“They put on a show. We have to build around that” - Tadej Pogacar’s agent pitches eight-point plan to revolutionise pro cycling

Alex Carera wants every rider in the peloton wearing the same airbag system, teams agreeing the price of an early transfer before a dispute arises, and fans able to recognise Tadej Pogacar by the same race number all season. Those are three of eight proposals from Pogacar’s agent, whose plans would change how teams employ riders and how organisers put on races.

Carera set them out to DH Les Sports+ in Singapore, where he was accompanying Biniam Girmay and Isaac del Toro, two of around 150 riders represented by the agency he built with his brother Johnny. Del Toro won the Tour de France’s Singapore Criterium after attacking with just under four kilometres to go.

Pogacar extended his UAE Team Emirates – XRG contract through 2032 in September. Two of Carera’s other clients have moved before their deals were up. He helped arrange Maxim Van Gils’ early departure from Lotto and Cian Uijtdebroeks’ move from Team Visma | Lease a Bike to Movistar.

“Contracts are longer than they used to be,” Carera said. “We need to find ways for riders to change teams without having to go before a UCI commission or a court.” He would set exit fees in advance, with a ceiling of “three times the value of the current contract”.

Smaller teams, Carera argued, “could transfer the best riders they’ve brought through and make money from it”. He defended his own record on early exits. “I know some of my riders’ departures have caused a stir in recent months, but in the deals I was involved in, the riders and the teams were happy. That’s all that matters to me.”

A pre-agreed fee would also give a wealthier rival a price to plan around. The interview leaves open how a contract’s value would be calculated and who would set the fee within the cap.

Carera also wants the entities that employ and pay riders to be based in Switzerland. “Right now, they’re based in different countries and follow different rules, in Belgium, Spain, Italy and so on,” he said. “The tax regimes are different too.” He sees Switzerland, where the UCI is based, as the way to put those deals under a common legal framework. “We’d have a single set of laws, Swiss law, on which to build a transfer system.”

At the other end of the market, Carera wants more money to reach the clubs and Continental teams that develop riders before their first WorldTour contract. The fee he cited is €2,000 per eligible year of development. Clubs incur the costs of bringing riders through long before anyone knows whether they’ll get a professional deal. “A fee of €2,000 isn’t enough,” he said. “The teams that developed the riders need to be paid more.”

The other route into the WorldTour is the one taken by whole teams. The UCI awarded men’s top-tier licences to Alpecin and Uno-X for the 2026–28 cycle. Carera wants the ProTeam calendar to give prospective backers a reason to start one level down. “A sponsor can start at that level, gradually increase its budget and eventually help its team reach the WorldTour,” he said. “We’ve seen it with Alpecin and Uno-X.”

Pogacar’s crash at the Vuelta a Espana ended his 2026 campaign. “In the second half of the season, some of the biggest riders, like Tadej and Jonas, either didn’t race or finished their seasons injured,” Carera said. “That’s bad for our sport.”

The UCI began seeking input from developers of airbags and protective clothing in February. “There are too many incidents. Systems are starting to be developed, and we need them,” Carera said. “Everyone needs to adopt the same system so it’s fair. A bit like when wearing a helmet became compulsory.”

“I love circuit races,” Carera said. “Having the peloton pass through the same spot several times gives spectators more chances to see the riders. It also lets you concentrate some of the safety arrangements and spectator facilities in one place.” He made the same case for mountain stages, saying two ascents of a major climb “can be more interesting than going over four different major climbs”.

Pogacar won on the double Monte Grappa stage of the 2024 Giro, one of Carera’s examples. This year’s Tour finished at Alpe d’Huez on consecutive days, the second time via the Col de Sarenne. The 2027 Giro route already sends riders over the Mortirolo twice on stage 16. Its sprint finishes at Misano and Mugello are a different use of circuits, giving the bunch wider roads in the run to the line.

At the Tour, Carera’s favourite example is Montmartre. Adding the climb before the Champs-Elysees gave Wout van Aert and Mathieu van der Poel a finale they could win in successive editions. “For 30 years it was a celebration, a procession,” Carera said. “But we have to put on a show as well.”

The UCI Gala returns on 9 December in Benidorm, where the governing body will recognise the top-ranked riders, teams and nations. Carera sees the rankings as a way for sponsors to make sense of a team’s season across different races. “If you’re number one, number five or number ten, that gives people a reference point,” he said. “Sponsors don’t always understand what the different results mean.”

Carera, who has organised his own end-of-season gala for around 20 years, wants cycling to have “something like the Ballon d’Or”. He points to Pogacar, Remco Evenepoel and Mathieu van der Poel as the generation the sport should be putting in front of fans. “They attack from a long way out. They have personality. They put on a show. We have to build around that, because it’s what people love.”

Race numbers are another place Carera would use the rankings. “Riders change numbers from one race to the next,” he said. “If they kept the same one all season, fans could associate it with a particular rider more easily.” He’d assign them each November on the final rankings and make numbered jerseys part of the merchandise. The number could follow a rider from Strade Bianche to Il Lombardia and go to someone else the following spring.

Benidorm will host more than an awards night. The UCI will also present the broad outlines of its own road cycling reform at its 9–10 December seminar. The governing body has identified financial equity, safety, the calendar and commercial rights as priorities, with its first measures potentially coming in 2029.