Gear ratio restrictions, safety equipment and targeted events for this season were among the topics addressed in the first meeting in 2025 of the SafeR Supervisory Board, the body tasked with improving rider safety in road cycling.
SafeR was set up in 2023 as a way to bring together teams, race organisers, rider unions and the UCI to work together to improve safety within races, and their activity has been fairly nebulous so far, but the body’s first-ever press release, issued on Friday, shed light on their current focuses and activities.
The meeting was attended by Giro d’Italia race director Mauro Vegni, Vuelta a España technical director Kiko García, AIGCP president Brent Copeland, Picnic-PostNL team representative Emily Brammeier, CPA president Adam Hansen, and Rocco Cattaneo and Amina Lanaya of the UCI.
A big takeaway from the meeting is that the body intends to explore the possibility of limits on gear ratios, a suggestion backed by Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike), to help reduce high-speed crashes.
Following the results of a rider survey, SafeR “will propose to the Professional Cycling Council that it endorses the organisation of a gear ratio limitation test later this season”, the press release reads.
The idea of gear restrictions is the latest contribution to the long and complex conversation around rider safety. Whilst more race regulations and practical protections are being put in place each year, the inevitable fact that the peloton is going faster than ever remains a concern, and restricted gear ratios would seek to limit the maximum speeds riders can reach.
“Limiting the gears would make the sport a lot safer, in my opinion,” Van Aert told Sporza in January. “Other riders don't think so but I'm convinced about it. If you are on that descent with a gear limit, no one can move up. Now the gears are so big that you still think about overtaking."
Gear restrictions were previously mandated for junior riders – more from the position of not over-stressing their bodies than in-race safety – but this was scrapped in 2023.
As well as gear restrictions, SafeR’s rider survey, completed by 287 male and female riders, also focused on the topic of protective equipment such as abrasion-resistant clothing and wearable airbags, which SafeR says there is an “interest” for, as well as “an openness to seeing the development of more regulation on topics related to equipment and their safety”.
SafeR has also agreed to expand their racing jurisdiction, now including a selection of Class 1 events, where many incidents were identified.
“Many of the issues occurred at Class 1 events, a class of events not originally included in SafeR scope of activity, which was focused on the UCI WorldTour, UCI Women’s WorldTour and UCI ProSeries. The SafeR Supervisory Board decided to include a selection of Class 1 events in the future to be supported and analysed by SafeR analysts.”
The press release confirmed that former Swiss rider Steve Morabito will take over from Romain Caubin as the organisers’ representative on the SafeR Case Management Committee. He joins former riders Rubens Bertogliati and Dan Martin and CPA and CPA Women presidents Adam Hansen and Alessandra Cappellotto on the panel that meets weekly and analyses race incidents.
SafeR laid out which events would be analysed in 2025, with the criteria being “new event, event with security incidents in previous years or other reasons”. The current list of 15 events includes Itzulia Basque Country, the scene of last year’s horror crash, the Tour de Pologne, and new races such as Milan-San Remo Women and the Copenhagen Sprint.
The body says: “The analysts will work with the organisers ahead of their race on safety-related aspects, in particular, to identify potentially dangerous sections of the route, and will be present at the events. They will then draw up a report to be shared with SafeR, which will then use this as the basis for making recommendations to the UCI on areas for improvement.”
SafeR analysts will also attend selected stages of each Grand Tour.
On the topic of yellow cards, implemented fully this year after a test in 2024, the board “welcomed the now systematic application of the yellow card system in the relevant events organised so far this year”.
Though SafeR has been in place since 2023, Friday’s press release and the meeting on March 4 are some of the most concrete communications around what the body is doing, and their intentions and areas of focus in 2025.
