Tools ratio restrictions, protection apparatus and focused occasions for this season had been a few of the subjects addressed within the first assembly in 2025 of the SafeR Supervisory Board, the frame tasked with making improvements to rider protection in highway biking.
SafeR used to be arrange in 2023 so as to convey in combination groups, race organisers, rider unions and the UCI to paintings in combination to beef up protection inside races, and their task has been somewhat nebulous to this point, however the frame’s first-ever press unlock, issued on Friday, make clear their present focuses and actions.
The assembly used to be attended through Giro d’Italia race director Mauro Vegni, Vuelta a España technical director Kiko García, AIGCP president Brent Copeland, Picnic-PostNL crew consultant Emily Brammeier, CPA president Adam Hansen, and Rocco Cattaneo and Amina Lanaya of the UCI.
A large takeaway from the assembly is that the frame intends to discover the potential for limits on equipment ratios, a proposal subsidized through Wout van Aert (Visma-Rent a Motorcycle), to lend a hand scale back high-speed crashes.
The speculation of drugs restrictions is the most recent contribution to the lengthy and complicated dialog round rider protection. While extra race rules and sensible protections are being installed position every 12 months, the inevitable undeniable fact that the peloton goes quicker than ever stays a priority, and limited equipment ratios would search to restrict the utmost speeds riders can achieve.
“Limiting the gears would make the sport a lot safer, in my opinion,” Van Aert instructed Sporza in January. “Other riders don’t think so but I’m convinced about it. If you are on that descent with a gear limit, no one can move up. Now the gears are so big that you still think about overtaking.”
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Gear restrictions were previously mandated for junior riders – more from the position of not over-stressing their bodies than in-race safety – but this was scrapped in 2023.
As well as gear restrictions, SafeR’s rider survey, completed by 287 male and female riders, also focused on the topic of protective equipment such as abrasion-resistant clothing and wearable airbags, which SafeR says there is an “interest” for, in addition to “an openness to seeing the development of more regulation on topics related to equipment and their safety”.
SafeR has also agreed to expand their racing jurisdiction, now including a selection of Class 1 events, where many incidents were identified.
“Many of the issues occurred at Class 1 events, a class of events not originally included in SafeR scope of activity, which was focused on the UCI WorldTour, UCI Women’s WorldTour and UCI ProSeries. The SafeR Supervisory Board decided to include a selection of Class 1 events in the future to be supported and analysed by SafeR analysts.”
The press release confirmed that former Swiss rider Steve Morabito will take over from Romain Caubin as the organisers’ representative on the SafeR Case Management Committee. He joins former riders Rubens Bertogliati and Dan Martin and CPA and CPA Women presidents Adam Hansen and Alessandra Cappellotto on the panel that meets weekly and analyses race incidents.
SafeR laid out which events would be analysed in 2025, with the criteria being “new event, event with security incidents in previous years or other reasons”. The current list of 15 events includes Itzulia Basque Country, the scene of last year’s horror crash, the Tour de Pologne, and new races such as Milan-San Remo Women and the Copenhagen Sprint.
The body says: “The analysts will work with the organisers ahead of their race on safety-related aspects, in particular, to identify potentially dangerous sections of the route, and will be present at the events. They will then draw up a report to be shared with SafeR, which will then use this as the basis for making recommendations to the UCI on areas for improvement.”
SafeR analysts will also attend selected stages of each Grand Tour.
On the topic of yellow cards, implemented fully this year after a test in 2024, the board “welcomed the now systematic application of the yellow card system in the relevant events organised so far this year”.
Regardless that SafeR has been in position since 2023, Friday’s press unlock and the assembly on March 4 are one of the crucial maximum concrete communications round what the frame is doing, and their intentions and spaces of focal point in 2025.
