“The big problem lies with the UCI” – Johan Bruyneel spares no sympathy for the organisers after nasty crash at the Tour de la Provence
Cycling
At the Tour de la Provence yesterday, Sam Bennett claimed victory in the stage, while Mads Pedersen secured the overall title. However, the final sprint was overshadowed by a nasty crash in the peloton at the end of the race.
As the race entered its final few hundred metres, the sprinters were preparing to build to maximum speed to compete for the race win. Unfortunately, Pascal Ackermann suffered a disastrous moment as he tried to accelerate, as his front wheel lost grip on a speed bump, sending him crashing hard onto the tarmac.
The situation worsened as riders behind him had no space to react, leading to a pile-up involving multiple other competitors, some of which went over their handle bars.
This incident once again raises concerns over the current safety standards in professional cycling. Over the past few months, multiple junior riders have tragically lost their lives in training accidents. Additionally, at the 2024 World Championships in Zurich, Muriel Furrer’s fatal fall prompted serious questions about course design, race safety, and the handling of riders who have crashed.
Among those speaking out on social media following the crash was Johan Bruyneel, a former professional who won two stages at the Tour de France and one at the Vuelta a Espana. Now 60, Bruyneel was highly critical of the race’s organisation and the role of the UCI in ensuring rider safety.
“My opinion on this? A speed bump in the last stretch and so close to the finish line should never be allowed, ever. We have to ask the question: who designs these courses? This isn’t rocket science, depending on the profile these courses have a reasonably predictable outcome.
“In this case, high probability for a bunch sprint, so a speed bump in the last few meters is almost a guaranteed disaster. So the first question really is: who designs the course? Next question is: who approves the course? I realize it’s not as simple of a process as we might think, but ultimately for me, the big problem lies with the UCI.”
Bruyneel did not hold back in his criticism of UCI President David Lappartient, stating that the organisation prioritises shifting blame onto riders rather than addressing preventable dangers.
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“Their president, David Lappartient keeps pushing the news that rider safety is one of their priorities, but whenever he has the opportunity, he blames the riders’ behaviour for crashes and accidents. Sometimes that’s true, but many, many times there are circumstances that can be avoided, like today.
“Lappartient also keeps boasting about ‘SafeR,’ what he calls an external and independent entity responsible for analyzing safety situations and making recommendations for improvements. I just want to take the opportunity here to remind everyone, including Lappartient himself, that ‘SafeR’ was initially an initiative of the teams.
“The teams came up with the idea of contracting an external and really independent organization which was supposed to study the situations and work on improvements for rider safety. It is my understanding that Lappartient has listened to the teams' proposal but (and this happens often with sporting federations) turned it into his idea and forced the teams to let the UCI do the talking.
“Now SafeR is working directly for the UCI and not for the teams and their riders. It is absolutely not independent, and their reports are monitored and published by the UCI. What the UCI does usually is punish either riders, DS, or organizers for incidents in races. They prefer to punish small organizations; they will never punish ASO, for example, even if sometimes in the Tour de France there are courses or finish stretches that could be a lot safer.
“Richard Plugge, or any other team manager, tell me if I’m wrong. (I realize I may have missed some details along the way about the creation of SafeR, but I don’t think I’m far off.)”
The crash at the Tour de la Provence has once again highlighted the need for greater oversight in race safety. While cycling remains the sport that we love, the risks involved continue to be a major talking point and the handling of these situations simply must improve.
With figures like Bruyneel speaking out, the conversation around rider safety is unlikely to fade anytime soon and it is time now for action. Whether the UCI will take meaningful action in response to these concerns remains to be seen.
My opinion on this?
— Johan Bruyneel 🇧🇪 (@JohanBruyneel) February 16, 2025
A speed bump in the last stretch and so close to the finish line should never be allowed, ever. We have to ask the question: who designs these courses? This isn’t rocket science, depending on the profile these courses have a reasonably predictable outcome. In… https://t.co/XL5TTHYuiZ
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- Nice though you have to ask why they call it a wildcard as it’s always pretty obvious who will receive them.Mistermaumau01-04-2025
- Absolutely, we are inundated by articles (not only in cycling or sport but everywhere from stocks to weather to elections) from self-called or popularly regarded experts making calls without reasoning. They basically know little more than any other informed or interested party and base everything on odds. The fact that they never have to justify their wrong calls post event but continue to get to make calls should get some attention. It would be cool if someone tallied up and recorded their predictions for future reference.Mistermaumau01-04-2025
- Yes, I agree but you’re taking risks writing such long posts here ;-) In that sense, the Tourless Primoz discussion is also pretty pointless as he virtually won a Tour (nobody would have counted on Tadej doing what he did at the last moment at that time and I guess it was bad karma for Primoz for so ofren cutting things so fine). I think you over interpreted my original thesis, it was not for trying to explain his current state, it was to suggest there was already mental material pre-crashes that has helped worsen his state, when it rains it pours. I really do remember having the feeling in that past he was more focused on not letting MVDP get better than him than doing his own thing. The seed of doubt was already planted and it doesn’t take much for doubt to grow in all sorts of directions.Mistermaumau01-04-2025
- i wouldn't count Pogi out. Low probability of a win, but not impossiblemobk01-04-2025
- Right now it doesn't seem that his legs are there or that his head is in the racevappaxbipmv01-04-2025
- would have been nice to hear exactly WHY he thinks pog has zero chance in some greater detail. i mean, tend to agree that his chances aren’t GREAT, but some explanation from the expert with an opinion would be nice. MINE is that, in spite of the recon he did where tadej concluded that the course “wasn’t that hard” i think that doing the full route at full gas is really going to beat up pogacar’s 145lb body, to a degree that he maybe isn’t expecting. but hey, we’ll see in a couple weeks. like everyone else, i do think it’s supercool that he’s going.OCexile01-04-2025
- Go back to that era and look at the lousy mechanicals he's had at Paris-Roubaix. Take those away, maybe he has another Monument, Van der Poel has one less, and suddenly all the rules change. Those mechanicals preceded his awful crashes - and you're right, that Tour was amazing. Ventoux, TT, and Champs-Elysees?! Something that Pogacar and Van der Poel can't do, just Wout. It still amazes me.RidesHills01-04-2025
- Oh, the impossibility of this kind of comparison. A pre-WW2 Binda had amazing statistics, and that was one era. During what I think of as the romantic era, Poulidor had an incredible run at the Tour without winning, and Bobet won some grand tours and some Monuments. In this modern era (for me: after Hinault), we've had multiple Monument winners win a grand tour (such as Valverde and Kelly, with Kelly the better rider in general), and then we've got someone like Roglic, the true GC rider. Sure there was a Monument that was kind of a fluke (both Pogacar and Hirschi might have won, and twitchy Alaphilippe deserved relegation), but what matters are the 5 grand tours and all these wins across the 1 week GC races except for the Tour de Suisse (you'd think he'd race it to get the set of them all). In this era, since 2000 or so, maybe he meets the description as best non-Tour winner. How many GC riders have these wins and not the Tour? To compare to other eras really is not possible. He's his own unique rider, and it's been amazing watching him for the past many years. That's about all we can say.RidesHills01-04-2025
- Ease up on a brother!bobo01-04-2025
- Primoz finds ways to win. Too bad he'll never take Tour de France.awp01-04-2025