On the eve of the first road races of the season, we had reported the structure of the SafeR body and a recap of the regulatory experiments that occurred last year and planned for this year. We invite you to review everything HERE and then return to this page to read what was stated by 5 representatives of UCI (two speakers) and SafeR (three speakers) yesterday in a press conference:

PETER VAN DEN ABEELE - UCI Sports Director

"Fundamentally, SafeR deals with collecting data on race incidents and making decisions based on them, understanding the causes of incidents and identifying risk areas to make precise and targeted decisions. This is done with the valuable assistance of Ghent University. There is no single magic solution to reduce risks in races, but a series of adjustments and factors that, when linked together, can significantly lower risk coefficients. A great merit of SafeR is bringing together all cycling 'stakeholders' and making them dialogue with each other, even civilly confronting sometimes divergent opinions for the common goal of a safer cycling. Regarding a specific issue, I hear that a future trend is local circuits: I don't believe this, as it would end up distorting and limiting some great races. It's up to the organizers' good sense to be able to design routes now in one way, now in another, to guarantee all the important aspects of a cycling competition. Finally, a mention of the Dutch calendar conditioned by the NATO summit in June: 4 races were saved, a couple were removed from the 2025 calendar with the hope of seeing them again in 2026."

MATTHEW KNIGHT - SafeR Project Coordinator within UCI

"SafeR's work is essentially based on 5 pillars and 27 'deliverables' which we summarize as follows: new safety-related rules; guidelines for organizers regarding barriers, signage, route choices and more; assistance to commissioners in their work and decision-making processes, to make them increasingly consistent and uniform especially in delicate situations like sprints; monitoring and improvement of materials and equipment, which we recommend designing with the real safety of the athlete in mind before speed; 'education' of riders, spectators and sports directors, introduction of a super-license for young riders to train them to know how to ride in a group when moving from youth categories to professionalism. In 2024, we recorded 497 race incidents: 35% are the riders' fault, then there are many concurrent causes that can also intertwine, such as 'tension' at some key points and critical moments of the race, or cobbled sectors or slippery roads, without forgetting descents and road infrastructure. SafeR proposals approved for 2025 include extending the '3 km rule' to 4 or 5 km and from 1 to 3 seconds of gap to consider the same time for the group in sprint stages, measures that have met quite positive feedback from athletes; updating the extreme weather protocol to make decisions in the race clearer and more timely; increasing from 2 to 3 the minimum ambulances in professional races; the application of yellow cards (continuously updated in the dedicated section of the UCI website) to every registered person, based on 23 different cases with attention also to feed (which must take place in certain areas and not everywhere on the route) and lead-outs that must not excessively slow down and obstruct those coming from behind: with two yellows you are suspended for a week, with three yellows in a month you are suspended for two weeks, with six yellows in a year you are suspended for a month. So far the trend is a yellow card in over 50% of total race days. Moreover, we're improving our software and new indications on barriers in the last 500 meters are in progress: together with an engineering school in Switzerland, we're analyzing dimensions, connections between modules, fixing of advertising panels and impact absorption capacity, both to protect riders in case of a fall and to ensure spectator safety. The study result will be the definition of new technical requirements. In addition, we have conducted and continue to conduct experiments on race communications: we have well understood that riders and team cars need radios for their own safety, but we have observed that when 'radio-tour' announces a critical point, the peloton accelerates to pass it before slowing down; plus we believe that radios and earphones currently used, positioned on the back of riders, hide potential risks. We'll certainly try to innovate intelligently on these aspects. Finally, following the death of Muriel Furrer at last World Championships, we're talking with location service providers and experts from other sports to understand the most feasible solution: one hypothesis is the use of GPS data already used for race graphics, to create a real race control center; alternatively or in addition, we could create a monitoring system for all race convoy vehicles, as well as activate alarms in case of sudden deceleration."

BRENT COPELAND - President of the world professional teams association and team representative in SafeR

"Happy to be here representing Aigcp, in synergy with UCI, Aiocc and CPA. Cycling, by its nature, is born unsafe: you race on the road, with all the obstacles and unexpected events, and sometimes you may have to call a parent to communicate an athlete's death, as happened to me with André Drege who had already signed for Jayco AlUla. In my life, I also worked four years in MotoGP: motorcyclists, who do a very risky sport themselves, say that cyclists are crazy... So, we must work extraordinarily, as I assure you we are doing every week examining hours of video. It's not a simple job, but we're involving every party to cooperate in this direction. From my side, I can say that teams must improve the training of their personnel, sports directors and all team members, also to make the numerous young riders understand that they must adhere to more careful race conduct when riding in the peloton. Change requires patience, understanding and respect: some experiments may not be liked, but until certain measures are tested in the race, we can't fully know their validity. In these months we have collected very valuable feedback to understand how and in what to progress and we are in contact with the best companies to find the best available technologies. In the Volta Valenciana TTT some couldn't communicate via radio with the team car: in 2025 this is unacceptable. These are some of the aspects we are working on."

KIKO GARCIA - Director of the world organizers association and SafeR member

"For almost two years, we've decided to move together for an absolutely priority challenge: the safety of cycling races. Nothing worse for an organizer than hearing on the radio the words 'crash, fall, caduta, caida, chute...' and the only way to make these words rarer is a long-term but constant and cohesive process, like the one we have undertaken. Inevitably there are moments of debate and exchanges of even opposing opinions, but since we're all acting for a common good, no one backs down. That's why I thank Brent, Adam, Matthew, Peter and all those who are committed to SafeR. And I thank the over 160 organizers from all over the world who are part of Aiocc and do their best to adapt to new safety requirements. Even today, unfortunately, we see motor vehicles 'invading the route' especially in smaller races: you know, it's not always easy to convince municipalities to completely close roads to traffic for extended periods; certainly, it's necessary to inform the population correctly and capillary when a cycling race is passing and to monitor as much as possible. And it's also necessary that more structured and wealthy organizations help smaller ones in their same country, perhaps by providing safety devices that allow the 'minor race' to adapt to regulations and new standards without impacting heavily on budgets. A good practice that is already in use for races of all levels concerns the use of software that traces obstacles on the route and allows organizers to act on the most delicate points of the road."

ADAM HANSEN - CPA President and rider representative in SafeR

"Riders greatly appreciate the frequency and accuracy with which SafeR is working for them, carefully examining race incidents and consulting them when necessary. We're noticing that when we launch an internal enquiry and receive feedback on topics like sprints or materials, these then have a certain media resonance: if athletes are truly involved and know they can count on an organization that listens to them, it's a very important signal from cycling. A concrete example of a survey we're conducting internally concerns limiting gears to reduce risks in particularly treacherous descents: if riders are in favor, there is nothing to prevent testing such a thing in some races. The 35% 'rider fault' percentage in incidents is naturally correct, but by adding other smaller percentages of the same pie, from 1% caused by spectators to 13% related to route design, we also note a certain incidence of organizational shortcomings. Everyone, without exception, must improve and continue on this path we have started. Beginning from the data collection itself, since we are not yet able to establish with more precision the exact type of rider error and what really induced them into error. We'll get there. In the meantime, as CPA, we are asking more experienced athletes to 'teach' young riders the right attitude: in a cycling with extremely high intensity and media and social exposure, having respect in every situation, both in and out of the race, can benefit safety."