"I can't tell you how many people we've lost" - EF Education manager Vaughters blames UCI for wave of casualties in pro cycling
Cycling
Safety in professional cycling has always been a topic, but as the years go by it becomes more and more of an important subject to discuss and improve. EF Education-EasyPost's Jonathan Vaughters has explained some of his views on the matter whilst also attributing the responsibility to the UCI.
Vaughters on smaller races having cars on course often
"What I'm really not enjoying is this sentiment that's coming from very powerful people in cycling that says 'what can you do? Sometimes cars just end up on the road - this is just part of doing competitive sport on the open road.' That is not true. This is preventable," Vaughters said in an interview with BBC.
The recent Volta a Portugal brought safety back into the spotlight after the passing of Finlay Tarling. In official declarations to RTP, a representative of the police force argued that the car that hit him, whilst having invaded the course under at the time unclear circumstances, was not riding on the wrong side of the road. The race continued all the way to its ending this past Sunday.
"People look at the Tour de France and see a bunch of riders going through the beautiful French countryside, but fundamentally it's a very dangerous sport. From the start of my career I can't tell you how many people we've lost."
Vaughters spent plenty years as a professional rider in the peloton, and is for a long time a manager in the World Tour. Currently, he is at the head of EF Education-EasyPost, having the reports and seeing what happens in races all over the world.
He states that what has happened at the Volta a Portugal was not an exclusive situation:
"The number of smaller races I've been to where there's traffic on the course is unreal. There have been too many races at this level that have exactly the same problem. This just happened to be terribly unlucky. It could have been any of the other races".
Even at this year's Volta a Catalunya this was a prominent issue, whilst in a recent edition of the Etoile de Bessèges, several teams withdrew from the race following several instances of cars invading the course. Often it is a battle against the population, with Tarling's fatal collision being reported as a driver that entered the race course from a 'secondary road' after having been told by people around that the race had concluded.
Jonathan Vaughters weighed in on the safety aspect in cycling
Race organizers forced to bear massive costs
But on the other side of the spectrum are race organizers trying to keep their races afloat. "The costs are enormous, organizers are really struggling and hoofing it financially and I sympathize with that". Often, the conflict of interest leads to some aspects of the organization being less prioritized.
"As a team, we trust races like the Tour de France, but we don't trust smaller races. Rolling enclosures become a problem when the peloton splits into groups and you don't have every T-junction blocked, and people think: 'The race is done - I'm free to go on the road.' As soon as they turn on the road, they're going 100kph and the opposite way is the peloton at 50km/h - that's a combined 150kph. I mean, it's horrible".
The UCI is ultimately at the top and is to blame for these incidents: "I’m not blaming anyone other than the ultimate authority which needs to do a better job of governing the sport. If you are forcing teams to fight for ranking points at this event then you damn well better make sure the event is up to standard".
Vaughters goes as far as arguing that these incidents happen due to the team's necessities to take part in plenty events of lower category, all throughout the world, so as to capture UCI points - and in doing so, more often being involved in difficult situations.
"They're [riders] being pressured by team managers like me saying 'we've got to get points - hurry up.' There's millions at stake so athletes feel that pressure. They start to take risks on the course – if they do that when it's not properly managed and doesn't have good enough traffic control, it's a recipe for disaster".
"We have way too many events on the calendar – it's just too much. It needs to be more selective and the governance needs to look at each race with a much higher degree of skepticism. Why do we need 700 race days around the world? It's fine if those events occur, but not as sanctioned events with riders fighting for points. What's wrong with 100 days on the race calendar?"
Rúben SilvaEditor-in-Chief
A founding contributor to CyclingUpToDate since its launch in January 2022, Ruben Silva has played a central role in shaping the site’s editorial direction and long-term growth. Before joining the project, he built his experience through independent blogging at Echelons Hub and by producing race previews for Ciclismo Internacional, developing a strong analytical voice rooted in daily engagement with professional cycling.
Beyond editorial work, he has been closely involved in the expansion and coordination of CyclingUpToDate’s wider network, helping establish and support sister platforms across multiple languages. This includes ongoing collaboration with CiclismoAlDia (Spanish), CiclismoAtual (Portuguese), WielrennenUpToDate (Dutch), and RadsportAktuell (German), contributing to a shared editorial vision and consistent international coverage.
He also helps oversee editorial governance across the network, setting standards for accuracy and consistency and coordinating updates or corrections when needed.
Originally from the Porto metropolitan area in Portugal, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography. His path into cycling journalism was shaped not through formal media training, but through independent reporting, community engagement, and sustained on-the-ground involvement in the sport.
Over the course of his career, he has conducted approximately 100 interviews across road cycling and cyclocross, ranging from one-to-one conversations and online formats to press conferences and on-site pre- and post-race coverage. His interviews include leading riders, team managers, and prominent figures within cycling media: Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel, Primoz Roglic, Wout van Aert, Joao Almeida and Tom Pidcock; managers like Patrick Lefevere and Joxean Matxin; and YouTube personality Bryan Kennedy (BKXC)...
Within 18 months of launch, he helped grow CyclingUpToDate’s English-language platform into one of the most-read cycling news websites, built entirely from the ground up. As both a professional journalist and lifelong cycling enthusiast, his focus remains on delivering accurate, timely, and well-contextualized coverage.
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- He should have been allowed to go to Movistar. Right now both arent a good fit for each other and are just wasting each other's time and effortabstractengineer08-11-2026
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Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026 - i did not see it. was the relegation justified or an overly hard decision? and don‘t cross riders deviate from straight lines all the time? bumping into each others when they cut corners, etc … why being more strict with the rules on the finish sprint?Ketterechts08-11-2026
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- So?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- The UCI do have their favorites.
Front24208-11-2026 - On a positive note, you maybe notice turning this topic into a discussion has the benefit of eliminating certain participants who do not see how they can turn it back to their sole interest ;-)Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- People see what they want to. I am actually the opposite of your accusation, probably more of a rebel than most of you who don’t get the big picture. The difference is, I don’t go moaning publicly about the consequences of my transgressions, I understand the need for rules and I take my OWN responsibility when deciding to ignore or break them or doing so involuntarily. I will also not hesitate to state my case or argue vehemently when relevant, sometimes it works, sometimes it makes things worse but that’s the price to pay for principles and having character.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- That may be but that was unknown to others and nothing says that’s the whole truth. Again, don’t try to misinterpret, it is a call and technically it is correct. Besides, even if there is a valid reason, that does not disqualify the ruling or punishment as far as the rules have been developed. I don’t think they’re as far as in football where for handball there is a distinction (in some ways and specific cases) between intentional or not. And football can be just as harsh and people live with it, eg the offside rule, also judged to within tiny fractions but often wrong or ignored. It’s the nature of every collective organisation and sometimes I wonder if our rebellion against it isn’t seated in the feelings we carry from the injustices we’ve felt personally, like being flashed driving 1km/h too fast when we are explained limits are just a security measure but we are absolutely certain not to have endangered anyone with our transgression. The problem is, nobody has better solutions and no 2 people have the same interpretation of where a limit should be.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
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