"It's done from a safety point of view. You can have a fatal accident" - Adam Hansen is in full support of UCI's inclined brake levers ban

Following the decision by the UCI to ban turned-in brake levers in 2024, the president of the CPA rider's association Adam Hansen, has told Cyclingnews he is in favour of the new rule and explained why it is important for rider safety. As a matter of fact, he worked with the UCI's Head of Road Cycling and Innovation, Michael Rogers, to come to the decision.

"I surveyed the riders, I wanted to know their feedback because some riders were concerned and some riders in the peloton saw crashes. Some riders were going pretty extreme with it," Hansen said of the turned-in levers.

"He actually got some research from the manufacturers," Hansen said of Rogers. "At 10 degrees and at 15 degrees inwards, it caused extra stress on the handlebars. He witnessed some handlebars cracked and we saw the images of these handlebars with cracks in them. There's a lot of extra stress when they're not put in the correct position designed by the manufacturer. Manufacturers design the levers in a sense where they're meant to sit straight on the handlebars. It was never the idea that they'd be put at an incline."

"It's done from a safety point of view. It's not just another stupid UCI rule. This is a valid rule. What worries me is a rider in the middle of a race, let's say he sprints uphill and he's on his brake levers. He's sprinting uphill, and that causes a crack but you don't really feel it because it could happen at the bottom of the connection. And then at the end of the race, he's sprinting on the drops, sprinting underneath the crack. You can have a fatal accident. And not just you but you could take down other riders."