UCI publish new High Temperature Protocol rules

After it was announced in December that the UCI would be introducing a new High Temperature Protocol for road racing, the regulations have now been officially published by the governing body.

The new regulations divide the various temperature zones by risk to rider safety, using the wet-bulb globe temperature, a measure of heat stress to a human when in direct sunlight. The UCI have then suggested several countermeasures to combat these risks based on their severity.

This comes after several incidents over the past few years where teams have been forced to race in hot temperatures, with no official protocols in place to counteract the effects of the heat on the riders. An example of this was at last year’s Tour de France, where riders faced an extreme heatwave and were forced to ride in temperatures nearing 40°C.

In a press release that was published by the UCI in December, the president of the governing body David Lappartient stated that “the health, safety and wellbeing of our cyclists are of the utmost importance. That is why the UCI is continually working to respond to new situations and adapt its protocols in line with the changing environment in which cyclists evolve”.