“Serious incidents continue to occur” - Urska Zigart’s Tour de Suisse horror crash sparks riders’ union call for major safety review

Urska Zigart’s heavy crash at the Tour de Suisse Women has pushed rider safety back to the centre of cycling’s agenda, with CPA Women calling for a substantial review of the current SafeR operating model.

Zigart crashed in the final kilometre of stage 2 in Locarno and was later diagnosed with a fractured jaw.

The AG Insurance - Soudal rider was taken to hospital after the fall, which has now become a flashpoint in a wider debate over how professional cycling identifies and removes risks before riders reach them at race speed.

In a statement signed by CPA Women Managing Director Alessandra Cappellotto, the riders’ association said it still believes in the SafeR project and recognised the progress made in recent years. Its call after Zigart’s crash was not for the safety structure to be abandoned, but for it to be strengthened.

CPA Women said it had supported SafeR “from the very beginning” and had invested “time, energy and resources” into the project. The union described SafeR as an essential tool for responding to the demands of modern professional cycling and the expectations of riders, teams, organisers, governing bodies, sponsors and fans.

The tone then shifted from support to urgency. “However, serious incidents continue to occur, and it is our responsibility to ask whether the current system is providing all the answers that our sport requires,” the statement read.

CPA Women said the current model should be reviewed and reinforced so SafeR has the “tools, structure and authority necessary to identify risks more effectively and to prevent incidents before they happen.”

That authority is now the central issue. The riders’ union is pushing beyond post-crash reaction and towards a safety system with more power to act before dangerous sections become part of a race.

CPA Women also called on the sport not to resist reform, pointing to the UCI, AIOCC, AIGCP and other stakeholders as part of the process. “Cycling must not be afraid of change,” the statement continued.

The union said riders remain committed to contributing constructively to that work, while stressing that safety must be treated as a shared responsibility across the sport. “The riders remain fully committed to contributing constructively to this process,” CPA Women said. “Safety is a shared responsibility, and continuous improvement must remain at the heart of our collective efforts.”

Zigart’s crash came at a race already running alongside the men’s Tour de Suisse, where Tadej Pogacar has been leading the general classification. The incident quickly moved beyond the immediate medical update once CPA Women linked it to the wider question of whether cycling’s safety structures have enough power to prevent serious crashes before they happen.

For CPA Women, the objective is now clear: a stronger SafeR model, earlier risk identification, and a professional cycling system that does more than react once riders have already hit the ground.