UCI Implements New Guidelines for Biking Races to Guarantee Security: Yellow Playing cards, Restricted Headphones, and Options for Mass Sprints

2024-06-12 16:27:00

That is excellent news for the protection of the peloton. After the controversies over the relentless falls at first of the season, the Worldwide Biking Union (UCI) will implement new guidelines for these races, together with yellow playing cards, a restrict on the sporting of headphones and options to alleviate the strain throughout mass. sprints.

“All these modifications shall be topic to testing intervals, throughout future races and till the top of the season, in collaboration with events, earlier than they’re finalized and carried out,” says the UCI .

Essentially the most anticipated, the yellow card shall be launched from 1 August 2024, so it is not going to be utilized to the Tour de France. “These yellow playing cards shall be a sanction however they won’t be there bodily. Nonetheless, they are going to be talked about within the race press launch printed after the ultimate,” UCI explains.

Headphones restricted to 2 riders per workforce?

Particularly, any breach prone to pose a menace to the safety of the competitors could also be sanctioned. From January 1, 2025, the buildup of those yellow playing cards will end in sanctions. “Anybody who receives two yellow playing cards in the identical race shall be disqualified from this race and shall be suspended for 7 days,” the UCI press launch reads.

These sanctions are unfold over time. For instance, three yellow playing cards inside 30 days will end in a two-week suspension, six warnings inside a 12 months will end in a one-month suspension.

The UCI has additionally determined to crack down on the sporting of headsets that enable riders to talk stay with their race director. “Headphones could be a supply of distraction for riders and a bodily hazard because the radio packing containers are positioned on the again, and they’re a hazard when many groups ask their riders to maneuver to the entrance on the identical time race,” declares the worldwide physique. . Sooner or later, solely two riders on a workforce could possibly be outfitted with them. This rule shall be confirmed on the finish of the season.

In direction of a 5 km rule for mass arrivals?

The Worldwide Biking Union additionally wished to ease the strain on runners throughout mass relays. To do that, the three km rule and the tactic of calculating the gaps shall be reviewed on the finish. “The organizer who requests it, if justified, can get an extension of the gap to be taken under consideration, and it may be elevated to a most of 5 kilometers. Any modifications have to be agreed earlier than the beginning of the race,” it’s now deliberate.

For gaps, the three-second rule, launched in 2018, to calculate gaps after a two-wheel dash shall be utilized to all teams inside the race “with the only exception of clearly established break routes” . These options intention to “relieve the strain on riders indirectly concerned within the dash and permit them to depart a sure margin behind the dash”, based on the UCI. In brief, an actual revolution.