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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Front pocket no-no

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

You can watch the incident in the video embedded below.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Injuries in the men's peloton

Bahrain Victorious

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

Caja Rural-Seguros RGA

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

Cofidis

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

Decathlon CMA CGM

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

EF Education-EasyPost

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

Jayco-AlUla

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

Lidl-Trek

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

Lotto-Intermarché

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

Modern Adventure Pro Cycling

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

Netcompany Ineos

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

NSN

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

Picnic-PostNL

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

Pinarello-Q36.5

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

UAE Team Emirates-XRG

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

UNO-X Mobility

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

Visma-Lease a Bike

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

No team

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

Injuries in the women's peloton

Injuries per team in the women's peloton.

AG Insurance-Soudal

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

Canyon-SRAM

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

EF Education-Oatly

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

FDJ United-SUEZ

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

Fenix-Premier Tech

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

Human Powered Health

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

Movistar

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

Picnic PostNL

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

Uno-X Mobility

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Analysis

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

On Tuesday, news broke that two-time Tour de France winner Jonas Vingegaard had crashed on a training ride while trying to evade a random member of the public, who was chasing him down a descent.

Visma-Lease a Bike confirmed that the Dane had crashed but avoided any serious injuries, and whilst they didn't provide any more insight into what had happened, they did make a plea for "fans on bikes to always put safety first" and to "please allow riders to train and give them as much space and peace as possible."

More detail of what had allegedly happened emerged on Strava, with a rider claiming he had followed Vingegaard down the descent after being passed by him, albeit saying he would have done that to any rider.

“You can be a professional, but you can also be humble. Jonas fell while trying to drop me down the Fuente la Reina trail, and when I stopped to ask how he was, he got angry with me for following him down the hill," read the amateur rider's Strava caption of his ride in Malaga, attaching a photo of the back of Vingegaard.

I’m not surprised Vingegaard was angry. In fact, I’d be surprised if he wasn't angry, even though he is Danish and by all accounts seems quite mild mannered. If someone tried to chase me down a descent and caused me to crash I’d be livid, and I’m not trying to win the biggest race on the planet.

Sitting on a pros wheel for a bit used to be a thing people would stride into the café and brag about while on a cycling holiday, often without proof, to the admiration of their buddies. Now, when everyone has a camera in their pocket or strapped to their bars, December and January in Spain seems akin to a Lycra-clad safari, with fans hunting down the 'Big 5' and others, on the training roads that are now well known. It may be fun to spot the pros, but deliberately riding so close to them or purposefully seeking them out can clearly be dangerous, and I think it’s also quite cringe too.

The danger factor

The fact that Vingegaard was chased down a hill and crashed is probably evidence enough, though I’m sure some of you will be itching to type ‘skill issue’ in the comments. Footage of another amateur riding alongside the Visma squad on a training ride has also bubbled to the surface recently, with the amateur riding on the wrong side of the road, round a blind corner, holding his phone filming. It doesn’t take a genius to see that it's bad for you and for the team if the worst were to happen.

To take the latest Vingegaard incident as a prime example, even though the amateur isn't directly wheelsucking just the knowledge that someone unknown is right behind you is sufficient to throw you off your game. It's distracting, nerve-wracking, and frustrating, and clearly enough to top you, quite literally, over the edge.

As amateurs we may think we’re incredible bike handlers, and some of us may be, but generally speaking we don’t have the same skill level as the pros and so riding behind and alongside them (it's never in front, is it?) creates a dangerous skill disparity and a risk that, to my eyes, is on the same level as being one of those idiots that run into the road while a race is on to get their five seconds of fame on the TV. Ruining a rider’s season is the same whether it’s during a race or in training.

This desire for a moment of second-hand fame is certainly exacerbated by social media and the rise of short-form video content. Accounts like Artem Shcherbyna’s, whose Instagram and YouTube fame is predicated on chasing pros down, have thousands of followers, and naturally will have created emulators out on the road, phones in hand, looking at their targets rather than the road ahead.

It's even happened in actual races, like when someone rode alongside the riders during Liège-Bastogne-Liège Femmes in 2025, or last summer when a fan on a bike managed to get on the Tour de France finish line.

It must be said, in Shcherbyna's defense at least, he uses hands free set-ups that at least allow him to keep both hands on the bars, and seems to stay at the back and make himself known to the teams and riders.

It's a bit creepy, isn't it?

In no other profession would members of the public attempt to chase someone down and follow them while they go about their duties. Yes, celebrities get followed, as do politicians, but mostly this happens when they’re not physically doing their actual work.

I’d never dream of just strolling onto Arsenal’s training ground and trying to get involved with their set piece training of a Thursday lunchtime, and neither would I walk into Downing Street, take a seat at the table, and start opining about what I think we should do about the cost of living crisis during a Cabinet meeting, so why do people think it’s OK to ride up, often unannounced, beside someone just trying to do their day job in peace?

What’s more, the glorification of it on social media legitimises people doing it at home. I’ve had people sit on my wheel unannounced for almost the entirety of my commute home. I’ve had to tell them they’re being weird before, and while I am relatively comfortable doing so, it's not that easy for everyone, particularly not more vulnerable riders.

I'm sure there will be those of you who think that, because the riders are on public roads, then this is all totally fair game, but I'm afraid the concept of personal space doesn't simply disappear because you're on a freely accessible highway.

It doesn’t make you look like a pro, it makes you look needy

The underlying implication with anyone posting clips of them riding alongside a pro is 'I could be a pro, too'. I hate to break it to you, but you couldn’t. They’re probably on some mega Zone 2 trundle, while you’re desperately hanging off the back in Zone 5 trying to see straight.

They aren’t going to offer you a contract on the spot, and I suspect they resent you getting in the way. It can look like you're searching for validation, and while I get the excitement – I have ridden with pros on bike launches in choreographed environments, and it is undoubtedly a thrill seeing them in the flesh – I find the excitement is enough in just seeing them fly by.

Just let them do their 9-5 in peace; the life of a pro cyclist is hard enough without having every Tom, Dick, or Harry making life more sketchy.

To close, in Steve Cummings' autobiography The Break: Life as a Cycling Maverick, he details life as a young professional, with some things to bear in mind if you ever happen to find yourself sharing the road with your sporting idols:

"For some reason I was late getting to the camp, and my roommate Ludo Dierckxens was even later because he’d only been signed by the team at the last minute. But far from getting some high-intensity training to make up for lost time, the rides Landbouwkrediet asked us to do were crazy easy, to the point where often as I headed to the hotel lift after our morning’s training, I would be saying to myself 'f******g hell, we’re not even touching the pedals.'

"Ludo and I were so concerned we were under-training, we both opted to stay on for another week after the camp and we went out for high-power rides instead with the top-level Fasso Bortolo squad, who were getting in their early season training in a nearby resort and whose roster featured big name Classics guys like Juan Antonio Flecha, Fabian Cancellara, Filippo Pozzato…we’d sit at the back of their group, trying to keep out of the way and hoping nobody’d notice us. Hardly a glamourous way of getting the miles in, but far better than the work-outs we’d been getting in the previous week with our own team."

The 2026 season is the second year of the UCI's yellow card discipline system, and it hasn't taken long for a rider to fall foul of the rules and pick up a warning card this season.

Last season, stage 6 of the Tour Down Under saw Decathlon AG2R mechanic Luis Lamas Vazquez receive cycling's first yellow card for leaning out of a moving vehicle.

This year, it has only taken until the second day of the same race for a yellow card to be handed out, this time to another member of the same team, Decathlon CMA CGM.

The French team celebrated victory on the second stage of the race on Wednesday as Danish sprinter Tobias Lund Andresen sped to glory in Tanunda, taking over the race lead. However, his teammate, Norwegian rider Tord Gudmestad, was shown a yellow card.

Gudmestad was the last man for Lund Andresen, successfully dropping him off to launch the final sprint, but it was what he did a few seconds later which saw him penalised. The 24-year-old raised an arm in celebration as Lund Andresen crossed the line, meaning he broke regulation 5.2 – 'Rider decelerating during a sprint and endangering other riders (a teammate of a sprinter knowingly staying in the line of other riders, celebrating in the peloton, talking on the radio, or taking their hands off the handlebars inside the peloton)'.

As a result, Gudmestad was shown his first yellow card, demoted from 13th place to 134th, and he'll also receive a small fine.

Gudmestad now has to avoid picking up another yellow card this week. Should he do so, he'll be disqualified from the race and handed a seven-day suspension from racing. Three yellow cards in 30 days equal a 14-day suspension, while six in a year bring a 30-day suspension.

He's the 114th rider to pick up a yellow card since the system was introduced at the start of 2025, joining big names including Tim Merlier, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, and Jonathan Milan on the list of riders to be shown a card.

Meanwhile, he's the 10th rider to pick up a yellow card for breaking regulation 5.2. Laurence Pithie, Matthew Brennan, and Kaden Groves are among the other riders to fall foul of that regulation.

Tour Down Under race director Stuart O'Grady has said race organisers will "keep a close eye" on the risk of potentially race-disrupting fires in the Adelaide Hills this weekend when temperatures are forecast to rise above 40°C.

Tuesday evening's prologue opener went off without a hitch in Adelaide, with Samuel Watson scoring the victory and first ochre jersey of the race, though temperatures are expected to rise later in the week.

The areas surrounding Adelaide have been assigned an 'extreme' fire danger rating on Friday by the South Australian Country Fire Service, while a large bushfire burned over 1,600 acres of land last weekend close to Willunga Hill south of Adelaide, which hosts stage 4 on Saturday.

O'Grady said that the situation is being monitored, with the possibility of stage cancellations on the table should the fire risk worsen.

"The UCI have got the extreme weather protocols in place. But I haven't heard of a race yet that's been cancelled or postponed due to heat," O'Grady said in the pre-race press conference on Tuesday.

"There are different regulations and restrictions around heat and how that's gauged – taking into consideration humidity and all those kinds of things. So obviously, if it's a catastrophic fire danger, and we're in through the Adelaide Hills, then the stage would be cancelled. But yeah, we'll keep a close eye on it."

The UCI's Extreme Weather Protocol designates temperatures above 28°C on the Wet Bulb Globe Temperature scale as being in the high risk, red zone, where races can consider moving start and finish times, neutralising sections or cancelling stages.

On Thursday and Friday, the Tour Down Under heads into the hills east of Adelaide for stages 2 and 3, with the fire safety rating rising from 'high' on Thursday to 'extreme' ahead of the weekend. Ratings for the weekend, when the race hits Willunga before concluding with a circuit race in Stirling, will be released later this week.

Five years ago, the race passed through areas badly hit by bushfires in the region, though the race hasn't yet been directly affected by fires.

Writing in the Guardian last week, Australian racer Maeve Plouffe likened the race to "hosting international friends in a house that is visibly on fire" as she warned of the dangers of racing in extreme heat.

Plouffe noted the number of January days over 41°C in Adelaide has tripled in the 26 years since the Tour Down Under started, compared to the previous 26 years.

O'Grady said in the pre-race press conference that the hot spell isn't "unusual" for the region, adding that riders are used to racing in such temperatures, both in Australia and during the European summer.

"We're in a bit of a hot spell, but that's not unusual for Adelaide or South Australia in January. I think the guys and the women are fairly used to hot conditions, so I don't think they expect anything less, to be honest," he said.

"It's been warm conditions, but they're well-trained professionals and used to dealing with hot conditions, especially racing the Tour de France in the peak French summer and the Vuelta in the peak of the Spanish summer. So we'll keep a close eye on it. But yeah, the guys and women are professionals, they're well-trained and ready for anything."

Filippo Baronicini (UAE Team Emirates XRG) has made a full recovery from serious injuries to his face sustained in a crash during the Tour de Pologne in August, but expressed serious concerns about the treatment he received at the race in an interview with Sporza.

The Italian crashed along with other riders on a tricky descent through a forest with 22km to go on stage 3 to Wałbrzych, suffering numerous fractures to bones in his face after crashing into a wall.

The stage was stopped for 16 minutes, and the GC neutralised due to the seriousness of the crash, yet Baroncini revealed that he was not immediately taken to hospital.

"I still remember every detail of the fall. On a dangerous descent, there was a lot of gravel in a bend. I lost control of my bike, and unfortunately, I fell where I fell," the 25-year-old said.

"I had a broken jaw, a busted nose, and nearly went blind. I still don't dare look at the photos from right after my fall."

Baroncini expressed his gratitude for Michał Kwiatkowski, who was also involved in the fall, for asking his Ineos team doctor to attend to him, but added, "There's still something that keeps nagging at me. I was in a stationary ambulance for 45 minutes - incomprehensible when you know the condition I was in.

"In the end, it was the same Ineos team doctor who asked the paramedics to hurry up and take me to the hospital."

Once at the hospital, Baroncini underwent surgery for a fractured collarbone, but because of the injuries to his face, he was put into an induced coma.

"My father and brother then traveled to Poland to watch me sleep in a hospital bed for days. Afterward, I heard how difficult it was for them during that period," Baroncini said tearily. "If I could have told my father I was OK before my coma, I would have. But I wasn't able to."

He was flown to Italy while still in an induced coma and underwent 11 hours of surgery on his jaw and face. "When I woke up after two weeks, I realized it was a miracle that I was still alive and that I could still see.

"Because I was wearing cycling glasses, I broke my nose. But those same glasses saved my eyes. I was only a few millimeters away from going blind."

While his physical wounds have healed, the experience has left lasting psychological damage.

"I still haven't had the courage to look at the photos from right after my fall. I can't bear to see my severely damaged face," he said. "I've recently started talking to a psychologist so I can forget this whole experience. Because if I keep thinking about that fall, I won't perform anymore."

Because of the time spent off the bike, Baroncini is expecting to start his 2026 season a bit later, around the end of March. "I still need to seriously improve my fitness before then. If I get through this period with a strong head, a new career will begin for me."

The Italian has an eye on the Classics, with Milan-San Remo his biggest aim.

"But I would also be very happy if I ever won a Belgian classic. I have a special bond with Belgium. In 2021, I became U23 world champion in Leuven. In 2024, I won my first professional race there with the Super 8 Classic, and last season I won the Baloise Belgium Tour. The Belgian roads bring me happiness."

Polti-VisitMalta racer Germán Gómez has become the latest rider to be hit by a driver this off-season, with the Colombian suffering several fractures as a result.

Gómez was training in Santa Rosa de Viterbo in Boyacá, Colombia, on December 5 when he was hit by a van driver. He suffered fractures to his left clavicle and the first metacarpal of his left hand as a result of the collision.

Polti-VisitMalta reported the news on Wednesday, noting that Gómez had been forced to miss the team's ongoing training camp in Spain.

"Medical checks scheduled for next week will provide a clearer timeline for his full recovery," the team stated.

24-year-old Gómez raced his second season with the Italian squad in 2025, scoring a season-best result of sixth at the Tour of Türkiye along the way. He issued a warning to drivers to take the issue of safety seriously.

"Please pay the utmost attention," Gómez said. "You are not the only road users – human lives are riding those two wheels!"

Gómez is the fifth professional rider to be hit by a driver in recent months.

In June, Cian Uijtdebroeks was lucky to escape injury as he trained for the Belgian National Championships, while in October, Pierre Latour was forced to draw his season – and career – to a premature close when he suffered an arm injury after being struck by a truck driver.

Last month, Thibault Guernalec suffered multiple fractures and a concussion after a similar incident, while later in the month, Lorena Wiebes avoided injury after a driver struck her from behind.

On a notice on its website, Italian brand Bianchi has recalled its top-spec Impulso RC gravel race bike and has issued an immediate stop ride notice. A statement outlines that:

"A recent quality control inspection has identified a defect in the integrated carbon fibre handlebar, mounted as standard on Bianchi Impulso RC bikes purchased up to 20/11/2025. This defect could result in the handlebar breaking during use."

The recall only affects certain codes. The affected codes are: YTB84, YUB80, and YUB81. These codes can be found 'on the invoice, possibly on the receipt and/or on the warranty card'.

Given the Impulso cockpit was also sold as a standalone product, these are also subject to the same recall and stop ride notice. Cockpits with the codes C2306238 and C2306226 are affected, and these can be found on the underside of the cockpit.

Affected consumers should contact a Bianchi dealership to arrange a free replacement. A full list of Bianchi dealerships can be found here, and if you're unsure if you are affected, then contacting your Biachi dealership is the best course of action.

Belgian cyclocross champion Marion Norbert Riberolle was hit by a car in training on Sunday, ruling her out of her next three planned races and leaving her with an upper leg wound that required staples.

"A 'small' unexpected fall, not on the training schedule this morning. I left the hospital this afternoon after being hit by a motorist for refusing priority, and unfortunately, it hit hard," said Norbert Riberolle on Facebook, describing the incident and posting pictures of her sealed wound.

"The result: a few staples, a hurt back, pain everywhere and a bad morale. Luckily, the bike is doing better than me.

"Bit of a rest now, time to let it all sink in, and get back on the bike and racing soon, I hope. Thank you, everyone, for the calls and messages. Most of all, be careful of us on the road: we cyclists don't have much to protect us."

Her team confirmed on Monday that she would miss Tuesday's Superprestige Niel and both races planned for the weekend in Merksplas and at the Flandriencross in Hamme on Sunday.

Though left with "pain everywhere," fortunately, she escaped anything more sinister than the large gash on her left side, and a decision will be made by her team, Crelan-Corendon, on Monday, on when she can return to racing.

"Belgian champion Marion Norbert Riberolle has to let the next three races - Niel, Merksplas and Hamme - pass. Marion came in on Sunday during a training collision with a car," said her team on Instagram.

"She suffered a deep cut wound, which was closed with staples. Recovery is going well, but she's getting some much needed rest. Next Monday there will be a re-evaluation to determine when she can resume the competition."

The 26-year-old has been in solid form so far this cyclocross season, taking the win at the Superprestige Ruddervoorde and finishing on the podium at the Rapencross, Exact Cross Essen and Kermiscross Ardooie.

Under-23 cyclocross world champion Zoe Bäckstedt is set to miss the start of the 2025-26 cyclocross season after suffering two hand and wrist fractures in a training crash last Friday.

The 21-year-old announced the news in a post on Instagram in which she thanked her bike helmet for saving her life.

Now, Bäckstedt will miss her opening races of the upcoming campaign, which would've fallen in November as they did last season with the X2O Trofee Lokeren, Superprestige Merksplas, and X2O Trofee Hamme.

"October - the highs and lows," Bäckstedt wrote on her monthly roundup Instagram post, which included images of her heavily damaged helmet and of her heavily strapped wrist.

"A perfect month of training and ‘holidays’ but a crash for me in training yesterday resulted in 2 small fractures in my hand and wrist… It’s a shame to have this outcome and to miss the first races of the season but give me time and I’ll come back stronger.

"One thing I know for sure, my helmet saved my life. Thank you Giro Cycling. Wear a helmet, please."

Bäckstedt, who combines her cyclocross season with road racing for Canyon-Sram-Zondacrypto, enjoyed a consistent season among the elites last winter, recording 15 top-10 placings across 15 races and taking fourth overall in the UCI World Cup standings.

To round off her season, she stormed to the under-23 world title in Liévin, France, beating Marie Schreiber (Luxembourg) by 39 seconds. She went on to enjoy her best road racing season to date, too, winning the British national team trial title, the under-23 world time trial title, and the Baloise Ladies Tour.

She's now expected to be back racing towards the end of November, with her previous cyclocross debut set to fall in the middle of the month.

Just hours before the wet and windy weather conditions hit the Bentonville, Arkansas area Saturday morning, organisers of the Life Time Big Sugar Gravel presented by Kenetik, the final and decisive race of the Life Time Grand Prix, made the call to shorten the 100-mile event to half the distance.

The forecast from the National Weather Service (NWS), 18 hours before the first riders taking the course, issued a 'hazardous weather outlook', with the possibility of severe thunderstorms 'where large hail and damaging wind gusts will be the main threats'.

Life Time, which owns and organises the race and series, did not wait for the storms but made the call just one-and-a-half hours prior to the elite starts to cut the route by half the distance, now using the 50-mile route to determine winners of Big Sugar Gravel and award final points in the Grand Prix.

On Friday organisers sent an email to competitors to outline a contingency plan in case of severe weather, with options from delaying the start times, cutting the 100-mile route to half the distance or cancelling competitions altogether.

"If conditions become dangerous, the race may be canceled. This is a last resort," the official statement sent from Life Time on Friday afternoon read.

"Depending on weather conditions, start times may be delayed — by no more than one hour. They will not start earlier than scheduled. The 100-mile race may be shortened to the 50-mile course. This will be communicated no later than 7 a.m. We strongly encourage all riders to download both course maps.

"Please remember: weather in this area can bring strong storms, hail, and even tornadoes. If severe weather occurs, seek shelter immediately and do not continue riding until it’s safe."

The first riders on the now 50-mile course of the Life Time Big Sugar Gravel presented by Kenetik, will be the elite men at 7:25 a.m. local time from Bentonville City Square, with the elite women following 10 minutes later. The longest distance had included more than 7,700 feet of elevation gain across remote, rugged climbing with ‘gloriously chunky’ gravel and off-camber descents on the majority of the route.

While more than 105 elite men and 60 elite women are competing for a share in a $30,000 single-race prize purse, the invitation-only Grand Prix competitors - 20 of 25 elite men and 21 of 25 elite women will settle accounts on a $200,000 series prize purse. Additionally, there are qualifications on offer for the 2026 series for the top five elite women and elite men, as well as the top two under-23 riders.

It's not just the elite races for Life Time, but the thousands of amateurs in north-east Arkansas for three distances of gravel rides through the Ozark mountains. Age group divisions are scheduled to take the course at 7:50 a.m., with riders registered for the original 50-mile route beginning at 8:30 a.m. and 25-milers at 9:00 a.m.

Sofía Gómez Villafañe (Specialized Off-Road) only needs to start Big Sugar Gravel to wrap up her third Life Time Grand Prix title for elite women. Keegan Swenson (Santa Cruz htSQD) has swept the men's title since the series began in 2022, but there are three riders who could topple his supremacy on Saturday.

Only the top 10 riders in each elite division of the series will take a share in the rich payout, so stakes are high. On the men's side, there are as many as nine riders fighting to finish in the top 10, including Russell Finsterwald (TREK Driftless), who won Big Sugar Gravel in 2022.

"It looks like we're going to have upwards of two inches of rain at some point, and that gets me excited. You don't know what's gonna happen out there. It takes your mind off the suffering a little bit, and you just get out and do the bike racing," the Colorado rider said Friday before a final ride on part of the course with a group from his sponsor Continental.

"Equipment selection becomes a big role. So it's been fun kind of tinkering, deciding what I'm going to do in terms of everything from chain wax to tyres to how I'm going to consume my nutrition on the bike. So there's a lot of strategy behind it as conditions change, and I think that's something that plays my strength, because I tend to overthink things, which helps in scenarios like this."

A rough timeline could see the first showers as early at 8:00 a.m. local time, just after sunrise and the elite starts. However, the rays of the sun are not expected to peak through clouds until after 5:00 p.m., more than four hours after the first elite men are expected to complete the course. Along with a forecast of one to two inches of rain, a cold front will bring northerly wind gusts by midday ranging between 25 to 35 mph, according to the NWS.

Live streaming for Big Sugar Gravel will begin at 7:10 a.m. local time on the official Life Time Grand Prix YouTube channel and Life Time app, through a partnership with Orange Seal. Cameras at the finish line will continue to broadcast riders crossing the finish line through the 12-hour mark.

"Mother Nature can be unpredictable - we appreciate your flexibility. Stay safe, stay smart, and enjoy the ride," Life Time noted in the statement.

A year on from his retirement from racing due to the after-effects of multiple concussions, former Groupama-FDJ rider Marc Sarreau has said that the injury is "not taken seriously at all" in cycling.

The Frenchman, who drew his 10-year career to a close at the end of the 2024 season, lifted the lid on his struggles with concussions in recent years in an interview with Le Parisien.

"The realisation that this type of shock is very dangerous will come gradually," Sarreau, who raced and trained through dangerous situations last season, said.

"We can't afford to say: 'Okay, let's grit our teeth and leave the next day.' For me, it's not taken seriously at all."

The 32-year-old had been racing on in the latter half of 2024, having suffered a concussion at the Tour of Slovenia in June, in the hopes of securing a new two-year contract with his team. He told Le Parisien that he had suffered from "headaches every day, lack of attention, and fatigue" due to the injury and noted that it was "actually unusual" he was able to leave the race as a result.

"Looking back, I think I put myself in danger by returning after the Tour of Slovenia," he said. "I followed the concussion protocol… however, things weren't going very well, even though I felt a slight improvement.

"When I started racing again, the symptoms worsened. The headaches increased. As soon as I pushed myself, my blood pressure rose. But I couldn't see myself asking to stop racing"

In the end, the decision was almost made for Sarreau. He had been negotiating a new contract with his team and forcing himself to continue racing.

Sarreau said, however, that Groupama-FDJ boss Marc Madiot called him in September 2024 to cancel his proposed two-year contract extension.

"He called to tell me that, with the head problems I'd been having since June, which weren't healing, they preferred to keep me safe," Sarreau said. "They feared that another crash would cause something worse.

"The more the races went on, the more fatigue I accumulated. It got worse and worse. There were times when I thought I could crash at any moment. I didn't feel responsive, and nothing was going right.

"After a few races, I still said I couldn't come back. It was during the Renewi Tour where I gave up. The team then entered me in the GP Fourmies and GP d'Isbergues. Then there was the phone call from Marc."

Sarreau said that he later saw a specialist in Paris for tests, which "turned out to be very bad."

The specialist told him that his brain was not recovering properly from the concussions and crashes, which had included major falls at the 2020 Tour de Pologne and 2021 Tour de Limousin. Sarreau was warned that "the more I fell to the ground, the worse it would get."

Sarreau admitted that the crash in Poland – which came a day after Fabio Jakobsen's own career-threatening crash with Dylan Groenewegen – had been the start of his problem.

"That was the beginning of the problems, but I didn't know it. It was just the first of the concussions," he said.

"I understand now that we no longer absorb shocks in the same way. Normally, if you fall on your head, you can return after a week. Paradoxically, in Poland, I was lucky that I had also broken my collarbone and damaged my knee, which made a longer break mandatory."

Sarreau said that the issue of concussions is "not taken seriously at all" in cycling, even after the introduction of the concussion protocol.

Following his fall in Slovenia, which resulted in Sarreau shattering his helmet, he got back on his bike and rode the final 40km – "I dropped out of the peloton, realising I was barely lucid" – alone.

He withdrew from the race overnight after being seen by another team's doctor (Groupama-FDJ's doctor wasn't at the race).

"I saw another team's doctor, who told me that the symptoms were minimal. Yet I couldn't even write a proper text message to my partner. The next day, I didn't want to start," Sarreau said.

"[Later] I respected the seven days without training. In the morning, I was 'stoned', as if I hadn't slept all night. During my rides, I was in pain after 10 minutes. The team had to consult a neurosurgeon by video, but he told me to do the opposite of the concussion protocol, which says to ride quietly until the headaches go away. He told me to do very intensive rides.

"But in the morning, to go to training, I had to take [pain medication] Doliprane. I was able to resume competing after that. There were times when it was fine and others when I scared myself. I would put myself right at the back of the peloton because in the middle, if a guy touched me, I was no longer reactive – while part of my job was to protect our sprinter, Paul Penhoët."

Sarreau is thankfully out of the peloton now, but the after-effects of his concussions still linger, he said.

"Before, I didn't forget anything. Now, my partner has to remind me of a lot of things. I understood that the brain is like a points-based license. I slowly ate away at the points in my brain and I was close to having none left."

It's been a hectic few months, a non-stop run of success and a steep learning curve for Paula Ostiz as the 18-year-old Junior World Champion prepares for her full debut in the WorldTour next January with Movistar. But for now, she's very much taking it all in her stride.

In less than a fortnight and riding for Spain, Ostiz amassed a silver medal and gold medal in the Junior Time Trial and Road Race in the UCI Road World Championships in Rwanda, then gold medals in both categories in the UEC Road European Championships in France.

However, the congratulations she received from longstanding Movistar manager Eusebio Unzue after taking gold in Rwanda as the two walked together towards the winner's podium was very much a sign, too, of the direction Ostiz would be taking as a professional in the months and years to come.

Although UAE Team ADQ tried to sign her, she told Mundo Deportivo in a lengthy interview, her preference was always going to be with Movistar. She already caught Movistar's eye in the Cadetes (U16) category, and by the end of her first year in the next category of Juveniles (17-18-year-olds), she had already signed with them, she said.

"It's the home team" - Ostiz is from Pamplona, the same city where Movistar has its headquarters, "so it's the one that suits me the best, where I wanted to be and where they will help me a lot. They talk Spanish, and it's like a family."

She also has a longstanding admiration for Alejandro Valverde, both the Spanish national trainer and an ambassador and gravel racer for the Movistar team, and that can have done no harm to her preference for the Spanish WorldTour squad.

"Having him by my side the day I won the Worlds was incredible. I've always liked his ambition and the way he never gave up," she said.

"He always wanted to win a Worlds, and he did so at 38."

Ostiz has done the same at 18, of course and after racing and finishing three Italian autumn Classics with Movistar - her best placing in Veneto Women on Wednesday, where she took 19th - her next step will be to make a full debut with the squad in 2026.

Asked whether she felt worried about the big step she is about to take, Ostiz answered, "Not fear, just respect."

"I've already raced a few events" - at professional level - "and it's gone well. I'm young."

As yet she has no idea what events she might do next season in her first full year, she says, but I'm guessing I'll do the Classics and then I'll start seeing more or less where I'm at."

"I think I'd be good in the Giro, Tour and Vuelta, but it's too soon to say. You have to enjoy every race you do, every effort you make, being with the team and the teammates. Otherwise,” she said with refreshing directness - “it's crap."

Miguel Indurain, beating the boys and the next step forward with Movistar

As could only be the case in Pamplona, birthplace of Miguel Indurain, Ostiz said her family would follow the five-times Tour de France winner's career closely, and that it was thanks to her father and brothers that she began riding a bike, aged six.

"I don't remember where my first race was," she told Mundo Deportivo, "But I started out in the promesas category [8-year-olds - Ed.] and I was already beating the boys.

"I kept going all the way to infantiles [13-14 years old - Ed.] until they stopped me from racing with the boys because I beat them, and there were parents who'd complain that a girl was beating their sons. So I switched over to racing with girls, and I got bored."

"The boys didn't give me any stick about it [beating them], they didn't even say anything to me, I got on fine with them. It was more the parents [who got upset]."

Moving into the more senior categories, despite such runaway success, Ostiz clearly has kept her feet on the ground, paying considerable tribute to her family and trainer Imanol Etxarri for the contribution they have made to her career.

But equally clearly, Ostiz feels ready for the next step forward with Movistar, too, even if she said that it's too soon to know what kind of rider she will develop into, as "that is something I have to discover."

"Next season, when I get into the WorldTour, I'll see where I can do best," she said. "For one thing, I already know that I have to improve on the long ascents."

So far, though, the signs Ostiz is ready to keep climbing upwards in all aspects of the sport she's chosen could hardly be bettered.

The second edition of the Tour of Mentougou descended into controversy after Spanish rider Mario Aparicio (Burgos Burpellet BH) was ejected for making "inappropriate remarks on his personal social media platform" after the opening stage on Sunday, according to the race organisers, who are demanding a public apology.

Aparicio uploaded his file from the first stage to Strava with "E1 tour mentougou" with two emoji: a pig and the Chinese flag.

What followed was a shocking storm of comments on his Strava profile and other social media platforms toward Aparicio, with users posting insults and even sending death threats.

The organisers moved to disqualify Aparicio on grounds that "the content of these remarks violated the spirit of sportsmanship, damaged the image of the race, and caused a serious negative impact", according to their statement.

While Aparicio's team contends the post was an innocent dig at his teammate Carlos Garcia, who won the first stage, according to El Mundo, Chinese internet users who live in Spain noted that the word 'cochino' [pig] is often used as a derogatory term (eg. filthy pig) or simply to mean 'dirty'.

"Mario posted the pig emoji as a joke toward his teammate who had won the stage, something without malice and unrelated to the Chinese people," the Burgos Burpellet BH team said to El Mundo.

"Just an unfortunate coincidence. However, people saw it and took it out of context, misinterpreting it since the Chinese flag appeared next to it."

While Aparicio left the country, his teammates continued to dominate the UCI 2.2-ranked race, winning the first and third stages of the three-day race and sweeping the overall podium with Clément Alleno taking the victory, García finishing second and Antonio Angulo in third.

Alleno won the points classification, García the mountains classification and Burgos BH also won the teams classification.

EF Education-EasyPost's Richard Carapaz has escaped serious injury after crashing heavily in the final 30km of Il Lombardia, his team confirmed on Saturday evening.

The American team described the final Monument as a "tough day" for their squad, with Carapaz's crash occurring after other options, Ben Healy and Neilson Powless, had suffered from fatigue and switched their plans to support the Ecuadorian.

However, it wasn't to be for Carapaz, as he came off on the fast descent of the Passo di Ganda, as the riders tried to chase down the solo Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG).

Fortunately, despite the speed of the crash, his injuries were only minor.

"Richie suffered road rash but escaped any broken bones in his crash," the team said. "Initial tests cleared him of a concussion, but our medical team will continue to monitor him in the coming days."

In the end, EF's final Monument ended anti-climactically, with only two riders finishing, and Alex Baudin in 29th their top result.

Tour de France standout rider Healy has had a strong final part of the season, finishing on the podium at the World Championships, but was beset by tiredness in the final big race of the year.

"We had high hopes with three big riders coming into the race," EF sports director Charly Wegelius said, referring to Healy, Carapaz and Powless.

"For Ben, it was obviously one week or one race too long after a long, long season with a lot of highs, including his Tour de France stage win, days in the yellow jersey, and recent third place at worlds," he said of the Irish rider.

"Neilson was also struggling a little bit. Going for goals like this late in the year, you always run the risk of running out of gas, and that's what happened.

"Richie was handling a bit of fatigue as well. We tried to keep his week as light as possible. He was performing well late in the race, and then he had that crash, and that was the end of it.

"That’s cycling. We hoped for more, but I am glad that Richie’s injuries don’t seem to be as serious as they could have been, and he shouldn’t be held back this winter."

Alexander Kristoff's career was meant to end with a sprint – and hopefully a winning one – on stage 8 of Le Tour de Langkawi, but instead it ended with a rickshaw ride guard of honour for the rider with a professional career extending across two decades.

The Uno-X Mobility rider with four stage wins at the Tour de France, plus Milan-San Remo and Tour of Flanders amongst his career win tally of 98 faced a quick and unwelcome change of plans when he crashed on Saturday, leaving him with bloodied up hands and arms, and unable to safely hold the handlebars in the hustle and bustle of the peloton, let alone in a sprint.

"I feel banged up and I'm a bit sad I cannot race, because I think today could have suited me, of course, and it's a strange to be here on the start and do a guard of honor and don't do the race, but that's the part of the sport, the bad crashes, and yesterday, it was me my turn," Kristoff told reporters, including Cyclingnews, on the start line at Tangkak on Sunday.

"I didn't have many bad crashes in my career, and I'm not badly injured, but I think my bones are quite strongly built, because I never broke anything in my whole career. So I'm actually happy about that, but now I regret a little bit I didn't try more to go to the finish line, but it was very difficult with my hands."

The upside, however, was a guard of honour not to be forgotten. The crowds lined the barriers, and the riders lined the road toward the start line, wheels spinning in the air as they paid respect to the impressive career of the Norwegian rider. They parted ways to reveal Kristoff in a rickshaw, delivering a memorable – if not as planned – farewell to a memorable career.

"It's strange, a bit," said Kristoff when he was asked how it felt. "But I've also thought about it for a long time. So I'm ready for it," said the soon-to-be father of five, with the latest addition to the family expected in February.

"I'm not so scared for the transition, because at home is so busy, like Jens Voigt – I think he was not bored at home either. He had a lot of kids, so there is a lot of things happening, so I think my wife is very relieved now we have two adults that can do stuff, and not only one. My training is not the first priority anymore."

Also, while Le Tour de Langkawi may not have delivered the wins he was hoping for, missing out with the closest of second places to Matteo Malucelli (XDS-Astana) on stage 3, but it has delivered a realisation.

"When I didn't win here, the stage that I got really perfect, but still I managed to lose it, and then I think it's time to stop. It's time to let all the guys take over, because a few years ago, I would have won it," said Kristoff. "I'm not getting faster. As a sprinter, I felt also that the first thing I start to lose is the top speed and the maximum acceleration.

"I will say my steady power for a little bit longer is more or less the same as some years ago, but I'm missing quite a few watts actually, on the peak power compared to my best years. So then it's harder to win sprints … it's hard to keep the faster guys, the younger guys behind you."

Saturday's stage 7 of Petronas Le Tour de Langkawi was meant to be the second last day of racing for retiring Alexander Kristoff (Uno-X Mobility) but his retirement run was cruelly cut short when he fell halfway through the stage.

Visibly in pain as he stood on the side of the road, the rider quickly realised getting back on the bike was not an option and stepped away from racing for the last time, not with the hoped-for victory celebration but instead an injury.

The crash occurred at around 110km to go, Kristoff going down on a wide straight stretch of road in dry conditions, along with his teammate Erlend Blikra.

"I kind of lost my handlebar at full speed, 50, 60k. It was the waste zone, and I went to take a gel, just to throw it away in the waste zone after consuming it so I'm with my hand back in my pocket and suddenly there is a patch on the road, some bad condition," Kristoff explained in an interview on Uno-X social media.

He added that he had also turned his head as Erlend had said something about the waste zone.

"So just when I'm not watching the road, and with one hand on the handlebar, I hit bad tarmac, and I think my handlebar just turned. I flew over or I lost the handlebar. I'm not sure – one of two."

Fellow sprinter Blikra, who has stood on the stage podium four times so far at the event, got back on the bike and returned to the peloton, but Kristoff was in no condition to do the same.

"The hand is quite bloody and full of holes, and the arm is also bad, so it was more or less impossible to hold the handlebar with this condition," he said.

Kristoff came to Le Tour de Langkawi with wins in mind, hoping to turn his career victory total from 98 to 100 before Sunday's final stage. There was a near miss on stage 3, with Matteo Malucelli (XDS-Astana) beating the 38-year-old by just centimetres in a photo finish.

However, there were still expected to be two last sprint finishes left for the rider and both had features that played to the Norwegian's strengths. For a start, Saturday's stage was the longest at 214.9km, perfect for the 2014 Milan-San Remo winner.

"Today is a long race," Uno-X Mobility sports director Leonard Snoeks told Cyclingnews in Melaka before the start of the stage. "So he's usually good when it comes across above 200k, that's usually when he wakes up."

Then on Sunday, two category 2 climbs in the final 30km and that harder finish, Kristoff said earlier in the week, made it a potential opportunity.

Though, unfortunately, there was no chance to put that to the test.

"It's not the way I wanted to end the race or the career, but cycling is a brutal sport and it changes fast," said Kristoff. "Yesterday I was sick, today I felt a bit better, but then I go down very hard. That's life, but I will not dwell too much about it … life goes on. I had a good time here until the crash."

It may be the end of an era for the four-time Tour de France stage winner, who also includes the Tour of Flanders and Milan-San Remo among his 98 career victories, but there will be no shortage of things to keep him busy beyond cycling.

For a start, his fifth child is set to arrive in February, but on the career front there are no solid plans to announce yet.

"I will enjoy a bit time off, and then maybe in the future, maybe I come back in cycling, or maybe something else. We will see if I miss it or not," Kristoff told Cyclingnews on stage 4.

CPA President Adam Hansen has called for stages in races to be shortened, or cancelled, in advance in a bid to stop protestors from disrupting them and placing riders in danger.

Hansen's idea comes after the Vuelta a España was seriously affected by massive and multiple pro-Palestine protests, directed against the presence of Israel-Premier Tech in the race.

Many of the protests passed off peacefully and without any incident. But a small minority of demonstrations, including actual blocking of the route, caused serious disruptions and led to five stages having their routes altered. The last stage into Madrid, as well as the winners' final awards ceremony, was cancelled after the pro-Palestine protestors tore down barriers and moved onto the finishing circuit en masse.

However, Hansen's opinion is that had the Vuelta simply pulled the plug on those later stages in advance, it would have removed the protestors' objective - even if it would also have brought the race to a premature end.

"If we had cancelled La Vuelta on a Friday and the last three days were not shot [on TV], the protesters would not have had their platform," Hansen told the BBC.

"By trying every day, we showed there was a platform. [By] cancelling would have shown them there's no point in coming to bike races because we turned the TV off.

"Yes, it's a huge deal for [Vuelta organisers] Unipublic to do something like that. But we have to make a small sacrifice today for the long-term future of cycling."

Race organisers of the Vuelta had been adamant that it would reach Madrid despite the ongoing protests, with race boss Javier Guillén saying categorically after stage 16 was partly suspended that "there is no Plan B". Rumours that the race would finish in a motor racing circuit outside Madrid never became more than speculation.

Hansen disagrees, saying, "Protesters should have the platform taken away from them; if they have no platform, they won't go to a race.

"We saw that in Madrid, protesters had two hours of live TV, which became just about protesting and not the race. I'm not against protesting, but putting riders in danger is the last thing we want."

Israel-Premier Tech's presence in future races is a subject of fierce ongoing debate. Races like the Giro dell'Emilia in Italy announced that the Israeli team has been removed from their 2025 start list and Barcelona city council has already said it will not accept the team's presence in their 2026 Tour de France Grand Départ.

During the Vuelta a España, two riders - Simone Petilli (Intermarché-Wanty) and Ivan Romeo (Movistar) - were injured, either directly or indirectly, when protestors moved onto or close to the road. Romeo subsequently abandoned as a result of his injuries.

During the third week of the Vuelta, after the partial suspension of stage 16, riders collectively agreed that if there were further incidents, they would simply stop racing. More than 2,000 police were drafted in for the final stage, but with an estimated 100,00 demonstrators lining the route, their options for stopping the disruption, were severely limited.

Meanwhile, according to El País, a Spanish state police commission has proposed that a total of 38 protesters during the Vuelta receive fines of up to €5,000 for their actions during the race. The State Commission against Violence, Racism, Xenophobia and Intolerance in Sport proposed the fines on the basis of a law dating from 2007 and also proposes that protestors be banned from attending events in sports stadiums for a year.

The Giro dell'Emilia's announcement came hard on the heels of UCI President David Lappartient insisting that they were committed not to pursue any kind of ban on Israeli teams, despite the ongoing, disruptive protests.

Israel-Premier Tech is not a state-sponsored team, but is registered in Israel and features the nation's name in their branding.

In October 2023, a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, sparked Israel's ongoing military campaign in Gaza. So far, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, at least 64,000 people have been killed by Israeli attacks, with much of Gaza being destroyed.

Julian Alaphilippe (France) has become the first high-profile abandon of the elite men's road race in the 2025 World Championships on Sunday.

The former double World Champion quit the race after just 31 kilometres of racing.

He made a couple of surprise digs off the front of the peloton, presumably to get an exact gauge on how bad his condition was, and then dropped back through the team cars to quit.

Alaphilippe, 33, has had a rollercoaster year in 2025, with the abandon in the World Championships the latest chapter. He was later reported to suffering from food poisoning.

Victory in the GP de Québec, his first in over a year, preceded an abandon in the GP de Montréal, his previous race to the World Championships in Kigali.

Alaphilippe won the Worlds elite men's road race in both 2020 and 2021. However, in the 2024 event, Alaphilippe abandoned early on, after injuring his left shoulder in a crash.

Prior to Alaphilippe's early exit, reportedly due to sickness, the Netherlands reported that climber Sam Oomen was a DNS because of illness, reducing their number of starters to five.

Following Alaphilippe's abandon, France will now pin their hopes mainly on outsiders like Pavel Sivakov and Valentin Paret-Peintre, as well as seeing how much of an impact their new young star Paul Seixas can have in the 19-year-old's debut in the elite men's World Championships.

Marc Soler (Spain) and Ilan van Wilder (Belgium) abandon

Shortly after Alaphilippe was confirmed as quitting, a high-speed downhill crash at the rear of the peloton saw several riders go down, including Ilan van Wilder (Belgium) and Spain's Marc Soler.

A bronze medallist in the time trial earlier this week and viewed as a potential outside challenger in the road race or lieutenant for main contender Remco Evenepoel, Van Wilder tried to continue, shaking his wrist in pain. But finally, after a lap of slow pedalling - and not helped by the surprisingly fast early pace of the race- he had to pull out.

Soler had already opted for a more immediate abandon, while Bjoern Koerdt (GB) was another of the crash victims who had to quit.

France suffered another setback when Alaphilippe's teammate Louis Barré then pulled out some 30 kilometres later, for unspecified reasons. Others looking to be in difficulties as the 267 kilometre race reached its third hour included Australia's Luke Plapp.

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