Christian Prudhomme outraged about cyclist clothing: "It's not possible for a rider to sit on the ground after such a fall with a completely torn shirt"

More than ever, the topic of rider safety has been discussed among riders, experts and even the sports' highest stakeholders after the spring nearly turned into a survival game, with stars like Jonas Vingegaard, Remco Evenepoel or Wout Van Aert ending their spring campaigns all in hospitals, instead of podiums.

Christian Prudhomme believes that when developing their material, teams are too concerned with making the riders faster instead of thinking about their safety. "It's not possible for a rider to sit on the ground after such a fall with a completely torn shirt and his skin completely shredded?" the Tour de France boss asks rhetorically in RIDE magazine.

He finds it unacceptable that cycling clothing offers too little protection. "In the Netflix series around the Tour, Jonathan Vaughters says that you should imagine the impact of a crash as if you were jumping out of a moving car wearing your swimwear. We can't find that normal, can we? We cannot continue to accept that riders wear clothing that does not even protect their skin in the event of a crash, as was the case with Van Aert."

The Frenchman also sees how cycling lags behind other sports in terms of safety. "The collarbone is one of the most vulnerable places of a rider. Then you have to protect this. All other shock or speed sports work on clothing to protect the athlete. Whether it is motorsport, skiing or rugby. Yes, in rugby twenty years ago no one thought that clothing would be designed that could protect the rugby players. Today it is a fact."