Milan San Remo riders to promote cycle safety initiatives

The bikes of the 200 riders in tomorrow's Milan San Remo will sport stickers to state solidarity with cycle safety campaigns run by the Times and Gazzetta dello Sport.

The initiative was announced at a round table conference in Milan this morning, organised by the Italian sports daily, with one of the speakers being Kaya Burgess - Burgess is the journalist involved in the Times Cities Fit for Cycling Campaign, launched early in February.

Shortly after the Times launched Cities Fit for Cycling the Gazzetta launched its own Salva i Cyclisti (save the cyclists) initiative. Both newspapers acknowledge that what they are doing builds on the existing work of bloggers and cycle campaigners.

There have often been calls for professional cyclists to give their views on the road safety debate and tomorrow at least the sport's biggest names will be joining those of us who commute, ride to the shops, or simply around the park with the kids in showing their concern for the safety of cyclists which is something that unites us all - we are all cyclists.

Giving the closing address at today's conference, Burgess said that "bikes are not just a hobby or a sport, but a means of transport and way of life."