The UCI Road World Championships always brings a host of announcements from the governing body, whether they be locations of coming championships, calendar announcements or new technical regulations.

This year’s Montreal championships are no different, the governing body announcing changes in its approach to technical regulations and a review of the Lugano Charter, the 30-year-old document governing the fundamentals of bikes and kit used in racing.

There have long been complaints that the Charter has failed to keep pace with technical advances and, though no details are yet known, changes to the Lugano Charter could open the way for major changes to the bikes ridden in UCI sanctioned races.

Established in 1996, the Charter was intended to standardise equipment and to ensure the rider remained the most important component, not the machine. Some of the regulations stemming from the charter include the double triangle shape of a racing bike and the 6.8kg minimum weight limit for road bikes, so controversially breached by Lorena Wiebes during the opening stage of the Giro d’Italia Women this year.

"Thirty years after its adoption, given the evolution of practices, societal issues and safety requirements, it had become necessary to undertake a review of its content," the UCI said of the Charter review.

The UCI has promised the process will be managed to "Avoid any excesses which would compromise safety, fairness, universality or sustainability," and is to consult with industry stakeholders on equipment regulation.

Xavier Disley, the founder of components brand AeroCoach, sits on the World Federation of the Sporting Goods Industry and has welcomed the proposals.

"The fact they’re willing to revisit the Lugano charter (and the rules that have stemmed from that) is very welcome news," Disley told Cyclingnews. "Technology is ever changing in unpredictable ways and it’s perfectly natural for regulations to change and be updated accordingly.

"Even a small change, like the seat stay dimension box or top tube box, would result in the ability to design very different looking, and different performing frames, for example. There is the other side of it, however, the recent trend of wider forks, seat stays - is this something that a new charter would look to limit further? As that’s what we’ve seen with updates to internal dimensions in those areas, so it would be odd to then relax them back again.

"We could also have a scenario where track is split out from road and TT, creating more room for manoeuvre in terms of design rather than having to fall under the same restrictions for the frame."

As part of its wider approach to equipment regulation, the UCI will establish a "new framework for consultation with cycling industry stakeholders on equipment regulation." This framework will include a number of Technical Committees, each of which will be dedicated to specific areas, including clothing, protective equipment, wheels and tyres, and frames.

These consultative groups are potentially a major step forward given that some manufacturers have accused the governing body of a lack of consultation. Last year wheel brand Swiss Side called for a science-based approach to regulations after the introduction of limits on wheel rim depth came into force at the start of 2026.

And consultation might have prevented the legal battle between the UCI and SRAM following the proposed introduction of regulations governing gear ratios. That regulation was designed to reduce racing speeds and improve safety by setting an upper limit on the size of gear that racers can use, but by proxy, it effectively banned the American company’s drivetrain due to its use of a smaller 10-tooth cog at the rear cassette.

The UCI says a draft of the updated Lugano Charter will will be made available early next year ahead of consultation with interested parties, including manufacturers, and the finalised Charter will be published later in 2027.

Subscribe to Cyclingnews for comprehensive race coverage of both the UCI Road and Gravel World Championships, alongside the final monument of the season, Il Lombardia. Subscribers get unlimited access to exclusive analysis from our expert columnists, in-depth features and industry-leading tech insight. Plus, the Cyclingnews app lets you follow the action wherever you go! Join today.

During the UCI's annual Congress at the UCI Road World Championships in Montreal on Wednesday, Medical Director Xavier Bigard presented the results of a survey of the causes of crashes in the men's and women's WorldTour pelotons, and pointed to some alarming differences between the injuries suffered.

The survey began with Paris-Nice this year, and sought to find the incidence and type of injuries being sustained, correlate the causes of crashes with the severity of injury and, as a result of the analysis, identify risk factors with the aim of finding preventative measures.

The study examined 21 men's races (90 days) and 14 women's events (37 days) or 12,951 men's rider-race days and 4,381 women's rider-race days

"The main takeaway from this slide, which shows crash incidence rates, is that crashes occurring in women's races involve more riders than in men's races," Bigard said during his presentation, pointing to a slide that showed that in the women's peloton, crashes involved an average of 4.7 riders compared with 2.7 for men.

"The second finding is that during these crashes, the number of medical interventions is consistently higher in women's races than in men's."

Speaking afterward to Cyclingnews, Bigard clarified, "What is important to know is these are only preliminary data, explaining that an 'incident' is a crash or fall, whether or not there was an injury.

"What is most important is the rate of incidents and the rate of injuries. The rate of incidents was approximately 1.3 times higher in women compared with men," he explained.

"Another important piece of information: for one fall or incident, we have more riders involved in women's races in comparison with men's races. That is an important finding.

"Then we look at incidents with medical attention or medical intervention - we have incidents, and then incidents with medical contact - the rate is 1.5 times higher in women compared with men.

"And the last piece of information is true injuries - where there is tissue damage, skin abrasion, concussion, fracture, and so on. The rate of injuries is 1.55 times higher in women.

"To my knowledge, these are clearly the most important pieces of information. After that, the other data concern the type and severity of injuries in women compared with men."

While men's crashes, like the one that took Tadej Pogačar out of this year's World Championships, giving him a concussion, fractured vertebra and collarbone, earn plenty of attention from the world's media, women are being injured more frequently and more seriously.

Delving deeper into the data, Bigard highlighted an increased level of seriousness of the crashes in the women's peloton.

"When comparing the differences in the type and severity of these injuries, we observe that there are 4.3 times more head-level injuries occurring in women compared to men; 2.3 times more concussions in women compared to men; and nearly 3 times more severe skin lesions in women than in men," Bigard said during his presentation.

"Furthermore ... there are approximately 2.5 times more fractures occurring in women compared to men.

"The main hypothesis ... is an alteration of bone health. For me, yes - we are not certain, of course, but this is a clear hypothesis. This is related to hormonal alterations, a decrease in energy availability, and it is also specific to cycling because cycling is not a weight-bearing sport.

"We know that ground impacts are essential to improve bone health, which isn't the case in cycling. While that's observed in both men and women, why we have more fractures in women can be explained, at least partly, by hormonal alterations."

Why women are crashing more is still to be determined. Bigard suggested there was too much heterogeneity in skill level in the women's WorldTour compared to the men's.

There could be other factors, too, like differences in stability between men's and women's bike designs. Currently height, weight, and frame geometry are not part of the dataset.

The study looked at conditions: wind, rain, whether the incident was near the end of a race, and rider's experience, and there was no strong correlation with any factor in the women's field.

"We attempted to identify a certain number of contributing factors behind these crashes, particularly severe crashes where injuries can be expected.

"Among men, we found only a single contributing factor: the number of riders involved in a crash. Under these circumstances, medical intervention is more frequent, and there are more injuries than in other situations.

"We also found, paradoxically though explainable, a trend among men to have fewer crashes and fewer injuries when it rains, in wet conditions. This can obviously be easily explained [by riders being more cautious] even if the result might seem paradoxical. Among women, we were unable to identify any contributing or protective factors regarding crash and injury risks."

Both genders had a highest risk for crashing on descents, however.

"In a very reproducible manner across both men and women, we found that crashes occurring on descents were the most severe, requiring medical intervention and resulting in injuries - which once again highlights how speed can be a major injury factor in road racing."

Bigard continued with presenting the financial impact of crashes, showing that men and women lost a similar number of training days, while women lost more racing days, although what was presented was not normalised.

"We estimated that among women, overall injuries could be valued at a financial budget deficit of €891,000, and approximately €2.3 million for men. This is obviously a result that should carry weight with the teams.

"In conclusion, we face significant difficulty in identifying contributing factors causing these crashes, at least to date based on the collected data."

Subscribe to Cyclingnews for comprehensive race coverage of both the UCI Road and Gravel World Championships, alongside the final monument of the season, Il Lombardia. Subscribers get unlimited access to exclusive analysis from our expert columnists, in-depth features and industry-leading tech insight. Plus, the Cyclingnews app lets you follow the action wherever you go! Join today.

It has been 725 days since Swiss junior rider Muriel Furrer died after crashing during her home 2024 UCI Road World Championships, having been unattended for a full 82 minutes because she was hidden in the brush. It has been 40 days since Finlay Tarling was killed when a van drove onto the course at the Volta a Portugal and hit him head-on. Pro cycling, as a workplace, has a massive safety problem.

A simple system of tracking riders using global positioning system (GPS) units might have prevented Furrer's death, but the only tracking system in use at the time was in the men's WorldTour for the commercialisation of rider power, speed and heart rate data.

After the tragedy, the UCI acknowledged the pressing need for a better safety net, and implemented their own tracking system in the World Championships in Rwanda last year.

It was anticipated that the UCI would introduce new regulations for GPS tracking at the Management Committee meeting in Montreal this week, but on Wednesday, the post-meeting announcement reiterated the pending nature, stating "The protocols, the relevant regulatory framework and the implementation timeline will be developed as quickly as possible."

For the President of the main riders' union (the CPA), Adam Hansen, more widespread tracking of riders cannot come soon enough, but there is a distinct lack of unity among teams on the details.

"It seems like it's becoming more important every day, especially after Finlay Tarling," Hansen tells Cyclingnews.

"Trackers would have avoided this because trackers will see when riders have no protection. For example, in his scenario, he was riding without a police motorbike or any organiser in front of him.

"If this had been seen on a screen that there was no police bike, this could have been very quickly relayed to the race regulator [who could have announced] 'Rider 81, three minutes back, no protection, send someone there.'"

The UCI has practically begged stakeholders to come to an agreement on a tracking system. In March, the UCI sent a letter to stakeholders that emphasised a sense of urgency for implementing GPS tracking.

They sought to reassure stakeholders that they aren't looking to impose any specific system, but would prioritise one "that allows for open access to providing such services". The letter stated: "Stakeholders can work on the development of a system or tool with the provider of their choice (organisers, teams, riders)."

After the death of Tarling, the UCI spent a large part of the Pro Cycling Council (PCC) meeting earlier this month on GPS tracking, and in a statement said that "the UCI stressed the urgent need" to put a tracking system in place in the men's and women's WorldTour, with phrases such as "in the absence of a joint proposal from the different stakeholder groups" and "stakeholders need to move past any disagreements on certain issues and act together" but rather alarmingly: "safety must never be sacrificed for commercial interests".

Why are stakeholders raising any objections to a system everyone agrees is badly needed? What commercial interest is sacrificing rider safety?

(To be clear, objections from teams have not stopped GPS tracking from being used, and the UCI regulations were never going to be agreed upon before this year. When teams pulled out of a trial at the women's Tour de Romandie in 2025, the trial still went ahead. This article highlights the finer points of implementing a tracking system.)

Cyclingnews attempted to speak to Brent Copeland, head of the AIGCP (teams organisation), to better understand the concerns leading to the lack of agreement the UCI mentions, but we were unable to receive comment before the publication of this article.

Hansen gave his perspective from what was discussed in the PCC meetings, which included representatives from the AIGCP, the race organisers' association (AIOCC) and the UCI, but is not a representative of the teams.

There are already at least three different tracking systems in use in the WorldTour: the Tour de France has one for their broadcast and live race centre, but it's only for commercial purposes. Teams obviously don't pay for that. The UCI built another in partnership with Swiss Timing for safety alone last year, and if they impose their system on teams, it might come at a cost to teams.

Then there's the Velon group, a business venture owned by eight men's WorldTour teams who built their entire business model around collecting and monetising live rider data. Those eight teams have invested heavily in developing and evolving their live data system over the course of a decade. In 2025, after the deaths of Gino Mäder and Furrer, Velon developed a safety module, 'SaVe', that sends riders' speed and location to a central monitoring station.

At first, Hansen says, there was a concern from teams that the UCI might try impose their system and then commercialise the data.

"The teams did think this at the start – they thought the UCI was going to monetise this," he says. "But the UCI President said in three PCC meetings that they would never do this; they just want safety trackers on the riders.

"I'm not 100% sure why the teams have not agreed to an open system, because that's what we all agreed we want."

An 'open system' means that the UCI would collect the data from whatever trackers teams use and be the ones keeping tabs on the riders. "It's like radios: every team has different radios, and two riders can have two different radios, but all work on the same frequency. We want the same thing for the GPS trackers, where two different teams having two different GPS trackers send the same information.

"The teams are being a little difficult about this because the Velon teams want to use their system," Hansen says. "We know that Velon wants every team to have their system – that's for sure. How this all started is the teams are very sensitive on who owns the data of the riders, like heart rate, cadence, and all that. Velon offers that, and they monetise this."

Ultimately, though, Hansen points to what he thinks is the reason for the disagreement – the idea of using the UCI's system over Velon's. "I think it's more of a bit of a distaste for the Velon teams that they've invested so much money into one system over the years, and that it can just be quickly replaced by a different system."

In 2025, the Tour de Suisse organisers paid Velon CHF 50,000 (£44,941/$60,965) to implement SaVe for the men's and women's races, and Velon has been expanding their reach this year to cover more men's races. They plan to add women's races next year, too. With the upcoming UCI regulations that will mandate GPS tracking, Velon will have an opportunity to expand further.

Velon CEO Graham Bartlett tells Cyclingnews that they may be charging race organisers for the safety module, but insists they're not out to make a profit off of it.

"The safety module itself was a reasonable amount of CapEx [capital expenditure – ed.] investment to develop that software," Bartlett says. "People think it's easy: 'OK, you can see where the rider is on a map, there you go, safety!' That's not how it works. How do you differentiate between a GPS signal just going off-track a little bit and a rider that's down a ravine? The software has to be really sophisticated to only throw up the right kind of alerts, and that takes time to develop and invest in.

"We've done that. We're not looking to make money out of that at all. If we charge costs to race organisers to use the system, it's to recover some costs of the operating staff on the ground."

When Velon's system is used for safety tracking, Bartlett says they send three or four people to monitor the system and the incoming data, which costs money.

"We have to pay people; we're not going to turn this over to a bunch of volunteers," he said. "The Premier League in the UK launched a monitoring drone system for crowd safety – they are paying somebody else to do it. So we will charge the race organisers for doing this at races, why wouldn't we? We have to pay people. But to the teams, it's free."

(Several teams invest in and fund Velon, but this system would be free to use by all teams in a given race, not just Velon members)

He emphasised that for their safety module, Velon just wants to "get it wide and out there to as many people as possible through the teams".

What Velon stand to lose if the UCI take away their ability to monitor the whole peloton's data for safety is the potential to sell their live data to race organisers. With Velon's GPS trackers already on riders' bikes, organisers might see the value in getting on board with their commercial venture, too.

"We offer a really good business model to race organisers where they actually end up making money out of the fan engagement data," Bartlett says.

"Safety we treat as separate. We're not asking them to repay us for the software investment or start making loads of money on the basis of that. We'd rather focus on making money on the fan engagement stuff, the sports promotion and race promotion, the sponsorships."

While Velon teams can commercialise riders' data, non-Velon teams can also work with the organisation, trading their riders' data for Velon's social media streams, in return for the team cars receiving live in-race data.

"Now, if a race organiser wants to enrich their broadcast or for us to promote their race with data, then yeah, they pay for that service in the same way they pay for a lot of services," Bartlett said.

"That's the essence of the model: free to the teams, free to use, and that's why we can roll it out now to so many more races, because we've got a lot more capacity."

Is the Velon system up to the task for safety?

By the end of this season, SaVe will have been used in 100 days of racing, Bartlett says, and it's been successful in detecting several incidents. Before it was fully implemented, the Velon trackers picked up on Alessio Martinelli's harrowing crash on stage 16 of the 2025 Giro d'Italia, for example.

"We knew exactly where he was," Bartlett said. "So we could pinpoint those coordinates back to their DSs, back to the team [VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè], and tell them that's where he is. The cameras picked him up as well, and there were people by the side of the road, so I'm not claiming any exquisite result in that. It's just an illustration that that's where the information goes, that's what we're using it for. Primarily, it goes back to the teams."

In stage 2 of this year's Giro d'Italia in Albania, the system identified riders who had gone down in a crash and sent that information immediately to the affected riders' teams. Again, on stage 8, when Fabio Christen (Pinarello-Q36.5) crashed and broke his collarbone, Velon's system sent an alert and relayed the information to his team.

However, there is no perfect system when it comes to transmitting live data, as cycling fans around the world have experienced when fog or rain interferes with the television signals on a critical climb and we're all left groaning that we're missing all of the action. That's because big races like the Tour de France use a radio frequency system to send data from the ground to aircraft that can then transmit live data to a central location. Sometimes aircraft cannot fly in certain conditions, or the signal can't get through.

Velon's system uses existing 4G and 5G cellular networks, but if you've ever stood on the side of a mountain in the wilderness, you know there are dead zones.

Hansen suggests that some teams might be concerned about these dead zones with Velon's system. "The UCI was looking into some type of mesh system, where every tracker has long-range WiFi, and they all connect to each other. Then you might have a drone flying over the top [to collect the data and transmit it to a monitor]."

Even if one device goes offline, it can talk to a nearby tracker and that one can relay the first's signal. "Once they go back in range, they can relay that 'Rider disappeared at this location'," Hansen says. "There might be a little delay when there's no service, but they'll definitely get a relay. Where with 4G without the mesh system, you have no idea where that rider went off in that period of time, which could be two minutes – 60kph downhill, that's two kilometres to look for a rider, which is difficult. With the mesh system, you'll know exactly where it is, but you'll find out afterwards exactly where it is.

"There are some teams saying that maybe the Velon system is not good enough, or trackers should have a mesh system. All this is on the table, and we are discussing it. We're just waiting for the teams to get together. From the four stakeholders, the teams are the least united, which is a problem."

Bartlett insists that Velon's system is robust enough.

"We've been doing this a long time, and mesh network... We looked at that a lot over the years, and continue to look at it because you can always improve.

"But for the particular environment of bike racing, trying to mesh 180-odd units together, you generate a level of additional complexity. So the way that we address the problem is buffering. The device will trigger as soon as it loses connection, and it will resend all the data that it stored as soon as it's connected again, which means you can iron out the black spots."

He adds that there aren't as many areas without coverage as most people think, because most mobile phones are dependent on a specific network, while Velon's system can access signal on any available cellular network.

"We have SIM-agnostic eSIMs that will just connect to anything that is available on priority network access, and that means that there's a lot less of what you would consider to be a black spot.

"That being said, there are, because if you go through a tunnel or the wrong side of a mountain with no masts, you can lose signal. But we know in advance where those positions are, so we pre-plan against it and know what we need to do in the software to smooth that out. But any system where you're transmitting any signal, whether it's satellite, RF, LTE, you can lose it at some point. You just have to accept that as a level of tolerance."

Cyclingnews also tried to speak with the UCI's sports strategy manager Matthew Knight about the effectiveness of the UCI tracking system but we were unable to do so before the publication of this article.

Riders feel left out of decision-making

What has become clear in the course of this inquiry is that rights to rider data is a very sticky issue. My colleague Matilda Price asked Michał Kwiatkowski (Netcompany Ineos) at the GP de Montréal about the issue, and he highlighted the confusion.

He agreed that GPS tracking should be implemented, but added, "Who has the rights to actually have those devices? That's a little bit unknown. It would be great to have and share more data with people, but obviously there has to be common sense with actually who is owning it and who is getting the rights and that's a little bit unknown at the minute."

He didn't seem clear that the UCI and Velon are separating safety data from other rider data and that both insist they do not want to monetise safety data. But the Polish rider focused on the distribution of the proceeds from monetising riders' data, which gives a sense there could be a lack of trust that there is not a plan to do so in combination with the safety tracking.

"Between UCI, the race organisers and the teams, it should be a fair split. Safety is one thing, but you can add to it a lot of gains from TV rights etc., so it's a difficult subject."

At the same race, Chris Juul-Jensen (Jayco AlUla) said he felt the riders have not been involved enough. "I suppose if it's a question of sharing your data, then that's always a bit of a touchy subject, depending on who you ask and whatnot. I suppose the diplomatic way of going about it would be to ask the riders first before implementing certain rules, which is not often the case.

"I think the rulemakers [the UCI] would get a lot more done in a positive way, with a positive result, if they actually included riders, because I don't think riders necessarily always just say no to everything, but obviously when you have the feeling that you're not involved in certain decisions, then you feel excluded.

"We've come a long way compared to years ago. There is inclusion, there is a dialogue, Adam Hansen is doing a very good job with the CPA, so I wouldn't as such be against it [GPS tracking] but you'd want to know what it's all about."

Riders are still the ones with their lives on the line, and Hansen was clear that all stakeholders want GPS tracking, but the teams can't agree on a solution.

"The crazy thing is we could all use the World System. It works; there's no reason not to. Velon doesn't want their teams to use it," Hansen says. "OK, then you've got to get your system ready."

Subscribe to Cyclingnews for comprehensive race coverage of both the UCI Road and Gravel World Championships, alongside the final monument of the season, Il Lombardia. Subscribers get unlimited access to exclusive analysis from our expert columnists, in-depth features and industry-leading tech insight. Plus, the Cyclingnews app lets you follow the action wherever you go! Join today.

The Modern Adventure Pro Cycling team issued an update on the serious injuries to their 20-year-old rider Ezra Caudell, who crashed while racing the Philadelphia Cycling Classic on August 30.

According to the team's statement, Caudell has been taken out of an induced coma and, now that he is no longer heavily sedated, is able to "interact, communicate, and recognise those around him", giving his family, friends and team massive relief from eleven days of worrying.

"Eleven days after his crash at the Philadelphia Cycling Classic, Ezra Caudell remains in the ICU at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in critical condition, but he continues to show encouraging signs of progress," the team wrote.

"Ezra remains on ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation), which is providing support while his lungs continue to heal. Yesterday marked an important milestone: he was successfully weaned from deep sedation and taken off the ventilator, allowing his family and medical team a much clearer assessment of his neurologic status."

Caudell was attempting to bridge across to the breakaway along with Lotto-Intermarché's Milan Menten along Kelly Drive and were closing in when Caudell looked behind to see the gap behind and hit an obstacle in the road and crashed, according to reports. According to Menten, Caudell hit a lamppost and was knocked unconscious.

"Ezra sustained significant injuries in the crash, including a concussion and severe chest trauma. While his medical team remains focused on supporting his recovery from these injuries, his progress over the past several days has been encouraging," Modern Adventure said in the update today.

Now that he is no longer heavily sedated, they said, "very much consistent with Ezra’s personality - it wasn’t long after waking that he was making jokes and sending short videos to his teammates.

"His ability to interact, communicate, and recognise those around him has been an especially welcome and encouraging development."

Caudell's friends established a GoFundMe to help support his family, who moved to Germany to support his cycling ambitions and are facing housing and travel expenses in addition to medical expenses for his care. The fund has raised $83,251 of the $100,000 goal as of September 10.

"Ezra’s family remains at his bedside, vigilant and hopeful. He is very much on the minds of his teammates and staff at Modern Adventure Pro Cycling, as well as friends and supporters throughout the cycling community.

"We are deeply grateful for the extraordinary outpouring of support for Ezra and his family, and for the continued respect for their privacy during this difficult time.

"Important milestones still lie ahead. But after an extraordinarily difficult 11 days, there is genuine reason for hope as he begins his road to recovery," the team concluded.

For unbeatable coverage across road, gravel and tech, subscribe to Cyclingnews. You'll get comprehensive race coverage of La Vuelta a España, subscriber-exclusive analysis from our expert columnists, in-depth features and industry-leading tech insight. Plus, the Cyclingnews app lets you follow the action wherever you go! Join today.

Organisers have shortened stage 15 of the Vuelta a España due to extreme heat, which is forecast across Andalucia on Sunday.

The stage was originally slated to cover a 189.7km route between Palma del Rio and Córdoba, including three classified climbs and 3,500m vertical ascent, but with temperatures of 40ºC forecast for the stage, organisers have amended the route. The distance was cut to just 110.2km, and significantly reduced the amount of climbing.

"The decision was taken following the activation of the Extreme Temperatures Protocol," read a statement from the race organisation. "After a meeting involving representatives of the Commissaires’ Panel, the teams, the riders and the Vuelta management, taking into account all the considerations raised by the different parties and the weather conditions forecast for tomorrow’s stage."

Temperatures throughout Europe have been exceptionally high this summer, with a number of races affected by the weather. In July stage 9 of the Tour de France was shortened due to a red heatwave alert, while spectators were not permitted at stage three due to wildfires in the area. Those wildfires also affected the final stage in Paris, with emergency services required to attend rather be available to police the opening kilometres of the race into the French capital.

While it has been hot for the vast majority of the 14 stages of the Vuelta so far, extreme weather of another sort affected stage 3 two weeks ago, with a severe hail storm battering riders who eventually took shelter in a roadside hotel.

With Sunday's stage much shorter than originally planned, it will start later in the day, rolling out at 2:50 p.m. local time and the flag to signal racing to drop 10 minutes later. The race will follow the original route until kilometre 52, where the riders will turn towards the finish in Cordoba rather than head for the northern loop originally slated.

Enric Mas (Movistar) continues to lead the Vuelta, the Movistar rider finishing alongside podium rival Felix Gall (Decathlon-CMA CGM) on stage 14, which was won by Marco Brenner (Tudor Pro Cycling).

For unbeatable coverage across road, gravel and tech, subscribe to Cyclingnews. You'll get comprehensive race coverage of La Vuelta a España, subscriber-exclusive analysis from our expert columnists, in-depth features and industry-leading tech insight. Plus, the Cyclingnews app lets you follow the action wherever you go! Join today.

Ever since Fabio Jakobsen nearly died in the 2020 Tour de Pologne, professional cyclists have been calling for safer barriers along the finishes of races. In 2027, the UCI will at long last require race organisers to comply with safe barrier standards for the final 500 metres of WorldTour races.

The UCI also confirmed that a GPS tracking system will once again be in place for the Road World Championships in Montréal, and stated it will "establish protocols and a regulatory framework for the use of real-time tracking systems at races".

The need for GPS tracking was highlighted by the death of Muriel Furrer during the 2024 UCI Road World Championships in Switzerland, when she crashed off the road and was not discovered for over an hour.

UCI President David Lappartient urged stakeholders to "move past any disagreements on certain issues and act together" after the controversies that surrounded a test of the system at the women's Tour de Romandie in 2025, with several teams refusing to comply with the test and disagreements over who supplies and operates the trackers.

GPS trackers were used for all riders during the 2025 Road World Championships in Kigali, Rwanda, and the UCI want a consensus on a system to use on a more widespread basis going forward.

The other headline safety story in Friday's UCI press release was the issue of barriers.

The horrific crash of Jakobsen during the 2020 Tour de Pologne highlighted the pressing need for strict requirements for finish line barriers after the ones used in Poland came apart upon his impact, causing life-threatening injuries to him - and a section also flew into the course, bringing down more riders.

Barriers used for cycling and other events come in several different designs. The bridge-foot barricades are made of rounded tubular steel frames with arched legs that protrude into the road. Organisers typically secure advertising boards to them in the final 100-200 metres.

Flat-footed barricades have square steel tubing and flat feet that are useful for smooth tarmac or pavements, but are less stable on uneven surfaces. Mesh barriers, typically used for cyclocross, use steel, wood or plastic posts and plastic mesh.

Since Jakobsen's crash, the Belgian company Boplan has rolled out 1.4-metre-tall wedge-shaped interlocking yellow polymer barriers that were designed specifically for professional cycling.

The UCI cracked down on the use of bridge-foot barriers after Zdenek Stybar crashed after clipping his pedal on a bridge-foot barrier in one of many similar incidents. He called for the UCI to require safer barriers in 2014.

Weeks before Michael Mørkøv sparked a mass crash in the 2016 Tour de France by hitting the foot of a barrier, the Cyclistes Professionnels Associés (CPA) called for a ban on barriers that encroach on the course.

The UCI implemented standards for barriers in 2021, that mandated there should be no gaps or feet extending into the course that could catch pedals, have continuous, smooth faces and no sudden narrowing of the road.

Now, six years after Jakobsen's crash, the UCI will add requirements that barriers meet standards regarding the dimensions of the barriers, their mechanical characteristics, their fixing systems, the way in which advertising panels are fixed to them and require impact tests for their approval, according to a 2025 press release.

The UCI stated it "wants to guarantee that the barriers used in the final hundreds of metres of stages and races, meet the standards resulting from the study carried out by the Haute École Spécialisée de Suisse Occidentale Valais-Wallis.

"This requirement will be introduced progressively, starting with UCI WorldTour and UCI Women's WorldTour races from the 2027 season, before being extended to all other race categories."

For unbeatable coverage across road, gravel and tech, subscribe to Cyclingnews. You'll get comprehensive race coverage of La Vuelta a España, subscriber-exclusive analysis from our expert columnists, in-depth features and industry-leading tech insight. Plus, the Cyclingnews app lets you follow the action wherever you go! Join today.

Three weeks after Finlay Tarling's death after being struck by a driver at the Volta a Portugal, a rider was once again put at risk at the opening stage of the 2.2-ranked German race, the Sauerlandrundfahrt.

In TV footage shared on social media, Lidl-Trek Future rider Louis Leidert could be seen swerving to avoid an oncoming driver while he raced the 13.7km opening time trial in Brilon. The driver managed to slow and mount the kerb to avoid Leidert.

Moments later, Leidert was forced to brake and take evasive action once more as a driver, this time heading in the same direction, turned off the road just ahead of him.

21-year-old German racer Leidert thankfully managed to avoid any collisions during his ride and raced to sixth place in the time trial, 33 seconds down on stage winner Ben Zwiehoff (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe Rookies).

Sauerlandrundfahrt organisers released a statement on Friday morning, saying that they are taking the incidents seriously and have tightened security measures for the remaining three stages of the race.

The statement does not explain how the two drivers accessed the barriered race course on stage 1.

"During the first stage of the Sauerlandrundfahrt, an incident occurred in which two vehicles entered the official time trial course despite the barriers. Fortunately, there was no accident, although one rider was forced to swerve out of the way," the statement read.

"We are very glad that nothing more serious happened in this instance. At the same time, we are taking the incident very seriously and are investigating it thoroughly. It goes without saying that it is not in our interest for such a situation to arise – the safety of all riders is our top priority.

"For the upcoming stages 2, 3 and 4, we have therefore, in collaboration with the police, the public order office, our stewards and the volunteers, significantly tightened security measures once again.

"We will do everything in our power to ensure that such an incident does not happen again."

The incident isn't the first to occur since Tarling's death when he was hit by an oncoming driver on stage 8 of the Volta a Portugal.

Less than a week later, at the Tour of Britain Women, O'Shea Chilli Bikes racer Maeve Plouffe took to social media to detail her experience during stage 1 of the race.

The American racer was exposed to public traffic with "cars coming at me from all directions" after suffering a puncture and riding at the rear of the race convoy.

Plouffe narrowly avoided being hit, she said: "On a side note, while the race convoy was still in sight and I was less than two minutes down, there were cars from the general public coming at me from all directions, including one that nearly hit me on a roundabout.

"Later on, the moto escort was wonderful and I felt much safer. But considering the recent devastating events in our cycling community, it's scary to see situations like this, when we know that this can have horrific consequences, especially so soon after suffering such a tragedy."

Like Leidert, Plouffe was lucky to avoid being hit, though she didn't make it to the end of the stage after chasing alone at the back of the race for over half an hour.

For unbeatable coverage across road, gravel and tech, subscribe to Cyclingnews. You'll get comprehensive race coverage of La Vuelta a España, subscriber-exclusive analysis from our expert columnists, in-depth features and industry-leading tech insight. Plus, the Cyclingnews app lets you follow the action wherever you go! Join today.

Following the death of teenager Finlay Tarling earlier this month, Visma-Lease a Bike team boss Richard Plugge has called for the sport as a whole to take more serious action and potentially consider radical changes to ensure a similar incident doesn't happen again.

Tarling died during stage 8 of the Volta a Portugal in a collision with a vehicle that had entered the closed race route. In response to the tragic incident, tributes poured in for the 19-year-old Welshman and a fundraiser set up in his memory to help young people in Wales get into cycling received significant donations.

But when it comes to the response in terms of safety and changes to prevent something like this happening again, Plugge feels strongly that not enough has been done and is desperate for the sport to not simply move on.

"We are just carrying on. What disappoints me enormously is that everyone says it is terrible, but then immediately a 'but' follows," the Visma boss told Wielerflits, speaking at the Vuelta a España.

"I would say: we need to skip everything after the 'but'. This simply cannot happen. That is the attitude we must adopt as the cycling community.

"This boy encounters a car on a descent. Can you imagine this happening during Formula 1 in Zandvoort? That a car is suddenly driving on the track in the opposite direction? Of course, everyone says that this doesn't happen at Zandvoort. But this actually does happen in a cycling race."

The Dutchman also called out the UCI, cycling's governing body, for a lack of action following Tarling's death, suggesting that the teams themselves may need to take a leading role again instead if nothing more significant comes from the top.

"Neither UCI President David Lappartient nor anyone else from the umbrella organizations stands up and says: 'Yes, but wait a minute, we really need to get together now and think about how we are going to prevent this from happening in the future?'," said Plugge.

"Maybe we as teams need to take responsibility for safety in races ourselves again. I don't know, but the lack of anger about what has happened again is very disappointing to me."

As is common at smaller races, the Volta a Portugal was utilising a rolling road closure system, instead of course-wide closures to the race route seen at Grand Tours. Cars getting onto the course shouldn't happen, with police and volunteers marshalling the course throughout the convoy, but there have been several instances of it happening in recent years.

Just a week after Tarling's death, Maeve Plouffe revealed how a puncture left her "less than two minutes down," on the Tour of Britain Women peloton, but with "cars from the general public coming at me from all directions, including one that nearly hit me on a roundabout", bringing the safety discussions into full focus once again.

In 2025, several teams quit the Étoile de Bessèges after two cars entered onto the closed race route on different days, one of which caused a crash, leading to a much smaller WorldTour presence at the race back in February of this year.

Two years prior at the Tour Féminin des Pyrénées, the final stage was cancelled after a series of dangerous incidents on the opening day, including oncoming traffic on the race route and parked cars blocking roads elsewhere, and a rider protest on stage 2.

Are circuit races the answer to greater safety?

Plugge posed the question of whether racing for hundreds of kilometres on public roads is even possible anymore. The answer to which would mean more closed-circuit races in and around cities, akin to those which are regularly seen at the UCI World Championships road races.

While the spectacle of professional bike racing has long been about traversing hundreds of kilometres from point A to point B, it's hard to argue against the improvements in safety it would likely bring, with cars getting onto the closed circuits likely becoming impossible and much easier to marshal – not requiring as much personnel.

"We have already indicated to the authorities, organizers, and teams: if cycling from A to B over public roads over 200 kilometers is no longer feasible, then we must ride laps of 15, 20, or 25 kilometers," said Plugge.

"Provided those routes can be secured 100%. Ultimately, it is simply about our riders. They must be certain that they can race on a safe course."

The Dutch team boss has long been one of the players pushing for change when it comes to the model and organisation of cycling as a whole, with Plugge spearheading much of the OneCycling project which dominated discussions before the UCI rejected the idea in June last year.

While that attempt to revolutionise the sport didn't materialise, Plugge still doesn't see the current format of racing being maintained even as soon as potentially five years' time. Perhaps closed circuit racing will become the answer, if the safety considerations aren't taken more seriously, especially after events like Tarling's tragic death.

“We are standing here at the start of the Vuelta a España in Monaco. The area around Nice and Monaco is full of traffic. We need to think now about how we can still organize a cycling race here in five years. What will our sport look like in five years?" he said.

"Will we still be able to drive 200 kilometers from A to B? Probably not, because then you would need a thousand traffic controllers. Whereas, if you ride laps of 20km… Everyone is super enthusiastic about the World Cycling Championships being held on a local circuit. And rightly so! Because that is at least manageable."

For unbeatable coverage across road, gravel and tech, subscribe to Cyclingnews. You'll get comprehensive race coverage of La Vuelta a España, subscriber-exclusive analysis from our expert columnists, in-depth features and industry-leading tech insight. Plus, the Cyclingnews app lets you follow the action wherever you go! Join today.

Monday's third stage of the Vuelta a España was rightfully cancelled after a massive hailstorm pelted the peloton 15km from the finish line in Font Romeu.

As well as the stage being called off with no winner, final result or times taken, the events of the day – including the results of the intermediate sprint – were also wiped from the record.

Ethan Hayter had collected 20 points at the intermediate sprint, a result which would have propelled the green jersey wearer above Tadej Pogačar and into the points classification lead.

Should those points have been taken away? And does the full cancellation mean that riders who hadn't finished the stage are back in the race? We've taken a look at both the rulebook and the history books to find out.

The historical precedents

Of course, the events of stage 3 aren't a first in cycling history. Far from it. Through the years, there have been plenty of Grand Tour stage cancellations, neutralisations, and shortenings.

A total cancellation of a stage while riders are out on course is very rare. Race organisers usually find some way of salvaging the stage – whether through rerouting the race, hastily creating a new finish line, or taking GC times at some point along the route.

Only a handful of stages in recent history have been fully cancelled with all results annulled, as we saw on Monday. The most recent of those came just last year at the Vuelta. The pro-Palestine protests which marked the race saw the final stage to Madrid cancelled with all results annulled before the peloton reached the closing circuit.

At the 2023 Giro d'Italia Donne, the opening time trial in Chianciano was cancelled mid-stage after heavy rain and flash floods struck. Before that, you have to go back to 1988 and stage 11 of that year's Giro d'Italia. Environmental protesters blockaded the final kilometres to Colle Don Bosco, leaving riders unable to reach the hilltop finish. Organisers were forced to cancel and annul the entire stage.

10 years earlier, the Vuelta's stage 19b time trial was similarly cancelled after Basque protesters blocked the road.

Beyond that, a host of other Grand Tour stages have been called off or cancelled for a variety of reasons – extreme weather, protests from riders and outsiders, and rider deaths – with varying applications of the rulebook.

Two other stages of last year's Vuelta were also altered by pro-Palestine protests, with stage 11 in Bilbao neutralised with no final result but with GC times recorded, while stage 16 in Mos. Castro de Herville saw the finish line moved and all results, time gains and points kept.

Famously, stage 19 of the 2019 Tour de France was also neutralised mid-race due to a hailstorm and landslides on the descent of the Col d'Iseran. The stage produced no final result, but points and GC times were recorded as a new finish line atop the climb saw Egan Bernal race into the yellow jersey.

No one-size-fits-all rule for race cancellations

It makes sense that there's no one-size-fits-all rule for race cancellations and annulments, given that every race and circumstance is different, with stages subject to rapidly changing events.

As such, UCI regulations are somewhat open-ended, giving commissaires and race organisers broad licence to decide how to cope with race-altering incidents.

Section 2.2.029 of the UCI rulebook states:

"In case of an exceptional accident or incident that could impinge upon the normal conduct of a race in general or a particular stage thereof, the race director may, after obtaining the agreement of the commissaires' panel and having informed the timekeepers, at any moment, decide:
• To modify the course; to temporarily neutralise the race or stage;
• To stop a race or a stage and restart the race or stage;
• To definitively stop the race or stage; To cancel a race or a stage.

"The president of the commissaires’ panel, after consulting the organiser, may take the following sporting decisions:
• Cancel or let the results stand in case the race is temporarily neutralised or stopped, taking account of the gaps recorded at the moment of the incident;
• Cancel or let the results stand of an intermediate sprint, mountain sprint or any classifications;
• Declare a stage or a race null and void,

"If necessary, the commissaires' panel may consult the technical delegate appointed to UCI WorldTour events by the UCI to reach a decision."

As we can see, Vuelta organisers and the UCI's commissaires took the most definitive course of action here, resulting in a total cancellation and wiping the stage from history as if it had never happened.

A statement released by race organisers read: "Stage 3 has been cancelled following consultation between the organiser and the President of the Commissaires' Panel. The decision was taken due to a significant deterioration in weather conditions during the stage, including poor visibility, strong winds and icy road conditions. After consultation with the organiser, the President of the Commissaires' Panel decided that the results of both the intermediate sprint and the mountain sprint has been cancelled."

Lost points

Obviously, that decision meant there was no race for the stage win and no hastily drawn finish line earlier in the stage, meaning we'll never know whether Lorenzo Fortunato or Mats Wenzel might have held on, or how the first race's mountain GC showdown might have turned out.

Wenzel's KOM points over the top, which would have put him into the mountain classification lead, were wiped, as were Ethan Hayter's 20 green jersey points at the intermediate sprint. As a result, the Briton lost out on the chance to hold the green jersey outright.

Hayter and Wenzel both expressed confusion and disappointment about the decision at the start of stage 4.

It's worth noting that the organisation's statement placed the decision to scrap these moments from the results sheet at the hands of the UCI commissaires.

The rules are unclear whether Alex Kirsch's DNF is also wiped from the record, giving him a chance to continue the race, but, given the illness that dogged him during the opening stages, it's unlikely he'd be well enough to do so anyway.

In any case, the Vuelta rolls on today, with stage 4 promising the big mountain showdown in Andorra. Let's hope the hail stays away this afternoon. Before all the action begins, take a look back through history at stage cancellations and annulments through the years.

A history of Grand Tour stage cancellations and annulments

For unbeatable coverage across road, gravel and tech, subscribe to Cyclingnews. You'll get comprehensive race coverage of La Vuelta a España, subscriber-exclusive analysis from our expert columnists, in-depth features and industry-leading tech insight. Plus, the Cyclingnews app lets you follow the action wherever you go! Join today.

Stage 3 of the Vuelta a España was cancelled on the final climb, with race leader Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) taking on the role of patron amid the torrential downpour of hailstones.

The drama occurred just over 15km from the line in Font Romeu, with several riders pulling to the side of the road to seek shelter as large hailstones pounded down from a leaden sky.

Shortly after, Pogačar appeared at the head of what was by then a reduced peloton and imposed himself on proceedings. He dictated a slower tempo and then waved his arm in the air in a signal to slow down.

After a short while, he pointed to the left, indicating a turn off of the course, which was taken by the rest of the riders in the group.

There was a building of some sort there, which opened its doors to the riders, who all piled in to shelter from the storm.

As team cars and staff caught up with the riders, they started to put jackets and layers on, as uncertainty spread about what would happen from there.

After less than 10 minutes, the race organisation decided to cancel the stage altogether.

There were two breakaway riders just ahead of the peloton at the time of Pogačar's intervention – Mats Wenzel (Kern Pharma) and Lorenzo Fortunato (XDS-Astana) – and it's not clear when or how they received instructions to stop racing.

From there, team buses headed from the finish line area down the mountain towards the buildings where the riders were taking refuge, in order to collect them and take them to their hotels. The organisation decided to scrap the post-stage podium ceremony, so Pogačar and the other classification leaders did not have to travel up the mountain.

We are waiting to hear from riders but it would appear that they took matters into their own hands, with Pogačar being particularly influential.

Even before Pogačar had orchestrated a stop, riders who had little interest in the stage or GC were heading off course to find available shelter. And then Pogačar ensured a situation whereby everything stopped.

At that point, it seemed like a temporary halt, but with riders scattered over the mountain and no easy way to re-start the race with the proper time gaps, not to mention the continuing hailstorm, the organisers thought it right to call off the whole thing entirely.

"For the security of the riders, stage three has been cancelled due to hail and severe weather," read a statement from the race organisation. "There will be no winner and no podium ceremony."

For unbeatable coverage across road, gravel and tech, subscribe to Cyclingnews. You'll get comprehensive race coverage of La Vuelta a España, subscriber-exclusive analysis from our expert columnists, in-depth features and industry-leading tech insight. Plus, the Cyclingnews app lets you follow the action wherever you go! Join today.

Less than a week after Finlay Tarling was struck and killed by a non-race driver at the Volta a Portugal, Australian racer Maeve Plouffe put rider safety in the spotlight once again at the Tour of Britain Women.

19-year-old Tarling died during stage 8 in Portugal when he was hit by a driver who got on the race course after the peloton had passed through. Plouffe, meanwhile, found herself riding among non-race traffic at the rear of the race convoy during stage 1.

She took to Instagram to detail her experience, which ended with a DNF, and thankfully nothing worse.

"A badly timed puncture ended up becoming a 30+ minute chase. I fought and fought really, really hard, but you can only do so much," Plouffe wrote, outlining her battle to stay in touch with the peloton before telling of how she was almost hit while doing so.

"On a side note, while the race convoy was still in sight and I was less than two minutes down, there were cars from the general public coming at me from all directions, including one that nearly hit me on a roundabout.

"Later on, the moto escort was wonderful and I felt much safer. But considering the recent devastating events in our cycling community, it's scary to see situations like this, when we know that this can have horrific consequences, especially so soon after suffering such a tragedy.

"Stay safe over the next stages."

The Tour of Britain Women, like the Volta a Portugal and many other races on the international calendar outside of the very biggest, are run with rolling road closures. This means that police motos shut off junctions in batches rather than entire race routes being closed off, as is the case at races such as the Tour de France Femmes.

Unlike that option, which is far more expensive for race organisers but greatly reduces the risk of such collisions, the system of rolling road closures can sometimes go horribly, even tragically, wrong. This week EF Education-EasyPost CEO Jonathan Vaughters said "I don't think [they] work that well" before noting that Tarling's death could've happened at many other races.

Plouffe was the latest rider caught in a dangerous situation on Wednesday, and there's little doubt that similar situations will occur again, as they have several times over the years.

Her team, O'Shea Red Chilli Bikes, told Cyclingnews that they wouldn't comment any further on Plouffe's Instagram statement, but noted that they "take the safety of riders and staff extremely seriously at all times" and "continue dialogue with both British Cycling and the CPA regarding the safety of our sport."

In a statement provided to Cyclingnews on Thursday, British Cycling, which runs the Tour of Britain Women, stated that they are taking Plouffe's experience during stage 1 "extremely seriously", noting that they take rider safety "as a priority". Stage 2 of the race passed without any similar incident.

"We note Maeve Plouffe's comments about her experience during yesterday's race, and we're taking these extremely seriously," said Jonathan Day, Events Director of British Cycling Ventures.

"Rider safety is paramount and will always be treated as a priority in our planning and how we operate any race. We're reviewing what happened with Maeve and her team, O'Shea Red Chilli Bikes, with the seriousness and empathy these comments demand.

"We recognise this comes at an especially difficult time for the cycling community, so we want to reassure all riders, teams and fans of the sport at this time of how serious we are treating these comments."

For unbeatable coverage across road, gravel and tech, subscribe to Cyclingnews. You'll get comprehensive race coverage of La Vuelta a España, subscriber-exclusive analysis from our expert columnists, in-depth features and industry-leading tech insight. Plus, the Cyclingnews app lets you follow the action wherever you go! Join today.

Stage 4 of the Tour de Pologne was temporarily neutralised after a major mid-race crash in the peloton required all the medical services to attend the injured and fallen.

Around 30 to 40 riders went down around in a major pile-up that happened 41 kilometres from the finish of the hilly stage from Borowice to Karpacz.

With riders falling on both sides of the road, some hitting a crash barrier, bikes and riders were scattered all over the road. Amongst those who fell were Aleksandr Vlasov (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Juan Sebastian Molano (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Wilco Kelderman (Jumbo-Visma), although the extent of their injuries, if any, was not known.

The mass crash took place on a fast, sweeping downhill in the middle of the bunch in a wooded rural area, just when the peloton was hitting high speeds on broad roads and reeling in a four-rider break of the day, some 90 seconds ahead.

The immediate cause of the crash was not clear, but there was speculation that wet conditions on country roads, in what is the first major rainfall of the week, combined with white traffic paint lines, could have caused it.

A race motorbike also was caught up in the collision, which seemed to have taken place in the middle of the bunch when the riders crashed.

So many riders went down it was necessary to halt the race as all the available ambulances were dealing with the crash victims. Last year a similar situation arose on stage 3 of the Tour de Pologne when a mass crash on a fast downhill also sparked a temporary neutralisation.

The four riders ahead - Dries De Bondt (Jayco AlUla), Matteo Malucelli (XDS Astana) and Team Poland duo Tobiasz Pawlak and Patryk Stosz - were told to stop by commissaires and halted in the middle of the road in dense woodland, while the peloton continued but gradually freewheeled to a stop. It was not immediately clear how long the race would be delayed, but racing finally got underway after around 30-40 minutes.

Some riders in the peloton, waiting for the race to begin again, asked for a change in the late descents on the route, alleging possible dangers. But as race organisers started discussions with riders, it was not immediately clear if GC times later on would be partially suspended, particularly as the weather was seemingly improving and drying up.

Finally what was decided was that one of the climbs, the 4.6 kilometre Cat. 1 Borowice, would be removed. As a result the length of the stage was reduced, and only the Karpacz (7km at 6.1%), followed by a short descent and kick up to the finish, remained in place.

Amongst those injured was major favourite and former Pologne winner João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), who dropped back from the pack once racing resumed, his left leg clearly injured and his shorts torn.

After bunch sprints decided the opening three stages, today's first mountainous stage marks the beginning of the GC battle, with the current leader Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek).

More later…

Recovering from his crash into the back of the UAE Team Emirates-XRG team car on Alpe d’Huez, which ended his Tour de France on stage 19, Einer Rubio has called for change within the sport to prevent the repeat of similar accidents in the future.

Ascending a crowded Alpe d’Huez, Rubio found himself riding close to the back bumper of the UAE Team Emirates-XRG car, having just been passed by eventual stage winner Tadej Pogačar, when a spectator fell in front of the vehicle, forcing the driver to brake hard. Rubio crashed into the back window, breaking the glass and curtailing his Tour two days early.

Rubio came away with 20 stitches on his face. A little over a week after the incident, Rubio shared an image of himself on Instagram back home in Colombia, with the cuts and scratches from his collision with the car evident.

The 28-year-old has suggested that his crash was avoidable, pointing to crowd control and vehicle access to the climb as contributing factors.

“A few days have passed since the accident at the Tour de France and, as the saying goes, you have to put on a brave face in difficult times,” Rubio said.

“Perhaps it would have been different with better barriers on the climb, stricter control over vehicle access and more cautious fans…No one expects to finish a race this way, but that is what happened.”

“We cannot change the past, but we can learn from these situations,” he added.

With two stages back-to-back ascending up the town of Alpe d’Huez, huge crowds flocked to the famous mountain and its 21 hairpins. Parts of the climb included barriers, holding fans back from the riders and race vehicles, but the section where Rubio’s crash occurred did not contain barriers.

“I am recovering, and I will be back soon,” Rubio concluded. He had been scheduled to race the Vuelta a España to complete the rare feat of racing all three Grand Tours in one season, but his return to racing has not yet been confirmed.

The driver of the UAE Team Emirates-XRG car and the team’s Sports Manager, Joxean Fernández Matxin, shared his perspective of the incident at the time, emphasising the number of people lining the mountain.

“In the final kilometres of the Alpe d’Huez climb, with thousands of fans right next to the road and the immense pressure typical of a decisive Tour stage, a spectator suddenly ran out and fell right beneath our vehicle,” Matxin said on Instagram. “My only reaction was to brake immediately to avoid running him over. It all happened in a split second, and my only thought was preventing a far worse tragedy.”

"I believe it is important to remember that the safety of riders, teams, and fans also depends on the responsible behaviour of those who enjoy this sport from the roadside,” he added.

Whether enough was done to ensure the safety of the riders, race officials, team staff and fans is up for debate, as are other potential measures which could be implemented in the future.

Race director Thierry Gouvenou defended A.S.O’s actions at the time, saying that the race organisation had done more than in previous years to make the event safer.

"We have already taken measures. We closed Alpe d'Huez the day before at 2 p.m. to prevent cars from driving up. Compared to previous years, a tremendous number of extra barriers have been put in place. Ropes have been stretched and posts installed. More police officers have been deployed on the climb," he told Sporza.

“It has to come mainly from the mindset of the supporters,” Gouvenou added. The solution is to make it as clear as possible to the supporters that they must have respect for the riders. Restrictive measures alone will not suffice.”

Support our unrivalled coverage of the Tour de France Femmes and women's cycling by subscribing to Cyclingnews. In return, you get unlimited access to high-quality journalism, with breaking news, race analysis, and expert insight from inside the women's peloton. Plus, the Cyclingnews app lets you follow the action wherever you go! Join today.

Einer Rubio (Movistar) had to quit the Tour de France only a matter of kilometres from the finish line of Alpe d'Huez on stage 19 after crashing into the back of a UAE Team Emirates-XRG car.

Movistar released a medical update following the stage to confirm his injuries, which include facial stitches, and he will be transferred to a hospital in Grenoble.

"Einer Rubio has received around 20 stitches in the face following the accident he suffered during the ascent to Alpe d'Huez," the statement read. "The Colombian is to be transferred to a hospital in Grenoble, where new tests will be carried out to determine the extent of the injuries."

Rubio, who had been in the day's breakaway, was in the second-to-last group to be passed by Tadej Pogačar on his way to winning the stage, and looked set to climb to the finish, but was then recorded as a DNF.

Video footage then emerged of Rubio crashing, at fairly high speed as the road levelled out near the top, into the back of a UAE car when it stopped abruptly in front of him.

With thousands of fans lining the climb, often encroaching on the road, it was difficult for riders and vehicles to navigate the climb even during the race, with Pogačar and others having to bat fans out of the way.

The UAE car had to stop abruptly after a spectator fell into the road in front of it, with the driver's quick reaction only narrowly avoiding running the man over in front, but it had dire consequences behind.

Rubio did not have any time to stop or swerve and collided headfirst into the car's rear window, which smashed on impact. Rubio was able to stand up and walk away from the crash, but with multiple cuts to his face and blood covering his bike, he had to climb into an ambulance instead of finish the stage.

An hour in the medical truck

Cyclingnews initially reported that Rubio spent an hour in the medical truck that is always set up at the finishes of Tour de France stages.

He emerged with several bandages on his face, and then proceeded to try and drink from a bottle of water – a necessity given the athletic effort he'd put in earlier in the day but a struggle given his injuries.

This is not the end of Rubio's treatment, and he was later taken to a hospital near Grenoble to get further attention on his wounds.

There was a debate between Movistar staff and the ASO medical personnel about how best to get Rubio off the mountain, which is still packed with fans and vehicle traffic.

Rubio eventually stepped into the race ambulance and was driven with a police escort to a helipad where he was then taken off the mountain by a helicopter.

Decathlon CMA CGM DS Luke Rowe also said he had seen the incident.

"It was ugly out there," he said to TNT Sports. "Remco got blocked and struggled to move at one point, and I saw a Movistar rider at the side of the road, tangled up in a crash, covered in blood. So it was, honestly, it was really on the limit."

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.

A press vehicle crashed into barriers during the arrival of the Tour de France in Ussel in Corrèze on Sunday, injuring eight spectators, one of them seriously, the prefecture said.

Before the breakaway - led to the line by stage winner Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech) - arrived, around 5:00 PM, the driver of a car belonging to the newspaper L'Equipe "fell ill" less than 500 meters from the finish line.

The vehicle crashed into the barriers lining the course and injured eight the spectators who were behind it, the Corrèze préfecture told AFP.

One of injured was in critical condition on Sunday, but their life was not in danger, and the seven other people were slightly injured, the same source added.

The vehicle could be seen still adjacent to the finishing straight with the barriers put back into place as the breakaway sprinted past with 500 metres to go.

The Tulle prosecutor's office has opened an investigation to determine the circumstances of the accident. The driver has not been taken into custody, the prosecutor's office stated.

Stage 9 of the Tour de France had been shortened by 30 kilometers due to the heatwave on Sunday in Corrèze.

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.

In an unprecedented situation, the next two stages of the Tour de France could be cancelled due to wildfires and high temperatures for the first time in the race's history.

A wildfire broke out on Saturday evening in the Pyrénées-Orientales department, the destination of stage 3 to Les Angles. Around 700 firefighters have been mobilised to battle the Trévillach wildfire, around 60km east of Les Angles.

"The fire has flared up again, and all resources are being mobilised to contain it," regional governor Pierre Regnault de la Mothe said, according to Ouest-France.fr. The blaze has forced the closure of departmental road 66, a major route between the coast and Monday's Tour de France stage finish.

"It is closed firstly because it is necessary to facilitate the work of the emergency services. Secondly, it is necessary to preserve the safety of road users themselves," Regnault de la Mothe said.

Whether or not the Tour de France stage can go ahead will be decided imminently, he added.

"This is a matter we are working on this afternoon. We will be able to make a decision by the end of the day."

The situation could be aided by the wind dying down, which could help firefighters get the blaze under control.

"There should be a lull tomorrow morning. And we hope that this evening we can make progress on the fire's flanks and try to hold them a little longer than we can today."

The fire isn't the race's only major concern: the weather forecast for Tuesday's stage from Carcassonne to Foix could be the first to be cancelled due to a Code Red weather alert.

Temperatures in the region are expected to peak at 41°C (101°F), which could exceed the limit set by the French Ministry of the Interior for safe running of outdoor sporting events.

"As an exceptional measure and in consultation with the organiser and all stakeholders, you may decide to cancel a stage when health or operational conditions no longer allow us to simultaneously ensure the safety of spectators, mobilised personnel and the continuity of the response to emergencies for the population," the Ministry instructed the French prefects hosting the Tour de France this weekend.

According to reports, Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme said the race is monitoring the situation. The UCI rules allow for several measures under their High Temperature Protocol, including changing start times, neutralising parts of the stage, or cancellation.

Stage 4 passes straight through the Occitanie region, which is under a severe drought with several smaller wildfires forcing evacuations and road closures.

Even if the Tour de France route is not directly threatened, the pressure on emergency services could strain the resources available to the race.

Stay tuned to Cyclingnews for updates on this developing situation.

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.

Another heatwave is forecast in Western Europe in the coming days, with the upcoming Tour de France set to be affected as temperatures rise.

France's Minister of the Interior, Laurent Nunez, has announced a set of guidelines for prefects (representatives in each department of France) around the country to enact in case of a weather 'red alert'.

L'Equipe reports that prefects will be able to take measures, including the potential cancellation of stages, if the temperature rises to dangerous levels.

"As an exceptional measure and in consultation with the organiser and all stakeholders, you may decide to cancel a stage when health or operational conditions no longer allow us to simultaneously ensure the safety of spectators, mobilised personnel and the continuity of the response to emergencies for the population," read a message from the Ministry of the Interior to the prefects.

During the race, Tour de France organiser ASO will provide hourly weather monitoring, while plans to safeguard fans along the route include broadcasting public safety messages, distributing water, fans, and hats, adding more shaded areas and setting up misting systems.

As far as the riders in the Tour peloton are concerned, the UCI's High Temperature Protocol could come into effect if the Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) rises to dangerous levels at or above the red high-risk zone of 28°C. Actions can include adapting start times, neutralising sections of stages, and even race cancellations.

Less drastic measures set to be put into place during hot stages include the extension of time cuts on stages and increasing the number of motos supplying water in the race.

Recently, national federations around Western Europe took measures to protect riders during various National Championships, and with another heatwave forecast, the same may well be seen at the Tour.

President of the French Cyclists' Union (UNCP), Pascal Chanteur, recently told Bici.Pro that races during the summer, such as the Tour, should be raced in the morning to avoid the hottest hours of the day.

"The time has come. to sit down and work together to move up the schedule," he said.

"The races should start at 9:00 a.m. and finish at 2:30 p.m., and television would still benefit, because at that time people are at home and there would be a lot of spectators.

"I'm convinced it's a matter of common sense. Why should we cyclists be forced to race in 45-degree heat?"

Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme told L'Equipe that ASO are in "constant contact" with the Minister of the Interior to keep tabs on the situation. He also outlined the measures being taken to protect people during the Tour.

"We are in constant contact with the Ministry of the Interior; just yesterday (Thursday) we were speaking with the Prime Minister's chief of staff," he said.

"And this entire system is planned in the same way every year. A prefect can always make decisions of this kind for the good of the population. It's all common sense. For the riders, we apply the UCI protocol.

"For the public, on France Télévisions, on Radio France, on ICI's local stations, at the start and finish of stages, and along the Tour route, we regularly broadcast common-sense messages about the heat. This year again, the caravan will distribute 2,500,000 hats or caps, 550,000 cans of water, and 400,000 litres of water.”

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.

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.

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."

Subscribe to Cyclingnews for unlimited access to our Tour de Suisse coverage. Don't miss any of the breaking news, race analysis, and expert insight as the riders make their final preparations for Le Tour. Plus, access the Cyclingnews app to follow the action on the go! Join today.

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."

Subscribe to Cyclingnews for unlimited access to our Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Tour de Suisse coverage. Don't miss any of the breaking news, race analysis, and expert insight as the riders make their final preparations for Le Tour. Plus, access the Cyclingnews app to follow the action on the go! Join today.

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.

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."

Who will challenge Jonas Vingegaard at this year's Giro d'Italia? Subscribe to Cyclingnews for unlimited access to our coverage of the Corsa Rosa. Enjoy unrivalled reporting from our team of journalists on the ground, including breaking news, analysis, and more, from every stage as it happens, plus access to the Cyclingnews app to follow the action on the go! Find out more.

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.

Subscribe to Cyclingnews for unlimited access to our coverage of the Giro d'Italia. Enjoy unrivalled reporting from our team of journalists on the ground, including breaking news, analysis, and more, from every stage as it happens, plus access to the Cyclingnews app to follow the action on the go! Find out more.

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.

Subscribe to Cyclingnews for unlimited access to our coverage of the Giro d'Italia. Enjoy unrivalled reporting from our team of journalists on the ground, including breaking news, analysis, and more, from every stage as it happens, plus access to the Cyclingnews app to follow the action on the go! Find out more.

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.

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.

Subscribe to Cyclingnews for unlimited access to our La Vuelta Femenina coverage as the likes of Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney and others battle it out. Don't miss any of the breaking news, reports, and analysis from one of the biggest women's stage races of the season. Find out more.

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.

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."

Get unlimited access to our unrivalled 2026 Spring Classics coverage with a Cyclingnews subscription. We'll bring you breaking news, reports, and analysis from some of the biggest races on the calendar, including Milan-San Remo, Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders. Find out more.

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.

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 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.

Get unlimited access to our unrivalled 2026 Spring Classics coverage with a Cyclingnews subscription. We'll bring you breaking news, reports, and analysis from some of the biggest races on the calendar, including Milan-San Remo, Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders. Find out more.

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.

Get unlimited access to our unrivalled 2026 Spring Classics coverage with a Cyclingnews subscription. We'll bring you breaking news, reports, and analysis from some of the biggest races on the calendar, including Milan-San Remo, Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders. Find out more.

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.

Get unlimited access to our unrivalled 2026 Spring Classics coverage with a Cyclingnews subscription. We'll bring you breaking news, reports, and analysis from some of the biggest races on the calendar, including Milan-San Remo, Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders. Find out more.

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, some with devastating consequences, demonstrates that the issue is as present as ever.

Right from the beginning of the season – 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 toll of crashed has been clear. That continued, right from Paris-Roubaix – where the return of Chloe Dygert (Canyon-SRAM) faltered –through to the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de Suisse – where Urška Žigart (AG Insurance-Soudal) fractured her jaw – and the Tour de France where Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) had to leave with a broken collarbone. Then there was the Vuelta a España transforming crash of Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) at the end of August.

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

Caja Rural-Seguros RGA

• José Félix Parra - Fractured wrist, stage 17 Tour de France (July 22)
• Fernando Gaviria – Collarbone fracture, stage 12 Tour de France (Jul 17)
• Eduard Prades - Right tibia fracture, Tour of Slovenia (Jun 18)
• Alex Molenaar - Fractured finger, Tour de France stage 5 (Jul 8)

Cofidis

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

Decathlon CMA CGM

• Johannes Staune-Mittet - Iliac artery surgery (late July)
• Stan Dewulf - Fractured elbow, training (late July)

EF Education-EasyPost

• Kasper Asgreen - Shoulder injury, stage 2 Renewi Tour (Aug 20)
• Lukas Nerurkar - Broken and dislocated collarbone, fractured sternum, fractured vertebra, broken rib, a small puncture in one lung. Hit by a driver while training (July 2)
• Harry Sweeny - Knee operation to remove inflamed plica (April)

Jayco-AlUla

• Amaury Capiot – Fractured collarbone and hip, stage 2 Renewi Tour (Aug 20)

Kern Pharma

• Diego Uriarte - Fractured rib, small pneumothorax, stage 8 Vuelta a España (Aug 29)

Lidl-Trek

• Albert Withen Philipsen - Fracture left wrist, elbow and shoulder (August)
• Harry Hudson - Fractured vertebra, training crash with motorbike (May)

Lotto-Intermarché

• Taco van der Hoorn - Hand and elbow fractures, stage 1 Renewi Tour (Aug 20)
• Luca Van Boven - Broken ribs and collapsed lung, stage 7 Vuelta a España (Aug 28)
• Toon Aerts - Double kneecap and scaphoid fracture, Tour of Denmark (Aug 2)

Modern Adventure Pro Cycling

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

Movistar

• Cian Uijtdebroeks - Ankle injury, Vuelta a España stage 5 DNS after earlier crash (Aug 26)

NSN

• Corbin Strong - Right shoulder injury, stage 2 Renewi Tour (Aug 20)
• Stevie Williams – Quadriceps tendinopathy (Jun 17, 2025)

Picnic-PostNL

• Matt Dinham - Overuse injury in lower leg, Tour de Suisse (Jun 17)

Pinarello Q36.5

• Fred Wright - Fractured collarbone, ADAC Cyclassics (Aug 16)
• Chris Harper - Thumb injury requiring surgery, Tour de France stage 10 (July 14)

Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe

• Florian Lipowitz - Fractured collarbone, Tour de France (July 21)

Soudal-QuickStep

• Junior Lecerf - Knee surgery (Aug 8)

UAE Team Emirates-XRG

• Tadej Pogačar - Concussion, displaced left clavicle fracture, a stable C7 cervical fracture, Vuelta a España stage 8 (Aug 29)
• Pablo Torres - Knee pain, Vuelta a España stage 9 (Aug 30)
• Marc Soler - Fractured pelvis, Giro d'Italia (May 9)

Visma-Lease a Bike

• Anton Schiffer - Broken collarbone, stage 3 Tour of Poland (August 5)
• Jonas Vingegaard - Broken collarbone, stage 15 Tour de France (Jun 19)

XDS Astana

• Victor Langellotti - Concussion, Vuelta a España stage 9 (Aug 30)

Injuries in the women's peloton

Injuries per team in the women's peloton.

AG Insurance-Soudal

• Amandine Fouquenet - Scaphoid fracture, Classic Lorient (Aug 30)
• Gladys Verhulst-Wild - Fractured collarbone, stage 2 Tour of Britain (Aug 19)
• Sarah Gigante - Surgery to relieve ongoing issue after broken femur in 2025 (Jun)

Canyon-SRAM

• Neve Bradbury – Iliac endofibrosis surgery (Mid-May)
• Chloe Dygert – RED-S, injury surgery (last race, Paris-Roubaix April)

Fenix-Premier Tech

• Christina Schweinberger - Fractured wrist, Tour de France Femmes stage 2 (August 2)

Mayenne Monbana My Pie

• Alice Coutinho - Fractured collarbone, Tour de France Femmes stage 8 (August 8)

Movistar

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

Picnic PostNL

• Mara Roldan - Fractured skull, crash while training (July)

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."

The UCI is set to use funds from the SafeR safety project to fight a legal battle against SRAM, creating an extraordinary scenario in which some teams will effectively be funding litigation against their own sponsor.

The dispute surrounds the UCI’s plans to limit the size of gears used in races. Believing such a measure could improve rider safety, the sport’s governing body was set to test a Maximum Gear Ratio Standard in 2025 but SRAM launched legal action and scored a victory through anti-trust proceedings lodged with the Belgian Competition Authority.

The UCI had already announced its intention to appeal, and Cyclingnews can now reveal how it will fund this process and and how the jurisdiction of the case has divided cycling’s stakeholders.

According to a summary note obtained by Cyclingnews and confirmed by multiple sources, UCI President David Lappartient asked for the sports' stakeholders to support legal proceedings during a recent meeting of the SafeR Supervisory Board. The note does not specify what steps are to be taken beyond ‘legal action’ but in theory the UCI is able to appeal the BCA’s verdict.

SafeR is the structure dedicated to safety in men's and women's road cycling and its Board oversees strategic and budgetary decisions. SafeR is funded by annual contributions from rider prize money, teams, race organisers and the UCI.

Cyclingnews understands the UCI has ring-fenced €300,000 from SafeR's budget for its legal battle with SRAM and the Belgian Competition Authority. It is unclear how this will impact SafeR's budget and work to improve safety in pro cycling.

A manager of a WorldTour team that has a sponsorship agreement with SRAM components told Cyclingnews: "They're using funds from the teams to go against the team's sponsor."

The International Association of Professional Cycling Teams (AIGCP) voted against the proposal. However, the Association of Professional Riders (CPA) and the International Association of Race Organisers (AIOCC) voted with the UCI, ensuring the decision was passed.

According to the note seen by Cyclingnews, the lack of unity amongst stakeholders sparked Lappartient to propose that UCI world also take over management of SafeR, reducing the other stakeholders’ commitments and influence. This will be discussed at the next UCI Management Committee in the summer.

The background

The dispute concerning the Maximum Gear Ratio Standard began after the UCI announced plans to limit the maximum gear ratio of the chainring and cassette to a distance covered per pedal revolution of 10.46 meters, or an equivalent of 54x11. The test was due to be carried out at the end of season Tour of Guangxi WorldTour race in China.

The UCI's Maximum Gear Ratio Standard was based on tyre size of 28mm. However, teams often use bigger tyres and so would fall foul of the rule if they used 30mm tyres and a gear of 54x11. The implementation of the ruling, as originally proposed in 2025, would have only been enforced based on gear ratios, however, with no consideration given to tyre size.

The SRAM cassette is designed around a 10-tooth smallest sprocket and so when used with a 54-tooth chainring, would not respect the Maximum Gear Ratio Standard. Using a smaller chainring would leave the SRAM-equipped teams at a disadvantage, as would somehow manually blocking off the ten-tooth sprocket, something which could be achieved in a similar manner to how Lidl-Trek modded their derailleurs to make a 13-speed setup 12-speed for Paris-Roubaix.

Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, Movistar, Lidl-Trek, NSN, EF Education-EasyPost, Uno X Mobility, Decathlon CMA CGM, Pinarello-Q36.5, Visma-Lease a Bike and CANYON//SRAM zondacrypto all used SRAM components in 2025, with many of the teams considered as interested parties in the BCA verdict.

Initially, all SafeR stakeholders accepted the Guangxi tests. However, SRAM later announced a legal challenge to the UCI’s proposed rule via the Belgian Competition Authority in September, claiming the rules unfairly disadvantaged SRAM-equipped teams as well as disparaged SRAM in the road drivetrain market.

“This protocol penalizes and discourages innovation and puts our riders and teams at a competitive disadvantage," SRAM CEO Ken Lousberg said in a statement sent to Cyclingnews at the time.

The BCA ruled that the UCI's Maximum Gear Ratio Standard did not meet the required conditions of objectivity and transparency and "generated disproportionate negative effects on a sports equipment supplier, namely SRAM."

The UCI withdrew the test in China but lamented that safety was not a shared objective and questioned the international authority of the BCA. “The UCI expresses its surprise at the intervention of a competition authority on a subject desired by all stakeholders of cycling [...] especially considering that the decision is issued by a Belgian authority responding to a complaint from a US company against a Swiss sports association regarding a test to be carried out on Chinese territory,” read a UCI statement in October.

Now the UCI plans to appeal against the ruling, using funds from the SafeR project – and therefore money directly invested by SRAM-sponsored teams – to fund the legal battle.

The UCI has not responded to Cyclingnews’ request for comment. SRAM declined to comment on the matter.

Fabio Jakobsen (Picnic-PostNL) suffered a heavy crash on stage 4 of the UAE Tour, in which his front tyre and foam insert were both ripped completely off his front rim.

The incident occurred with just under 30km on the flat stage, where the Dutchman was hoping to contest the sprint finish but ended up having to ride gingerly home with his kit ripped to shreds.

A spare bike was obviously needed, too, as the tyre and foam insert were both wrapped around the frame and no longer in contact with the wheel at all.

It is unclear initially what exactly caused the crash, which was not clearly captured by the television cameras. The peloton was strung out on a false flat on a wide road, and when the cameras caught up, Jakobsen was picking himself up off the ground along with Ethan Hayter, Daan Hoole, and Robbe Ghys.

Spokespeople for both the Picnic-PostNL team and their wheel supplier Ursus later told Cyclingnews that the cause of the incident was Jakobsen hitting a rock in the road.

"It was clarified that Fabio Jakobsen hit a rock while riding at speed, which impacted on both the tire and the rim. This caused the tire’s coming off the rim," read a statement from Ursus.

Jakobsen appeared to be using Ursus' ARYA R 50 Team Edition model. Interestingly, he was riding unbadged tyres in recent stages. The team is sponsored by Michelin, and this could be a new version of its Power Cup model, but it also bears a close resemblance to the Vittoria Corsa Pro Speed.

The pairing of tyres and rims has been a hot topic in recent years in the wake of a number of blowouts on tubeless set-ups. Foam inserts are used to keep the tyre on the rim in the event of a catastrophic and sudden loss of pressure, and also allow riders to ride on the insert in a 'run-flat' scenario.

Hookless rims, whereby the inner rim has no retaining hook, relying on the outward air pressure and tight tolerances to keep the tyre on the rim, have attracted controversy over a perceived propensity to unseat certain tyres, depending on the relative widths of the rim and tyre.

Ursus' ARYA R 50 Team Edition is described as a 'mini-hook' rim profile, though from renderings on the brand's website it appears to not feature a discernible hook at all.

"The Proxima Team Edition features Ursus’ mini-hook system: the hook is effectively present, albeit shorter in size," Ursus told us. "So far, Ursus has never reported failures related to this system."

Correction: Ursus clarified that Jakobsen was using the ARYA, not the Proxima, which features the same mini-hook.

Jan Christen (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) has issued a heartfelt apology for causing a crash during the Clásica Jaén that has put Maxim Van Gils (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) out of action for at least two months.

Christen was part of a three-rider chasing group on Monday behind teammate and race winner Tim Wellens with Tom Pidcock (Pinarello-Q36.5) and Van Gils.

During the dash for the line, Christen tried to start his sprint but ran into Van Gils, sending the Belgian sprawling to the tarmac. Officials disqualified Christen from the race. Teammate Benoît Cosnefroy was elevated to the last spot on the podium after crossing the line in fourth place.

The impact of the crash fractured Van Gils' pelvis, and he will miss "the upcoming months of racing", according to his team.

Christen said the incident was "not the end I intended after the unfortunate crash close [to] the finish" before explaining what happened.

"I wanna apologize to Maxime (sic) for today, I jumped for the slipstream of Tom when he startet (sic) the sprint and did not see him coming on my left inside.

"It was an unfortunate incident, which can unfortunately happen in races. What I know for myself is that I would never put any other rider in harm like that on purpose.

"There's a lot of emotion in my head about the situation, and I just wish from my heart to Maxime a speedy recovery and hope I can compete with him for victory again in the future."

Van Gils had just begun his second season with Red Bull with a victory in the team time trial during the Mallorca Challenge and third place in the Trofeo Andratx behind teammate Remco Evenepoel.

Francesco Mazzoleni, an 18-year-old rider for Italian under-23 team GoodShop Team Yoyogurt, has died after being hit by a driver while out on a training ride.

Mazzoleni was riding in Barzana, north of Bergamo, at 2:30 pm on Sunday when he was struck by a driver travelling in the opposite direction, according to a report by TuttoBici. He was treated at the scene, but paramedics were unable to save his life.

TuttoBici notes that the bike, which was split in two by the collision, and car were seized by local authorities. The driver of a car, a 30-year-old man, tested negative for alcohol.

Mazzoleni hadn't yet started his 2026 season, which would've been his first with GoodShop Yoyogurt after several years racing in the junior category with Travel & Service.

GoodShop Team Yoyogurt paid tribute to Mazzoleni in a post on Instagram on Sunday.

"It's a very sad Sunday for us. Our Francesco Mazzoleni leaves us too soon," the team wrote.

"He was hit while training on his home roads, doing what he loved most. We all gather in a painful silence around Francesco's family.

"We will always carry with us your smile and the determination that drove you to pursue your dream.

"You are and will always be one of our Orange riders. Goodbye, young Francesco."

Cyclingnews extends its condolences to Mazzoleni's family, friends, and teammates.

Lotto-Intermarché have announced that their rider Robin Orins suffered a left knee injury after being hit by a driver of a car while he was on a training ride in Spain.

The 23-year-old Belgian was set to begin his 2026 campaign at the Vuelta a Murcia today, but he has instead flown back to Belgium for treatment.

Lotto report that second-year pro will be off the bike for more than a week as a result of his injury, and his season start has been postponed as a result.

"Robin Orins was hit by a car during training in Spain and injured his left knee," Lotto-Intermarché announced on Friday.

"In consultation with the team, Robin flew back to Belgium for treatment, the next 10 days off the bike and therefore postpone the start of his season. Get well soon, Robin."

Orins had been set to head to France to race the Faun-Ardèche Classic and Faun Drome Classic on February 28 and March 1, but it now seems that his season debut could come later in March instead.

Orins joins a lengthy list of riders who have been hit by drivers in recent months. Last week, Soudal-QuickStep rider Gianmarco Garofoli was lucky to escape major injury after he was hit by a driver exceeding the speed limit in Tenerife.

"I was hit by a hit-and-run driver: he was coming from behind, speeding, over 100 km/h, well over the speed limit. I was perfectly visible: I was wearing a fluorescent yellow vest and had my red taillight flashing," Garofoli wrote on Instagram.

"Despite this, he didn't slow down, he didn't move, he didn't do anything. He came up behind me and hit me with his mirror and the front of the car.

"In that moment, I realised that if he had hit me head-on, I probably wouldn't be here today."

In December, Polti-VisitMalta rider Germán Gómez suffered fractures to his left clavicle and left hand after he was hit by a driver in Colombia.

November saw Thibault Guernalec and Demi Vollering hit by drivers, while earlier in 2025, both Cian Uijtdebroeks and Pierre Latour were involved in similar incidents, with the Frenchman forced to retire prematurely after suffering an arm injury in the incident.

The UCI handed out its first suspension of the 2026 season for repeated safety rule violations, giving UAE Team Emirates-XRG's directeur sportif Fabrizio Guidi a seven-day ban for two yellow cards earned at the Tour Down Under last week.

While guiding the team to the overall victory with Jay Vine, Guidi, 53, was found to have violated UCI rules article XII 2.12.007 6.3 for "Breach of regulations or guidelines concerning vehicle movements during the race or failure to comply with the instructions of commissaires and/or the organisation" during stage 2 and stage 5 of the Tour Down Under.

The UCI's yellow card rules (2.12.007ter) state, "In case a licence-holder receives 2 yellow cards during the same event, they shall be excluded (in case of a stage race) from the event and be suspended for a period of 7 days."

However, because the suspension ends before the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race, Guidi will still be able to be in the team car for the WorldTour one-day race on Sunday.

The Italian will have to be careful, however, because he is at risk for another suspension if he receives another yellow card.

Under the rules, anyone with three yellow cards in 30 days is suspended for 14 days, and six yellow cards over 12 months will end in a 30-day suspension.

The yellow card system was introduced after a trial period in 2024, but in a whole season of racing, only two UCI licence holders were issued suspensions for multiple violations: Media moto driver Joseba Etxaburu earned two yellow cards during the Vuelta España Femenina, and Alpecin-Deceuninck rider Oscar Riesebeek was banned for a week after offences during the Baloise Belgium Tour.

Elsewhere, Tord Gudmestad became the first rider to be shown a yellow card during the 2026 season after sitting up to celebrate Decathlon CMA CGM teammate Tobias Lund Andresen's victory on stage 1 of the Tour Down Under.

"There are only two kinds of pro cyclists: ones that have had a big accident and ones that are going to have a big accident." Aerobag co-founder Quinton Van Loggerenberg says, recounting a prominent pro cyclist's opinion on crashing in the pro ranks, and it paints a sobering picture.

Aerobag is a Belgian startup company that has developed a lightweight airbag system designed to dramatically reduce serious injuries for cyclists. It's the very thing I speculated on in the Cyclingnews end-of-year Christmas wish list.

In the event of a crash, the system rapidly inflates tough TPU tubes to protect critical areas like the neck and back. Aerobag, it’s fair to say, has the potential to dramatically reduce crash injuries for cyclists, and at least two WorldTour teams are testing it out right now.

Some riders will go a lifetime without serious injury; others will be well-versed in broken bones and road rash; and for professional racers, it’s more a case of when, not if, they crash. Being tough and shrugging off road rash and grazes are one thing, but each year, dozens of professional cyclists are badly injured in training or during races. January isn't yet over, and Jay Vine and Jhonatan Narváez have already fractured bones and ended up in the hospital. That’s to say nothing of incidents involving amateur riders and everyday cyclists worldwide.

Helmets protect our heads, but cyclists – in particular riders of drop bar bikes – ride largely unprotected. Compare the safety technology in cycling kit to other sports, and the level of protection on offer is laughable. Indeed, the thought is often pushed to the back of a cyclist's mind, far better to not let it in at all than to ponder the consequences of crashing on a mountain descent, or in a bunch sprint wearing only thin Lycra for protection.

Helmets in professional racing were made mandatory in 2005, and helmet safety tech is ever-improving. Crash-resistant Dyneema fabrics also exist but haven't been widely adopted. Aside from cycling gloves and sunglasses, what safety protection is there for riders descending mountain passes at 100kph+?

Aerobag was founded by industry veterans with a background in developing race kit at Bioracer. After years of helping riders go faster, they turned their attention to improving safety for cyclists. Their product, which blew up online after being exhibited at the Velofollies trade show in Belgium recently, has the potential to make one of the largest steps forward that there has ever been when it comes to minimising the risk of serious injury for cyclists and improving the protection on offer from cycling kit.

Safety over speed

In 2019, 22-year-old rising Belgian star Bjorg Lambrecht died after crashing during stage 3 of the Tour de Pologne. Lambrecht’s shocking death led Aerobag's other co-founder, Bert Celis, to leave his position at the company, and after developing the idea, he asked Sam Ratajczak, the man behind the Bioracer wind tunnel, to develop a wearable safety solution.

Co-founded with Quinton Van Loggerenberg, Aerobag also has backing from big names in the industry, and secured initial startup investment from Fundracer Capital, an investment fund founded by Gerard Vroomen, co-founder of Cervelo, Andy Ording, President/CEO of Zipp for 17 years, and Rene Wiertz, former owner and CEO of 3T.

Van Loggerenberg helped riders go faster for a long time, but the search for pure speed, it seems, led ultimately to safety. A key topic of debate regarding how to make pro racing safer and a focus of the UCI SafeR project.

“It was a fairly innocuous kind of accident, the sort of thing that could happen, and does happen, literally, in every race. Van Loggerenberg said of Lambrecht's crash.

"You're sending athletes down the road at 60, 70, 90k an hour in Lycra. And that was it. That was the catalyst,” he explains.

“My mission, my absolute mission, is that you, as a rider, wake up at home. You don't wake up in the back of an ambulance.”

Aerobag was born. The heart of the USB-C rechargeable system is housed in a small 3D-printed box, and in total weighs a little under 700g currently. The airbag itself uses tough TPU tubes that are incorporated into the rear Y-section and straps of bib shorts. This is the initial execution, but the brand stresses there is a much wider scope when it comes to pairing the system with kit and apparel.

The TPU tubes or 'airbags' are almost instantly inflated in the event of an accident by a Japanese-made 28g refillable CO2 cartridge, which comes from the lifejacket world. It features multiple sensors, including on the X, Y, Z axis position and rotation, as well as one for the Earth's magnetic field, to give the system a magnetic zero process data as the wearer cycles.

In use, the system monitors the rate of change of the sensors' readouts, and essentially, if the algorithm running the system thinks a crash is taking place, it will deploy the airbag. The trick, it seems, is developing the system to the point where it only deploys when needed and not for a false alarm.

The TPU tubes fill very quickly, and to the extent that they should provide a large amount of protection to critical areas in the event of a hard impact, a bonus is that they should also help to reduce abrasions and potentially be located in different areas on the body. Van Loggerenberg explains that the speed at which the system deploys is critical in keeping a rider safe.

"Laying the bike down won't set the air bag off. Bunny hopping won't set the airbag off. Losing your footing won't set the air bag off; the algorithm controls the firing process.

"The bag inflates in about a hundredth of a second. We must achieve the right diameter, the right internal pressure in the tubes to provide sufficient impact protection. It's based on existing motorbike systems. It's much smaller in terms of packaging and much finer in terms of sensors. The actual energies involved in the bike crash are lower, but they happen just about as fast."

The airbag deflates in a couple of minutes, and the system also packs itself away post-deployment – one of Aerobag's patents relates to this particular feature. So the rider doesn't need to repack an airbag as team cars and a race convoy shoot past. The CO2 cartridge is one-time use, though, and can be switched out in under 30 seconds, the brand says.

But what makes the Aerobag know when to deploy? An algorithm has been created to control and test the system, and the way that algorithm has been created is incredible.

The Belga news agency keeps a large archive of cycling crash footage. In-depth analysis of this footage has been used to create the Aerobag algorithm, which determines when the airbag deploys.

"There is an agency that has access to a video and film database of almost every single crash that has been broadcast, Van Loggerenberg explains.

"We can feed that into an AI engine, which then reverse engineers the accident for us, because you can often identify shoulders, hips, and elbows [in the crash]. You can put that into a 3D model, and you can work out what the person was actually doing during the accident.

"Using the timeline, you can then work out how fast the rotation was. You know where the person was in frame one, you know how many seconds passed, and you know where they were in frame 50.

"The computer can work backwards and work out what the body did. The engine can then work out what the rotations and geometries were during the accident.

"We have a 3D robot on which we have a dummy wearing our system, and we can then tell the dummy to play the accident back. So you can take a TV accident, or a form of an accident, work out the geometry with a reasonable level of accuracy, and we can then replay it in real time, using our robot with a 3D dummy and our Aerobag."

The goal now is to finesse the system so that it only deploys when needed and not in what the brand calls a 'false positive', i.e. the airbag deploying when it isn't meant to, which would be an inconvenience in a race or event. Either way, this represents a huge step forward.

But how much protection does a rider stand to gain in an accident? Real-world crash testing is a difficult thing to do, and is something that is hopefully not necessary thanks to the AI analysis and lab testing.

"I can say it's substantial," says Van Loggerenberg. "If I put a number on it, someone's going to criticise me."

Bringing the system to market

The Aerobag system currently has a price tag of around €750-850, though it isn't available to buy just yet. The brand is already working with Nalini and Nimbl, suppliers to Picnic PostNL and Visma-Lease a Bike, as well as MOA, a big manufacturer of kit for a range of brands.

The business model of Aerobag involves working with brand partners to incorporate the Aerobag system into all kinds of cycling kit and apparel. Kit will need to accommodate the airbag and become 'Aerobag certified', which is free, but the sky could be the limit.

"The intention is that it can be in bib shorts today, and it can be in a backpack tomorrow, and it can be in your commuter jacket when you're out to work from Monday to Friday," Van Loggerenberg says.

"We have apparel partners who are developing articles of clothing into which this will fit, and we are 100 per cent certain that they're going to come up with cleverer solutions than we have. So far, we've picked the obvious one, which is a pair of bibshorts."

Pro teams are already testing the technology in race kit, but it appears Aerobag-equipped products will be on shelves in the not-too-distant future.

"There are apparel partners who are committed to having their own articles, not pro-sponsored clothing, their own jackets, their own bib shorts, on shelves in 2027."

The brand says the price will come down in time, but for now, it seems that airbag-equipped cycling kit is something that is about to become a reality.

And the price, it may well be a relatively expensive option to begin with, and the cycling world can be quick to pour scorn on the latest expensive tech development, but the prospect of a genuine, real-world reduction in serious cycling injuries softens things somewhat is a big one. What price can be placed on any rider's safety and health?

WorldTour teams on board

At least two WorldTour teams are testing Aerobag tech right now: Picnic PostNL and Visma-Lease a Bike, with the system displayed in Picnic kit at Vellofollies. Several other teams also picked up the phone to Aerobag after the product display at Velofollies.

Picnic PostNL have been an early adopter, and the team has used crash-resistant Dyneema fabrics in its race kit for years. Piet Rooijakkers, long-time R&D expert at Picnic PostNL and ex pro rider, is in charge of testing the system and explains that the team has been communicating with Aerobag for a couple of years already.

Plenty of cyclists, pro and amateur, want to feel fast and light on the bike; you would think this would be the case for professional riders in particular, who might flinch at the prospect of an extra 700g, although Aerobag did mention that the system, when worn on the back, actually offered a small aero benefit in testing. Nevertheless, Rooijakkers indicats that the team's riders are not against using the system.

"Riders these days are pretty aware of the risks that they take. And they are not negative to it. They also want this. They are mindful of the downsides," he says.

Testing is going on within the team; it's clear riders won't start lining up for races wearing the Aerobag next week, but things are moving behind the scenes. Teams will want to ensure it's lightweight, breathable and comfortable enough for riders, that aerodynamics aren't affected, that it doesn't deploy at the wrong time, and importantly, that riders are happy and comfortable using the system.

Will we see riders wearing the system in a WorldTour race in 2026? Rooijakkers explained it may not happen this year, partly due to the level of approval that new tech needs to go through.

"I think when you can train with it, you can also race with it. But then we need to be sure that it's tested in the right ways. I think, to UCI race it this year will be tight. We need to go over some safety checks, and need a UCI agreement. That will at least be after the Tour de France."

When will we see Aerobag in a race?

Adam Hansen is the current president of the CPA (Cyclistes Professionnels Associés), the body which protects the interests of professional riders, and a board member for the UCI SafeR structure. He's also a racer who broke 17 bones as a professional rider during his long career.

Hansen was positive on the subject of whether the CPA would be happy with riders wearing the system and the mechanics of using it in races, where a lot is going on already.

"If the riders are willing to race with it, then we're happy, that's what it's got to come down to. We don't want it to be a compulsory thing at the moment, because we have to see how to implement it," he tells Cyclingnews.

"If it doesn't interfere with the riders' clothing and the way they feel and things like that, and the riders are happy, I think it's great that a team is testing it, and in SafeR, we have been discussing it, and we're happy to hear this is a step forward."

There can be resistance to change in cycling; certain things have been done a particular way for a long time. Perhaps at face value, the prospect of wearing some kind of airbag would make hardened European pros scoff, but Hansen believes it would be hard for riders not to see the potential benefits.

"I do believe there might be some resistance from some riders. But then I do believe that in five or 10 years, riders will say, 'how did they race without an airbag system, you know, 10 years ago?'"

Professionals probably just want faster, more aero and lighter when it comes to kit; comfort also plays a big part when you spend as many hours as they do on the bike. Possibly a reason why super-strong, but warmer and less flexible Dyneema fabric hasn't been universally embraced. Hansen, a renowned weight-weenie as a pro, says he would have welcomed the tech during his career.

"For me, if it's comfortable and it doesn't restrict you from racing, and it's not too hot, I would have welcomed it. I had a lot of bad injuries. I broke my sternum twice, my collarbone two or three times, and dislocated my shoulder. I broke 17 bones when I was racing.

"So I think something like this could have reduced quite a lot of accidents. I think the most important thing about the airbag system is that it will reduce the severe accidents, that's the important thing."

Hansen also mentioned SafeR's efforts in trying to implement an accelerometer sensor for racers to help make clear concussion decisions. The Aerobag electronics will allow more crash data to be analysed than ever before, as Van Loggerenberg explained.

"The electronics pack records the couple of seconds before the accident, the accident itself, and a couple of seconds afterwards. We can get to that data. So for the first time, we're actually going to be able to extract data on what actually happened in a crash."

It's probably a way off, but the ability to make a clear-cut decision regarding a crash impact and how that informs the concussion protocol decision-making process can only help keep riders safer long term.

10 years from now

The cycling world is littered with clever, innovative inventions that just didn't quite make it. But Aerobag has a palpable feeling of momentum; teams and brands are picking up the phone because they, like Aerobag, want to help keep cyclists safe, and this is a way to do it.

In the professional world, Aerobag will need to be tested by teams and riders until they feel happy to train and race with it and gain UCI certification as a safety device, amongst other things. But it may well be used in a race in the near future.

Van Loggerenberg's desire to keep cyclists safe is palpable; the brand seems genuinely intent on improving safety for everyone who rides a bike, not just racers.

"I think this is going to save careers, it's going to save severe injuries and often for accidents that are entirely not the athlete's fault. It's the dog running in front of you. It is the granny pulling out. It is the bus stopping. It's the stupid, stupid accidents that are not the fault of the athlete and that can have such unintended consequences," he says on the accidents that are sometimes the most heartbreaking of all.

Only time will tell if airbag safety technology is embraced. It isn't quite ready yet, and it may not come immediately, but it must represent an opportunity to move things forward when it comes to injury protection for cyclists, and Aerobag is intent on trying to achieve this goal. Perhaps in 10 years, cyclists will indeed look back and wonder how they ever rode without airbags.