UCI to study crashes next season to improve rider safety

UCI president David Lappartient says that world cycling’s governing body will review all crashes next season in a bid to improve rider safety.

Since top-level racing resumed at the start of August, a number of high-profile crashes have taken place, including Fabio Jakobsen sustaining serious injuries and being placed in an induced coma when Dylan Groenewegen pushed him into the barriers at the Tour de Pologne.

Another incident saw Remco Evenepoel crashing over a bridge into a ravine at Il Lombardia, leaving the Belgian youngster with a broken pelvis, among other injuries.

“We don't have the figures on crashes,” Lappartient said, speaking in Imola on Saturday, reports The Independent. 

“So in 2021 for each crash in the international calendar I want to have a full survey on the number of crashes and the reasons they occur, so we can monitor the situation.

“We can take to Twitter to blame each other. We can fight between us or work together. But we have a common goal: we want the second one.

“It's true we had some bad crashes with Jakobsen, Evenepoel and other riders,” the UCI president continued. “There's a lot of emotion afterwards each time and we want to act but we realised it's not the time to just put a plaster or a stitch on things.

“We have a lot of things to do to improve safety but we must agree on the point we need to work on and how we can do it.

“This can be by obligations and rules and also by changing riders' habits,” he added.

“Of course, the barriers are an issue. We saw what happened in Poland. Groenewegen was first at fault for pushing Jakobsen and there's an ongoing case with the Disciplinary Commission."

Meanwhile, International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach has applauded the sport for successfully staging two of its most high-profile events despite the ongoing crisis, saying that it gives the organisation “a lot of confidence” that the postponed Tokyo 2020 Games can go ahead next year.

Speaking in Imola this weekend, he said that the sport “has played a very particular role” in the return to elite competition,” reports Inside The Games.

"There was the Tour de France and now the World Championships, the two most complex events so far at international level. 

"The success of these events gives us and the entire sports movement a lot of confidence. 

"I'd like to thank the UCI for taking on this responsibility and organising in a very responsible way."