“You have to draw a line” - Adam Hansen explains why riders agreed to turned-in brake lever ban

After the UCI announced their new restrictions around flared handlebars and turned-in brake levers earlier this month, many initially saw it as the governing body once again interfering where it wasn’t necessary as they have often done many times over issues such as sock height.

However, in an interview with Ride Media at the Tour Down Under, former professional cyclist and current president of the Cyclistes Professionnels Associés (CPA) Adam Hansen explained the reasoning behind the new legislation and revealed that the vast majority of the peloton were actually in favour of the decision.

In the interview, Hansen described his role in bringing about the new rules, stating that “I worked with Michael Rogers at the UCI and he found out that the handlebars weren’t designed to have the lever positioned like that, so there were some cracks on the handlebars”.

When questioned on whether these regulations were unfair on certain manufacturers, given that turned-in levers had much more of a detrimental effect on the structural integrity of some handlebars than it did others, Hansen was very firm in his response, as he explained that “in cycling you have to draw a line and make it fair across the board”.

He even drew comparisons to the UCI minimum bike weight limit of 6.8kg, which was introduced in order to make sure that all bikes were safe and that structural integrity was not being compromised in the pursuit of weight saving.

We have seen a number of handlebar failures in the professional peloton over the past few years, such as when Mathieu van der Poel’s right brake lever snapped off his Canyon Aeroad in the finale of Le Samyn in 2021 or when Hugo Hofstetter’s handlebars on his Bianchi Oltre RC broke not once but twice at last year’s Grand Prix de Denain.

Although various reasons could be given for why these specific failures happened, the increase in similar cases can likely be attributed to the extreme handlebar positions that riders have been adopting in order to become more aerodynamic.

Given the large number of riders that have chosen to adopt the turned-in brake lever position in recent years, one might have expected a fair bit of opposition to these new regulations. However, according to a survey conducted by Hansen and the CPA at last year’s Giro d’Italia, when given the option between having the levers straight, at a 5 degree angle, a 10 degree angle or in a more extreme position, only 3% of the riders surveyed chose the extreme option.

Similarly to when the so-called ‘puppy paws’ and ‘supertuck’ riding positions were banned in 2021 (which was also met with some backlash at the time), it seems as though the UCI is trying to prevent a serious accident before one happens, as they try to improve rider safety in professional cycling.