Stressful, dangerous, but necessary - Heads of UCI and Tour de France share rider feedback regarding race radios

Christian Prudhomme and David Lappartient were amongst those who have talked during today's General Assembly of Race Organizers and has discussed a number of topics. Amongst them were the topics of race radios, yellow cards, dangers in the peloton, the extreme weather protocol and even the possible count of UCI points gained in other disciplines counting for World Tour teams.

Lappartient confirmed that he is applying for head of the Olympic comitee in March but if he's not elected, then he will look to be re-elected as UCI president later in September. He's confirmed that the 'yellow card' system will be in place from January onwards but with different rules than those tested this year; and also that there is talks of creating more international World Tour events and possibly changing the timing of the Vuelta a España due to the extreme weather that becomes more and more frequent during the race.

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The race radios perhaps were the biggest debate. Lappartient says that there is a visible percentage of riders that argues racing without earpieces makes it less stressful and that tests have shown less mass crashes without the presence of the radios. But this is unlikely to change in the future, as the majority still supports it's full use.

Christian Prudhomme, director of the Tour de France, has also shared his point of view: "I've also had riders write to me who don't necessarily want me to publish their names – the majority will want to keep the earpieces - but there are still a lot of riders who consider that it's an element that contributes to a certain amount of stress in the peloton".

This debate has been ongoing for years but specially increased after the death of junior Swiss rider Muriel Furrer during the World Championships where radios are not allowed for riders and after crashing, the riders was not found until after an hour of the accident. "I think it's a bit of a shame that some people want to draw a conclusion from a dramatic fall such as that of Muriel Furrer, which is under investigation by the police," he's added.

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