"Everything goes back in time" - Visma boss very critical of lack of radios at World Championships; safety concerns

Team Visma | Lease a Bike CEO Richard Plugge is a very vocal voice when it comes to the structure and organization within cycling and he has lashed out against the UCI and the lack of race radios at World Championships. Specially after the passing of Muriel Furrer, this debate is not only regarding the logic and spectacle of racing, but very much about safety as well.

“Innovations are normally introduced at World Championships. And at the Cycling World Championships, we go back 20, 30 years in time," Plugge says quite directly in words to Het Nieuwsblad. "And suddenly we ride without earphones (and race radios, ed.), no one knows who is riding where, we suddenly ride with fewer riders per team. Everything goes back in time, while you would expect the World Championships to be the example of innovation in our sport. Only the UCI is lagging far behind in that respect".

There is a relatively heated debate amongst fans over which kind of racing is more exciting: With or without race radio. Both sides have their arguments, but Plugge is evidently for their presence at all times. This past week Furrer, a Swiss women's junior rider, crashed into a wooded area and passed away; notably not being found until hour and a half after his crash which may have been a consequence of the impossibility to communicate with anyone.

Safety is a massive benefit of race radio, Plugge believes. “Because you can inform people about dangerous points, because you can inform people if something has happened. Other riders can tell the team leader that someone has fallen. It is a form of communication and in emergency situations you always want to be able to communicate. You should not take that away.”

And according to the Visma boss, this should come as a rule, not just as a recommendation. “There needs to be an independent body that says: ‘We should never compromise on safety. So if we say that something is safer, then that has to be implemented.’ We tried that last year, but unfortunately that whole initiative (he refers to ONE Cycling, which he led, ed.) was politicized, which resulted in compromises. You should never compromise on safety. So it became a toothless tiger".

“Just like us, they do not have the right knowledge about safety. But they are the governing body of our sport. And so they have to show the leadership to put this in the hands of an independent party. Because otherwise they always want to protect the teams or the organizers or the riders.”