Those watching the Cyclocross World Championships at the weekend will not have failed to notice the spectacular images following Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert from the air as they negotiated the forest section of the Hoogerheide course.
Cyclocross coverage is reliant on a series of fixed cameras set along courses. However, the drone footage in use on Sunday was more than a novelty. The drones eliminated a blind spot on the course and brought viewers closer than ever to the riders, providing a new perspective as the two lifelong rivals did battle over the rainbow jersey.
The man operating the machinery was Jan Crommelinck, a Belgian ex-motocross racer who made a switch from a hobby of flying model aeroplanes to the world of drones after suffering a heart attack.
Crommelinck started with motocross races, then shot cyclocross during the COVID-19 pandemic, and he also counts Formula 1 teams Ferrari and Red Bull among his clients.
"I've been doing it for 12 years now as my main career. For me, it's like riding a bike," Crommelinck told Sporza after the Worlds. "It was a great experience. My phone was full of messages after – fortunately most of them positive.
"Mentally, I was flying along with the riders on the course. Especially when I was on the trail of Wout and Mathieu. Then I felt the adrenaline and excitement."
The drone he uses is custom-made to be ultralight for speed and agility. The battery is so small it only lasts four minutes. The camera is a dismembered Blackmagic pocket camera.
Crommelinck's first encounter with a UCI race came one year ago when he wowed the commentators with a skillful flight behind Lucinda Brand at the Superprestige Gavere.
"The UCI stopped us because they thought it was a normal drone," Crommelinck recalled to Cyclingnews. The brilliant flowing shot following Brand might have the tipping point for the UCI allowing drones. "Now they give us the opportunity to do it. But they had only one rule - to stay about three to five metres from the riders. That was the only rule I had to respect."
Things became somewhat more complicated in filming the two World Championships rivals doing battle, with the riders, a packed audience of 38,000, and the dangers of the forest section to think about.
He and his spotter Tim Verbruggen had to stay away from the crowds, keep a set distance from the riders, and also stay in sight of the 1.5kg drone at all times while it was in the air.
"There are strict regulations," Crommelinck said. "You can't fly above the public. In Hoogerheide, it was possible to close a part of the track for the public. So it was possible for me to fly without public next to the track."
Crommelinck and his company Aeroplayfilms have worked with major clients in film, commercials and action sports, but the World Championships stood out.
"It was a big deal because the race with Mathieu and Wout was a very big battle. So I had to be very cool to do this - you can't afford a mistake. I tried to keep myself calm, but the last when I went into the forest with them, it was like I was also in the race. I had to be calm, and you had the people were screaming very loudly. So it was difficult to keep the focus."
The images provided by Crommelinck and his drone were spectacular and added a new dimension to watching the race, but will viewers ever see similar on the road? Scenarios that spring to mind include Tom Pidcock's descent of the Col du Galibier at the Tour de France or Matej Mohorič's dropper-post Poggio attack at Milan-San Remo.
Both were well captured through the traditional avenues of moto cameras and helicopters, and it looks as though it will have to stay that way.
Restrictions on drone usage mean that drones have to be kept away from large crowds, out of the way of competitors, and also in the sight of their operators at all times.
Crommelinck explained that major road races have too many spectators along the course, and the restrictions on flying over the public would preclude shooting those races unless organisers can close sections of the road.
So we won't see his drone footage until the next cyclocross season and beyond, for now. "I think maybe they're ready for us to do the Olympics next year in Paris for the mountain bike. Maybe every organiser needs to close down a little part of the track. And then it's possible for us to fly more races. I think we proved in Hoogerheide that it is possible to fly safely. That is the main thing - it has to be very safe. And I think we proved it last weekend."
Speaking to CyclingWeekly last year, Will Glover, a drone pilot for aerial filming company Flying Pictures, said that regulations on the usage of drones are an issue, and so too is the currently available technology.
"That’s very difficult in a bike race because of the great distance, because of trees, tunnels and mountains, which mean you lose line of sight and thus the drone pilot cannot control the drone, risking the safety of the flight," he said, also noting that flying over large crowds wouldn't be permitted by any aviation authorities.
"Most drone exercises are called visual line of sight operations, which means the pilot has to see the drone at all times. With more risk mitigation, you can conduct an extended visual line of sight operations, which allows the pilot to control the drone using aids to remain safe, such as a spotter with binoculars.
“That’s very difficult in a bike race because of the great distance, because of trees, tunnels and mountains, which mean you lose line of sight and thus the drone pilot cannot control the drone, risking the safety of the flight.
"A lot needs to change," Glover concluded, to be able to capture drone footage of the action at road races like the Tour de France.
