The International Cycling Union has announced some important news on safety. A set of changes that could significantly modify the approach of many runners and teams, but also the race tactics themselves, starting for example from the decision to modify the three kilometer rule. With the aim of maximizing the safety of cyclists, a topic which has fortunately become increasingly hot in recent months, these measures are the result of a meeting of the UCI Management Committee held in Aigle in which the requests from SafeR, the new structure dedicated to safety.
Yellow cards
Among the most important innovations, there will be the introduction of a yellow card system, both in men’s and women’s matches, which will start from 1 August 2024 and will be tested until 31 December 2024. It will not be physical cards like in football , so they will not be shown during the event. But they will appear in the race judges’ statement at the end of the stage and can be attributed to cyclists, staff and, more generally, all the drivers of the caravan who engage in dangerous behavior (including journalists, photographers and TV operators, just to give an example ). These warnings will serve to punish those irregularities (21 cases are expected) that are not serious enough to expel someone from the race, but which still need to be highlighted and monitored.
From 1 January 2025, sanctions will be imposed for the accumulation of yellow cards. The UCI will obviously keep the count of yellow cards already decided during the experimental period and suspensions can thus begin, which vary based on the number of cards received in a given period of time. For example, two yellow cards in a match will result in expulsion from the match and a seven-day suspension. Three yellow cards in 30 days results in a 14-day suspension. Six yellows within 365 days result in a 30-day suspension. Obviously, cards that have already led to a disqualification are canceled and do not count towards any additional accumulation. Therefore, if a runner receives three cards in 30 days, he starts from scratch for the possible counting of six yellow cards in the space of a year.
Three Kilometer Rule
The UCI has decided to allow organizers and other interested parties to request, on an experimental basis, a modification of the so-called “three kilometers” rule (article 2.6. 027 of the UCI Regulations) which applies when a race enters the zone that leading to the final sprint and according to which, in the event of a duly reported accident (for example a fall, a mechanical problem or a puncture) in the last three kilometers of a road stage (excluding summit finishes), the affected runner is credited the time of the runner or runners he was traveling with at the time of the accident. The organizer (or other interested party) who requests it may, if justified, obtain an extension of the distance to be taken into account under the aforementioned rule, which may be increased up to a maximum of five kilometres. Any changes must be agreed before the start of the race. A first experiment in this sense will already arrive at the Tour de France.
Calculation of gaps at the finish line
The UCI is considering, at the request of the parties involved, extending the three-second rule, which is currently only used for sprint stages. If currently the riders in the same group are assigned the same time, provided that the gap is not more than one second, we are now considering whether to widen this margin (which in practice corresponds to a gap of 50 meters instead of 17) to all groups in the race, with the sole exception of any breakaways or gaps already present before the sprint. The objective of this extension of the rule is to simplify the calculation of the gaps in the stages in which a group sprint is foreseen, but above all to ease the pressure on the riders who are not directly involved in the sprint and to allow them to leave a certain margin with the lead of the race by reducing unnecessary risk-taking, particularly for runners aiming for the general classification.
Radios
Always with the aim of improving safety, the UCI has decided to test the effects of a restriction of radios in the race, starting this year. The measure will be tested in some professional one-day races and in some stage races (although it has not yet been defined what these will be). A solution that meets the requests of those who highlight how the radio can be both “a source of distraction for the runners and a physical danger, as the radio units are mounted on the back, and represent a risk when a large number of teams at the same time asks its runners to move to the front of the race”.
During the year “feedback from all interested parties will be collected to study the effects of limiting the use of earphones and to consider other measures that could lead to a change in the way in which earphones are used, for example by limiting the use with two riders per team”. The final assessment “will be carried out within SafeR at the end of the season, before being presented to the Professional Cycling Council and then to the UCI Steering Committee with a view to a decision on the use of earphones in the future”.
