“No rider wants to end up in a ditch with broken bones" - Race organisers need to remember cycling 'is not a video game' according to Red Bull - BORA boss

It hasn't taken long for the topic of rider safety to be thrust into the spotlight once again at the start of the 2025 season. At the recent Etoile de Besseges, a number of teams abandoned the race in protest after cars drove onto the course.

One of the riders worst affected by a crash caused by the peloton meeting a car was Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe's Maxim van Gils, who had been competing in his first race for the team since his winter signing. "He’s OK. Of course, there’s disappointment when you can’t turn all the training into results because of a crash or an injury, but he’s back on the bike and will continue as planned,” Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe’s chief of sport Rolf Aldag says of the Belgian in conversation with Velo. “We got him home in time, and he started physiotherapy right away. I have to say, he was very professional – not sitting around feeling sorry for himself, but straight away asking, ‘Can I get on the rollers? Can I get some kilometres, some hours in?’ So we’re pretty optimistic.”

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Since the controversial conclusion to the race, as the much reduced peloton continued on without half the teams who had started, rider safety and how to improve things have been a hot topic of conversation. For Aldag though, the topic is a very nuanced one. “It’s a very difficult issue because you can’t just take one position. You have to balance your thoughts on the situation,” he explains. “I think everyone agrees that none of the parties involved would say they don’t care about safety.”

“For teams, there’s a human concern, but also a business one. No team wants to pay a rider €20,000 a day while they’re sidelined with an injury that could have been prevented,” Aldag adds. “No rider wants to end up in a ditch with broken bones. And no race organizer wants their event to be remembered for safety issues. And for the UCI, it’s not good for the sport if the main discussions are about races being stopped due to oncoming traffic.”

Nevertheless, something does need to be done though Aldag concedes. “We all have the same interests, we just need to align them while recognizing the limitations. How much are riders being pushed by teams? How do relegation pressures impact decision-making? And how far will riders go in pursuit of results and contracts? There’s also the internal discussion about respect in the peloton,” he notes. “I think we all agree that there shouldn’t be cars coming in the opposite direction, that’s obvious. No organizer would argue otherwise. It’s not a video game where you get seven lives. From my own experience, having broken almost everything except my left leg in my career, I know how much it hurts, how long it takes to recover, and the mental toll it takes to come back.”

“So, what’s the solution? There’s no easy one, but we need to have these discussions in the proper settings, not just blow them up in public debates that hurt everyone involved,” Aldag concludes. “No one looks good in that.”

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"The race was over for us" - Jan Tratnik describes Red Bull - BORA's reaction and decision after Etoile de Besseges' car incidents

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