There has been an increase in serious falls in cycling recently. In order to better protect drivers, there could now be a revolutionary change in the rules.
On the fourth stage of the Tour of the Basque Country, several riders had a serious fall in a right-hand bend about 35 kilometers from the finish. With Jonas Vingegaard, Remco Evenepoel and Primož Roglič, three of the top favorites for the 2024 Tour de France were involved. Reason enough for the Tour’s race director, Christian Prudhomme, to call for a rule revolution.
Prudhomme would like to see the introduction of yellow and red cards in cycling. Football should serve as a role model. “We have already thought about it very carefully and we have to keep thinking about how we can better protect the drivers. In general, the speed of the drivers is much too high,” the Frenchman explains his demand in an interview with the Belgian newspaper “Het Nieuwsblad “.
Prudhomme sees the rule change as an opportunity especially for young drivers, as they lack racing experience. The 63-year-old makes it clear: “The system of yellow and red cards is there and the cycling world is prepared for it. It is clear to me that this serious fall has only accelerated the introduction.”
Calls for new rules are getting louder
Oliver Naesen, from the Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale team, had previously called for the introduction of the cards. In this way, “those who cross the line could be punished,” said the Belgian.
The race director of the classic Paris-Roubaix, Thierry Gouvenou, also believes that something needs to change. He sees the rapid pace of descents as the cause of the increasing number of falls in cycling. He told the French “L’Équipe”: “Stop, stop, stop, let’s stop the massacre. Let’s start thinking about the speed problems.”
“50 percent of falls can be attributed to the behavior of the riders,” said David Lappartient, president of the UCI, the cycling world association, to the “Cyclingnews” portal. “I don’t want to say that they are all to blame. It could just be a brief moment of inattention. That’s why we want to introduce a principle of yellow and red cards, like in football, so that dangerous behavior is better punished.” It is still unclear when the rule change will be introduced in cycling.