Cycling – Organizers sound the alarm: “The riders are going too fast”

Organizers discussed runner safety at the AIOCC meeting. Photo: Cor Vos

On the occasion of their annual meeting, the organizers of Cycling races met in Italy to discuss ways to improve the safety of runners, but also to maintain as much organization as possible.

L’AIOCC (International Association of Cycle Race Organizers) organized its annual congress this weekend in Italy. Safety was a focus after the death of Muriel Furrerfollowing his fall during the World Championships in Switzerland. Christian Prudhommedirector of Tour de France and president of theAIOCCsaid: “Beyond the behavior of the athletes and the work of the organizers, it is absolutely necessary to reduce the speed by appropriate measures: the runners are going too fast.”

Christian Prudhomme points out the speed of the runners

At a time when everything must go faster and in search of the slightest technical improvement to gain speed, the organizers are beginning to be deprived of solutions to ensure the safety of the runners. Especially since in cities, mayors tend to arrange the road in such a way as to slow down traffic. Incompatible with a cycling race…

“The faster they go, the greater the risk and the more danger they put themselves and others. We already said it here last year: our motorists and motorcyclists no longer have a safety margin! Imagine the consequences if one of our drivers, subjected to too much pressure, lost control on a descent from a mountain pass or during a race in urban areas. continued Christian Prudhomme in comments reported by Cyclingnews.

Earpieces in the UCI's viewfinder, the use of GPS for safety?

David Lappartientpresident of theInternational Cycling Union (UCI) intervened on the subject of earpieces which has been debated for years. The project is to reduce their use and the French leader affirmed that there were fewer accidents during World Championships where earphones are prohibited. However, teams are demanding their use for security reasons. But what happens when 160 runners are instructed to move to the front when approaching a dangerous place? The peloton accelerates… “There are still many runners who consider that it is an element which contributes to a certain stress in the peloton”, he said.

One of the solutions could be the use of GPS. When a runner's GPS track drops to zero, an alert would be sent in order to identify the problem and intervene quickly. This is already the case in certain GPS meters used by professionals and amateurs which send alerts when a sudden change in speed is observed. “There are several options, there could also be a rider radio which would transmit safety information to the riders,” added David Lappartient.