished 50th at the UAE Tour and has since raced the Volta Valenciana Femenina and Trofeo Oro in Euro. This season marked the 26-year-old's third in the professional peloton, with Laporta having previously raced for BTC City Ljubljana.

The ITA stated that Laporta has been provisionally suspended from racing in accordance with UCI anti-doping rules. She has the right to request analysis of her B-sample and "will have the opportunity to present her explanations for the result," the ITA said.

"The ITA reports that a sample collected during an intelligence-led testing mission conducted by the ITA during the 2026 UAE Tour Women on 5 February 2026 from Linda Laporta, a cyclist from Italy, has returned an AAF¹ for the Enobosarm (Ostarine)," the ITA announced.

"The substance is listed under class S1.2 Other Anabolic Agents according to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Prohibited List. It is prohibited at all times (in- and out-of-competition) and is classified as a non-specified substance. Ostarine has been shown to increase lean body mass and promote muscle growth.

"...In accordance with the World Anti-Doping Code and Article 7.4.1 of the UCI Anti-Doping Rules, a mandatory provisional suspension has been imposed on the rider. In line with the applicable regulations, the rider has the right to challenge the provisional suspension and ask for its lifting."

Last year, Laporta made her debut at the Giro d'Italia Women, finishing the race in 73rd. She finished the season strongly, placing in the top 10 at the Trofeo Tessile & Moda Donne and Veneto Women. She now faces a multi-year ban if her B-sample confirms the positive test result.

Several riders have previously been banned from racing after testing positive for Ostarine.

In 2014, Vacansoleil-DCM rider Nikita Novikov was handed a two-year ban after returning an out-of-competition positive for the substance in May 2013. Vini Zabù rider Matteo Spreafico left the 2020 Giro d'Italia after returning two positives during the race. He was later handed a three-year ban and has since returned to racing with Italian Continental squad Mg.K Vis.

Organisers of the GP de Denain-Porte du Hainaut have issued a revision to the race communique, handing winner Alec Segaert (Bahrain Victorious) a penalty and yellow card for "Using a non-compliant position or point of support on the bicycle that represents a danger to the rider or competitors".

Segaert, whose solo escape in Wednesday's Nokere Koerse was nullified within the final hundred metres, attacked again in Denain, this time hanging on by an equally narrow margin to claim his first victory since 2024.

The Belgian had been off the front with Per Strand Hagenes (Visma-Lease a Bike) for some 50km before dropping him with 2.5km to go as the chasing peloton began to close in.

While Bahrain Victorious, when asked, could not confirm the exact incident that led to the ruling, they said "It's the UCI rules and we will respect this ruling".

Segaert's aerodynamic position used in that final pursuit may have been what earned him the penalty. UCI rule 2.2.025 states, "Using the forearms as a point of support on the handlebar is prohibited except in time trials..."

That rule was introduced in 2021 as part of safety reforms, and has caught out several riders, including Marianne Vos, who was disqualified from the PostNord Vårgårda WestSweden Road Race in 2022 for a violation.

Segaert could be seen in a low, aerodynamic position with his hands near the hoods, but with his forearms seeming to be in contact with the tops of the handlebars, which could be considered a rule violation.

The UCI technical guide states: "The rider shall normally assume a sitting position on the bicycle. This position requires that the only points of support are the following: the feet on the pedals, the hands on the handlebars and the seat on the saddle."

Segaert kept his result thanks to some leeway in the rules that define the penalty as a "CHF 500 fine, 15 points from UCI rankings and elimination or disqualification and/or yellow card". The yellow card puts him at risk of a suspension if he were to get three yellow cards in a 30-day period.

The UCI has issued 34 yellow cards so far in 2026 and 304 since formally rolling out the system at the start of 2025.

So far, the only rider to receive a suspension for multiple yellow cards was Oscar Riesebeek, who received two during the Baloise Belgium Tour in 2025, leading to a seven-day ban.

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The introduction of mandatory GPS rider safety tracking to improve race safety has taken a step forward after last year's dispute over data ownership, with UCI President David Lappartient writing to teams, riders and race organisers to request "concrete proposals" and collaboration on which technology and systems should be used.

Domestique first published Lappartient's letter to teams, riders and race organisers. Cyclingnews has also obtained the letter.

The need for a GPS tracking system to improve rider safety was tragically highlighted by the death of Muriel Furrer at the World Championships in Zürich in 2024. She went off the road, but her serious crash was not seen, and so no immediate emergency treatment took place.

GPS tracking systems are already used in other sports and can detect a rider's sudden deceleration or deviation, which may indicate a crash. A monitoring platform or dashboard can then locate the athlete and the nearest race officials and medical teams.

In his letter, Lappartient pointed out that "the risk of a rider going off course unseen being a fundamental danger to the safety of our riders."

He made clear that GPS tracking in pro racing will "become mandatory and phased in across event classes."

The SafeR group, which includes all the sport's stakeholders, has been trying to implement a GPS rider safety tracking system, and the UCI worked with Swiss Timing at their World Championships in Rwanda.

Five major teams opposed using GPS devices during the women's Tour de Romandie as a test event last summer, after a fallout about data ownership and use. The UCI disqualified Lidl-Trek, Visma-Lease a Bike, Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto, EF Education-Oatly and Picnic-PostNL from the race, but the teams have appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

Lappartient went so far as to suggest that the teams were trying to "blackmail" the UCI through their actions. The spat worsened relationships between some major teams and the UCI, as did the UCI-driven SafeR decision to allocate funds to fight a legal battle with component brand SRAM over its gear limit case.

Lappartient has insisted that the UCI does not want to control or commercialise the rider/team data from GPS data devices, as Velon currently does on behalf of the teams. Some teams do not trust the UCI and oppose race organisers having a say in GPS rider safety-tracking systems.

Following recent discussions at several Pro Cycling Council meetings and talks at the UCI WorldTour Congress during the winter, the UCI appears to have adopted a more open stance on which GPS-based rider safety tracking system to develop and use.

Lappartient highlighted several times that the creation and implementation of a GPS tracking system is a safety matter, but insisted the UCI should ultimately define which system should be used.

Addressing potential concerns, Lappartient clarified in his letter: "As mentioned on several occasions, the UCI does not seek to impose a specific system."

"We are striving for the best solution to be found in collaboration with the stakeholders and within the best possible timeframe."

"Stakeholders can work on the development of a system or tool with the provider of their choice (organisers, teams, riders); UCI's role shall be to define specifications and protocols for the use of such systems."

However, he warned: "If a reasonable and satisfactory solution is not accepted by all stakeholders in the context of our upcoming discussions, the UCI will have no option but to enforce effective GPS tracking for the safety of the riders as shall be deemed most appropriate."

Lappartient wrote in his letter, "This discussion concerns only the GPS tracking for safety and race management (speed + position), mode and purpose of other data capturing and exploitation is not concerned by this discussion; Stakeholders are invited to collaborate in the interest of the sport by identifying potential synergies, and economies of scale to manage costs and human resources."

One stakeholder source who spoke to Cyclingnews compared the use of different GPS rider safety-tracking devices to teams using different team radio devices. A common platform could then be used to manage and monitor the data, with clear agreements about data ownership.

Lappartient ended his letter and diplomatic tone by saying: "I trust the above gives clarity on the next steps towards a necessary improvement to safety in professional road cycling."

He asked for stakeholder feedback by 30 April 2026, which will allow a detailed discussion during the 21 May 2026 Professional Cycling Council.

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Portuguese Continental squad Feirense-Beeceler have been suspended from racing for 22 days after three of the team's riders committed Biological Passport violations during the 2022 and 2023 seasons.

The International Testing Agency (ITA) announced the decision on Friday, with the UCI Disciplinary Commission issuing the suspension.

In accordance with Article 11.3 of the UCI's anti-doping rules, the team will be banned for a period of 22 days from March 22 to April 12. The news comes the same week as another team suspension after the Colombian team Medellin-EPM was recently handed a 30-day ban in the wake of two Biological Passport cases.

Three riders on Feirense-Beeceler have recently returned Biological Passport anti-doping rule violations – Venceslau Fernandes, Barry Frederik Miller, and Antonio Carvalho Ferreira.

Fernandes was handed a six-year racing ban after returning with unexplained abnormalities in his Biological Passport when he raced for the team in 2022. The Portuguese Anti-Doping Agency (ADOP) notified him of the anti-doping rule violation on November 7, 2024, and his ban runs from that date.

Miller's Biological Passport issues date to February 2023. He was notified on September 18, 2025. His case is still ongoing with ADOP.

Carvalho Ferreira's Biological Passport abnormalities also date to February 2023. He was notified of the anti-doping rule violation by the UCI on November 4, 2025 and was later handed a four-year ban from racing, running from the same date.

"The UCI Disciplinary Commission’s decision may be challenged before the appeals division of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) by the Team or the UCI in accordance with Article 11.3.2 of the UCI anti-doping rules," the ITA stated.

Feirense-Beeceler join fellow Portuguese squad APHotels & Resorts-Tavira-SC Farense in receiving a suspension following multiple Biological Passport cases. Tavira were banned for 20 days last October.

Other teams to have received similar bans in recent years include Androni Giocattoli in 2015, Bardiani CSF in 2017, and Vini Zabù in 2021.

Colombian Continental team Medellin-EPM have been suspended from racing for 30 days after the team's riders were found to have committed two anti-doping rule violations within the same 12-month period.

The International Testing Agency (ITA) announced the decision on Tuesday, with the UCI Disciplinary Commission issuing the suspension.

As a result, the team will be out of action for 30 days from March 27, 2026, until April 25, 2026, in accordance with article 11.3 of the UCI's anti-doping rules.

The ban follows two riders on the team, Colombian racers Aldemar Reyes and Fabio Duarte, returning abnormalities in their Biological Passports during the 2025 season.

"On 10 June 2025, the Colombian rider Aldemar Reyes Ortega was notified by the National Anti-Doping Organisation of Colombia (Coldeportes) of an asserted ADRV, due to unexplained abnormalities in his ABP in the period around February and August 2023," the ITA announced.

"Then, on 21 August 2025, the Colombian rider Fabio Andres Duarte Arevalo was notified by the Coldeportes of an ADRV, due to unexplained abnormalities in his ABP, also in February 2023, as well as between July and December 2024 and in January 2025."

The team, which this year includes 49-year-old Oscar Sevilla and former QuickStep sprinter Alvaro Hodeg, can challenge the decision at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

Otherwise, they will miss races including the Tour of Hainan, where Sevilla scored a top-10 placing last April.

Previous teams to have received a 30-day ban from racing following two anti-doping rule violations include Italian squads Androni Giocattoli in 2015, Bardiani CSF in 2017, Vini Zabù in 2021, and Portuguese squad Tavira last year.

Raced at high speeds with only a helmet and some lycra for protection, cycling is a dangerous sport where split-second crashes can have dramatic consequences in the form of injuries and fractures that can rule riders out for weeks or months.

Given crashes are, unfortunately, part of racing and training that means every team in the peloton has a list of injured riders to look after at some point during the season. Plus, even though rider safety has been an increasingly prominent topic in recent years, the number of crashes so far in 2026 points to the issue still being as present as ever.

Right from the beginning of the season, there have been constant reminders, with a kangaroo among the peloton at the men's Tour Down Under contributing tough opening months for riders like Jhonatan Narváez and fellow UAE team Emirates-XRG rider Jay Vine. The flow of fractures and injuries then continued, right through to the Giro d'Italia and, more recently, the Tour de Suisse, where Urška Žigart (AG Insurance-Soudal) fractured her jaw.

A number of riders have had to concede that their Tour de France ambitions were over before the racing even began, including Žigart, Cat Ferguson (Movistar) – who crashed at the Giro d'Italia – and Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike), who ended up with an infection after injuring an elbow.

We've compiled all currently injured riders in one place with a log of their injuries, as well as the race and date they were sustained, which we'll update periodically. Some riders listed here may have recovered from their injuries, but are yet to return to racing.

Here's the rundown of all the ongoing injuries keeping riders out of racing at the WorldTour, Women's WorldTour and ProTeam levels.

Injuries in the men's peloton

Bahrain Victorious

• Daniel Skerl – Fractured collarbone, Scheldeprijs (Apr 8)

Caja Rural-Seguros RGA

• Eduard Prades - Right tibia fracture, Tour of Slovenia (Jun 18)

Cofidis

• Oliver Knight – Spinal decompression surgery (Jun)
• Damien Touzé – Ruptured spleen, abdominal trauma, fractured femur, Tour of Oman (Feb 10)

Decathlon CMA CGM

• Gianluca Pollefliet - Elbow injury, La Route d'Occitanie (Jun 18)

EF Education-EasyPost

• Kasper Asgreen - Fractured collarbone, 4 Jours de Dunkerque (May 22)
• Harry Sweeny - Knee operation to remove inflamed plica (April)
• Neilson Powless – Knee injury (Feb 25)

Jayco-AlUla

• Andrea Vendrame - Fractures to three transverse processes in lower back, Giro d'Italia (May 10)
• Luka Mezgec – Fractured ribs, Scheldeprijs (Apr 8)
• Amaury Capiot – Fractured collarbone and hip, Ronde van Brugge (Mar 25)

Lidl-Trek

• Harry Hudson - Fractured vertebra, training crash with motorbike (May)
• Albert Withen Philipsen - Head injury, training crash (May)

Lotto-Intermarché

• Milan Menten - concussion and shoulder injury, Tour de Wallonie (Jun 4)

Modern Adventure Pro Cycling

• Lucas Towers - Lower leg fracture, Tour of Slovenia (Jun 18)

Netcompany Ineos

• Josh Tarling - Broken collarbone, Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (Jun 12)
• Oscar Onley - Shoulder injury, Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (Jun 12)
• Kim Heiduk - Fractured collarbone, Tour de Wallonie (Jun 6)

NSN

• Guillaume Boivin – Fractured left scapular, Baloise Belgium Tour (Jun 21)
• Krists Neilands - Concussion, Baloise Belgium Tour (Jun 21)
• Stevie Williams – Quadriceps tendinopathy (Jun 17, 2025)

Picnic-PostNL

• Matt Dinham - Overuse injury in lower leg, Tour de Suisse (Jun 17)
• Timo de Jong – Fall aggravated previously fractured wrist, Giro d'Italia (May 13)

Pinarello-Q36.5

• Fabio Christen – Fractured collarbone, Giro d'Italia (May 16)

UAE Team Emirates-XRG

• Jay Vine - Fractured elbow and concussion, Giro d'Italia (May 9)
• Marc Soler - Fractured pelvis, Giro d'Italia (May 9)

UNO-X Mobility

• Erlend Blikra - Fractured ribs and three fractures in lower back, Giro d'Italia stage 1 crash but rode on to stage 11 (May 8)

Visma-Lease a Bike

• Wout van Aert - Infection following elbow injury in training (Jun)
• Anton Schiffer - Fractured collarbone, training (Jun)
• Christophe Laporte - Quadricep tear, training (May)
• Niklas Behrens – Heart surgery (Mar 13)

No team

• Chris Froome – Pericardial rupture, fractured ribs, collapsed long, vertebrae fracture, training crash (Aug 27, 2025)

Injuries in the women's peloton

Injuries per team in the women's peloton.

AG Insurance-Soudal

• Urška Žigart - Fractured jaw, Tour de Suisse (Jun 19)
• Sarah Gigante - Surgery to relieve ongoing issue after broken femur in 2025 (Jun)

Canyon-SRAM

• Neve Bradbury – Iliac endofibrosis surgery (Mid-May)

EF Education-Oatly

• Noemi Rüegg - Fractured shoulder, Vuelta Femenina (May 4)

FDJ United-SUEZ

• Lauren Dickson - Broken collarbone, Tour de Suisse (Jun 20)

Fenix-Premier Tech

• Aniek van Alphen - Fractured collarbone, Vuelta a Burgos Feminas (May 23)

Human Powered Health

• Petra Stiasny – Fractured jaw, ear and shoulder injuries, training (May)

Movistar

• Cat Ferguson - Concussion and two ankle fractures, Giro d'Italia (May 30)

Picnic PostNL

• Eleonora Ciabocco - Broken bones, Vuelta Femenina (May 4)
• Dilyxine Miermont - Multiple fractures including elbow, pubic and cervical, training (April)

Uno-X Mobility

• Kamilla Aasebø – Fractures to jaw and elbow, Paris-Roubaix (Apr 12)

Following the publication of our recent lab test into whether wheel depth actually has a tangible impact on speed, the UCI spoke exclusively with Cyclingnews, offering yet more clarification on the controversial maximum wheel depth rule that drew criticism from wheel brand, Swiss Side following its rollout.

The rules and the subsequent clarification of the rules that the UCI put out only outlined speed as a factor for safety.

“These changes are part of an overall approach aimed at ensuring ever safer and fairer competition conditions, in a context marked by rapid technological advances and a significant increase in racing speeds that could have an impact on rider safety," read a statement that also covered other rule changes, including handlebar width.

No further reasoning was given for limiting rim depth to a maximum of 65mm, though Swiss Side’s rebuttal to the ruling focused heavily on wheel stability. With this discrepancy in mind, it raised the question as to whether speed was the only factor considered, as our testing shows that increasing wheel depth does very little to affect velocity, to which the UCI responded:

“Wheel behaviour is governed by complex physical and aerodynamic phenomena that influence stability, steering and speed. Speed is indeed a contributing factor in the severity of injuries in the event of a crash; it therefore forms part - but not the entirety - of the criteria considered when introducing new regulations.

"The UCI does not address safety through a single isolated rule, but through a broader and coherent framework, of which equipment regulation is one component.”

It seems, therefore, that while speed was all that was communicated to the public, it was certainly not the only consideration. The governing body then goes on to clarify:

“There is a substantial body of scientific evidence demonstrating that increasing rim depth systematically leads to higher lateral forces, greater steering moments and increased sensitivity to gusts under crosswind conditions, particularly at higher yaw angles.

"Numerical and experimental studies show that deeper rims result in higher lateral force coefficients and increased steering moments under yawed flow. The front wheel is especially critical in this regard, as it directly governs steering, is the first exposed surface and concentrates the induced destabilising moment.

"While deeper rims may provide aerodynamic drag benefits at low yaw angles, these advantages diminish as yaw increases, whereas destabilising moments continue to rise. Under crosswind conditions, deeper rims increase the rotating surface exposed to asymmetric flow, further contributing to steering moments and instability.”

By our reading of this, it appears that speed was only a minor factor in the safety debate regarding equipment regulations, with wheel stability taking precedence. This begs the question: why was this not communicated at the time? Furthermore, it casts doubt on the other equipment regulations included in the 2026 suite, including bar width and gear restrictions.

Cyclingnews approached the UCI for further clarification as to the initial justification of the ruling, and was provided the following response:

"Please be advised that, as for all UCI regulations, the UCI analyses a wide range of characteristics and the potential impacts of any changes, as well as possible collateral effects. In this case, speed was one of several factors considered, alongside others such as stability, drive, control, dynamics, injury risk, comfort, mechanical cost etc.

"The detailed rationale underpinning each regulatory decision is however not published in full in UCI press releases, but further information and clarification may be provided upon request."

Analysis

It must be said at this point that, as a general rule (from our own riding experience at least) that deeper wheels are harder to handle in gusty conditions.

It’s not the case that every wheel with a depth greater than 65mm is less stable than every wheel with a depth shallower than 65mm, but the UCI must come up with rulings that are not only grounded in sound reasoning, but also enforceable. Basing a ruling around steering forces would be practically impossible to enforce, whereas a 65mm rim can be checked with nought but a ruler.

Safety regulations are key to a sport that is often inherently incredibly dangerous, as evidenced by the litany of injury stories on the pages of Cyclingnews, but proper communication of the reasoning behind said regulations is key for them to receive buy-in from all stakeholders and actually have the desired effect.

Climate researchers in France have suggested that rising temperatures during the summer could negatively impact the riders of the Tour de France more often, according to a report published in the scientific journal Nature on Tuesday.

According to the report by researchers at the National Research Institute for Sustainable Development at the University of Montpellier, the Tour de France has managed to avoid some of the worst of France's hot weather, but they warn that more frequent and higher peak summer temperatures will create health dangers for the race and its spectators.

"In our analysis, we observe that the city of Paris, for example, has crossed the high-risk threshold for heat on five occasions in July, four of them since 2014," lead author Ivana Cvijanovic said in a press release.

"Other cities have experienced many days of extreme heat in July, but thankfully not on the date of a Tour de France stage."

My first experience with seeing a rider on the ground receiving emergency medical care because of heat stroke was at the Tour of California stage in Palm Springs in 2013. The high temperature was 108°F (42°C), and a QuickStep rider collapsed after the mountaintop finish, with medics packing ice around his neck and torso to stop him from overheating. It was terrifying.

Even the riders who were upright were miserable, ice towels and cold water aside. One has to wonder why races go on during the heat of the day. Yes, logistics would be tough for transferring equipment and setting up the start and finish infrastructure, riders would have to get breakfast earlier, and the race wouldn't be on during prime time TV. But if the weather gets to the point where athletes and spectators can't survive the stage intact, then maybe it's time to reconsider other ideas.

The UCI enacted the Extreme Weather Protocol in 2015, using the same measures as the authors of the study, but it has rarely been employed for high heat.

In 2022, the protocol was put into place for the Tour de France stage 15, a brutal 202.5 kilometre slog across melting tarmac from Rodez to Carcassonne when forecasts called for ambient temperatures of up to 40°C (104°F). The only changes made were opening up feeding earlier and extending the time limit, however.

While there have been numerous stages since where riders were coping with heat with ice socks and dousing themselves with cold water, there haven't been stage cancellations due to heat, at least not at the Tour, but it's only a matter of time before it becomes necessary.

"In a way, we can say that it is an extremely fortunate race, but with record-breaking heat waves becoming more frequent, it is only a matter of time before the Tour encounters extreme heat stress day that will test existing safety protocols," Cvijanovic said.

Cvijanovic's team studied the Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT - a measure of ambient air temperature, relative humidity, solar radiation and wind) at various times of day in July across six different locations in France from 1974 to 2023.

They found that in five of six regions, the highest historical WBGT at 3 p.m. has been measured since 2018, and days of 'high heat stress' (in alignment with the UCI's threshold for the Extreme Weather Protocol) have been more frequent and severe in recent decades.

Additionally, in areas that frequently host Tour de France stages, such as Toulouse, Pau, Bordeaux, Perpignan and Nîmes, have a history of high heat stress episodes", the authors write.

"New heat stress hotspots are emerging, with locations like Paris and areas across central France starting to cross the UCI's high-risk WBGT threshold of 28°C more commonly.

"Morning hours are the safest part of the day, while high heat stress can persist during most of the afternoon," they added. "Planning the race for the morning hours and avoiding the afternoons could substantially increase rider and spectator safety. Mountain locations largely remain within low-risk and moderate low-risk WBGT values throughout the day (for now)."

While most professional cyclists are acclimated to high exertion in the heat of summer, the conditions can become dangerous when the air temperatures rise above body temperature. At that level, riders or spectators can no longer cool themselves down through sweating, which can lead to elevated core temperatures and lead to heat exhaustion or heat stroke, which can be fatal.

In 2024, Mark Cavendish suffered from what may have been heat stroke during stage 1 of the Tour de France in Tuscany, and Antonio Tiberi dropped out of the Vuelta a España on stage 9 with what his team described as heat stroke the same year.

If climate research is accurate, high heat is coming for the Tour de France, sooner or later, and the authors (and I) think it's time to consider tearing up the script and moving the race to earlier in the day.

When the stages start around 12 p.m. and finish around 5 p.m., it means the riders have been racing through the hottest part of the day for most of the stage. Moving the start to 9 a.m. would greatly reduce that.

"We reiterate all of these and specifically, for future Tour de France editions, recommend continued development and re-evaluation of hot weather emergency protocols," the authors added.

They also recommend measuring riders' core body temperatures and "education of riders and their supporting teams, as well as spectators, about heat safety and the signs of heat-related illness."

CPA president Adam Hansen has underlined the importance of unity as he defended the riders union's decision to help fund the UCI's legal proceedings in the battle with SRAM over gearing restrictions.

Cyclingnews revealed on Friday that the UCI is set to take €300,000 from the budget of the SafeR safety group in order to appeal against the 2025 court verdict that saw SRAM effectively halt the UCI's plans for a Maximum Gear Ratio Standard in pro races.

SafeR is funded by multiple stakeholders, including the professional cycling teams association (AIGCP), many of which use SRAM components and effectively now funding litigation against their own sponsor.

The AIGCP opposed the plan to ring-fence the SafeR money for the UCI's legal fees, but they were outvoted by the UCI, the race organisers association (AIOCC), and the CPA.

"No one enjoys seeing money spent on lawyers. That is obvious. This issue is about unity and working together," Hansen, who has headed up the CPA since 2013, said in a statement to Cyclingnews.

Hansen made the argument that all SafeR stakeholders approved the UCI's plans to test gearing restrictions at last year's Tour of Guangxi – a trial that was ultimately blocked by SRAM, which lodged anti-trust proceedings with the Belgian Competition Authority.

"The gear restriction test at the Tour of Guangxi was meant to be a simple test, so SafeR could have rider feedback just like every other test SafeR has conducted. As everyone in SafeR agreed to do this test, including the teams via the AIGCP, it's only natural that the SafeR funds now be used for the legal action," Hansen said.

"We can't risk having a situation in the future where SafeR reaches an agreement on a test or an action to improve safety and then the UCI doesn't take action because someone has taken legal action against them."

Support for gearing restrictions in the pro peloton is mixed at best. Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) was a prominent voice in suggesting such measures could help reduce race speeds and therefore safety, but many are against the idea – "limiting gears will only make everything more dangerous," said Tom Pidcock (Pinarello-Q36.5) last year.

Safety has been at the top of the agenda of the CPA since Hansen became president in 2013, and great strides have been made, including the establishment of SafeR. However, the CPA's support for safety funds to be diverted towards legal proceedings against an equipment supplier of many of its membership base has raised question marks.

Hansen's argument is that a spirit of unity has fuelled the safety progress so far and must continue.

"SafeR is powerful and can improve safety when the four stakeholders agree on a strategy and safety initiatives. When the stakeholders work together, we can all make different suggestions and we accept suggestions from other stakeholders," he said.

"Sometimes one stakeholder didn't like another stakeholders idea but we worked together for the good of the sport. That is the best way forward to improve safety.

"The gear limitation test was no different. If every stakeholder doesn't back the UCI now, with the legal action, then why would they listen to the CPA and other SafeR stakeholders at any point in the future?"

Airbags are one step closer to blowing up in the pro peloton, with the UCI launching a consultation surrounding the use of the wearable safety tech.

There are already working products that can attach to cycling clothing, most notably bib short straps that sit on the spine, and rapidly inflate in the event of a crash.

With safety high up the UCI's agenda in recent years, the sport's governing body is keen to see the technology developed to a point where it can be widely used in professional road racing.

Following its most recent Management Committee meeting, the UCI has invited 'expressions of interest' from relevant parties in order to form working groups later this year.

"Already in contact with several players in the sector, the UCI now wishes to broaden the initiative to the greatest number possible of manufacturers and institutes working on the development of airbags and technical apparel for cyclists," read a statement from the UCI.

"The objectives of this initiative are as follows...

• regarding airbag systems: to define a clear framework and appropriate standards to enable the development and integration of such devices into cycling (in competition and training);
• regarding technical apparel: to study the integration of airbag solutions into clothing and to identify ways to further strengthen the protection offered by textiles.

See also | Wearable airbag technology could be coming to the pro peloton soon – Here's why its creators think it could be a game changer

The UCI has opened a public form for parties to have their input.

In the future, the UCI will need to "develop a regulatory framework" to govern the use of the equipment in races, but first of all it simply needs to "analyse the relevance of this equipment across the different disciplines".

Pro cycling has not always been so quick to adopt technology that makes riders safer, certainly compared to technology that makes riders faster.

The use of airbags, adding potential penalties in terms of weight, aerodynamics, and comfort, might not seem like an instant fit for the sport right now.

But the safety benefits may become too great to ignore, and safety is certainly high on the political agenda of the UCI, which recently set up the multi-stakeholder SafeR project.

In terms of tone, UCI appears keen to see airbags become the newest part of the safety puzzle, voicing a desire to "encourage coherent development of protective equipment that meets the needs of riders and teams, and is in line with the industrial realities faced by manufacturers".

The initial consultation will run through March 15, after which various working groups will be mapped out for the rest of the year.

Organisers of the Tour du Rwanda have confirmed in a public statement that two spectators were killed and six more were injured after a caravan vehicle veered off course into the crowd during the opening stage on Sunday.

"The Management of the Tour du Rwanda regrets to inform the public of an accident that occurred today during Stage 1 in the Gabiro area, where a caravan vehicle veered off the road and hit several spectators," the event organisers released a public notice.

"Sadly, two people lost their lives and six others were injured. The injured are receiving care, and we are closely following their condition."

The organisers also confirmed that authorities have launched an investigation into the incident. "The Rwanda National Police has launched investigations into the cause," the statement read.

The opening stage of the Tour du Rwanda ran 173.6km from Rukomo to Rwamagana, and was won by Itamar Einhorn (NSN Cycling). The incident occurred roughly 100km into the race, between the intermediate sprints in Nyagatare and Kabarore.

"We extend our sincere condolences to the families affected and remain committed to public safety."

Following the stage, NSN Cycling Team expressed their condolences to the families of those involved in the incident.

"We send our condolences to everyone affected by today's events at the Tour du Rwanda. Our thoughts are with the friends and families of those impacted by this tragedy."

Rwanda's Minister of Sports, Nelly Mukazayire, also expressed her condolences in a public statement, "This is a very sad moment for Tour du Rwanda. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the victims and we wish quick recovery to the injured," she wrote.

"This accident reminds us of the importance of road safety and always remain vigilant whether driving or cheering on the riders along the race. We wish good luck to all the teams and riders and look forward to a safe and successful Tour du Rwanda."

"I wish to express my profound sadness over the tragic accident that occurred during the opening stage of the Tour du Rwanda," Mohammed Bashir, member of the Management Committee of the CAC (Confederation of African Cycling), said in a statement sent to Cyclingnews.

"May the souls of the two individuals who lost their lives rest in perfect peace. I also wish those who were injured a swift and complete recovery.

"My heartfelt sympathy and sincere condolences go to the families of the deceased and the injured, as well as to the Rwanda Cycling Federation during this very difficult time. May strength and comfort be granted to all affected."