The UCI will prohibit using group radio and start to symbolically punish riders with yellow playing cards from August 1 and impose sanctions in 2025 because the SafeR stakeholders group works to enhance race security.
The UCI examined the modification of the ‘three-kilometre’ rule, the purpose the place occasions for the final classification and the simplification of calculating time gaps in dash finishes, in the course of the Tour de France and have determined to press on with extra adjustments and trials within the closing months of 2024.
A take a look at restriction on using group radio or ‘earpieces’ can be utilized throughout three phases of the Tour de Pologne (12-18 August) and on the UCI ProSeries occasion Vuelta a Burgos (5-9 August).
This will restrict the knowledge riders obtain from their group autos and directeur sportif throughout races, forcing the riders to resolve group ways amongst themselves and likewise be careful for any security hazards.
The UCI first tried to ban earpieces in 2011, even testing a full ban in the course of the Tour de France on stage 10. Now the checks are again.
The yellow card punishments can be underneath trial till the top of 2024 in WorldTour and Women’s WorldTour races, with the UCI saying ‘yellow playing cards will symbolize a sanction listed within the race communiqué however won’t bodily exist and won’t lead to any restrictions by way of participation in following occasions.”
At the top of the 2024 season an analysis of the yellow card system can be carried out by SafeR and accredited by the UCI earlier than sanctions are imposed from January 1 2025.
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The yellow card system will then even be prolonged to occasions within the UCI ProSeries (Men and Women Elite), the Olympic Games, the UCI World Championships (Men and Women Elite and Under 23) and Continental Championships (Men and Women Elite and Under 23).
The UCI warned that yellow playing cards in 2025 will lead to “completely different durations of suspension relying on the variety of yellow playing cards acquired by any particular person over a given interval.”
“Yellow playing cards can be issued for offences prone to pose a danger to the protection of the competitors and can apply to anybody current within the race convoy (riders, directeur sportif and race official bike and automobile drivers), who may have interaction in behaviour that might jeopardise the protection of the occasion.”
The UCI rule guide lists 21 doable incidents that may result in race officers punishing folks with yellow playing cards.
The proposed punishments are disqualification and a seven-day suspension for 2 yellow playing cards in the identical race, a 14-day suspension for 3 yellow playing cards in 30 days and a 30-day suspension for six yellow playing cards in a single yr. If a rider is suspended throughout a race for a number of yellow playing cards, they are going to be expelled from the race however preserve any outcomes and UCI factors gained in the course of the race.
These embody disposing of waste exterior the litter zone, holding onto a group automobile or getting mechanical help from a shifting car, sheltering behind the slipstream of a car and irregular feeding (sticky bottle).
The SafeR initiative will solely be totally operative for the 2025 season, with key stakeholders voting within the spring to oust Chief Executive Officer Jaap Van Hulten lower than a yr after he was chosen for the place.
SafeR is managed and funded by the UCI, the AIOCC race organisers group, the AIGCP groups affiliation, the UNIO ladies’s group affiliation and the boys’s and ladies’s CPA riders affiliation.
Safety grew to become a serious difficulty within the spring after crashes within the males’s Dwars door Vlaanderen, Itzulia Basque Country and different races.
The SafeR Case Management Committee – comprising analysts and representatives of groups, riders and organisers – has begun to fulfill on a weekly foundation to overview any race incidents, suggest disciplinary measures, examine security considerations and think about suggestions.
The UCI stated on Monday that the UCI Race Incidents Database, established in partnership with Ghent University in Belgium, had logged 341 crashes, plus different ‘close to miss’ incidents.
Analysis confirmed that round 49% of crashes happen within the final 40km of a race, involving on common two to 3 riders. They regularly happen simply earlier than climbs, cobblestone sectors, and sprints, in addition to on slippery roads, close to/on visitors infrastructure, or throughout descents.
The UCI stated the SafeR analysts will make knowledgeable suggestions for security enhancements primarily based on developments noticed. They cited the prevalence of crashes involving younger riders and so underscored the necessity for enhanced rider training. The UCI additionally talked about establishing a framework regarding the variety of neo-professionals who can participate in sure occasions.
The UCI additionally confirmed that SafeR is engaged on the second part of a research of obstacles used to guard the end zone of a race, to outline new requirements by way of design, measurement, energy, and influence absorption of obstacles separating the riders from the general public.
Race organisers and native authorities are, in principle, legally answerable for race security, however it’s just about unimaginable to completely shield the riders throughout a whole bunch of kilometres of race routes. SafeR is the primary time all the game’s stakeholders will work collectively to enhance race security.
“50% of crashes are attributable to rider behaviour, with 50% attributable to different elements, akin to obstacles that aren’t signalled or the velocity of the peloton,” UCI President David Lappartient stated within the spring.
“I’m not right here to say it is all their fault; it might simply be a short second of inattention. That’s why we need to introduce a precept of yellow and crimson playing cards, like in soccer, in order that harmful behaviour is best punished.”