'Blame the motos, not the riders' - CPA president Hansen urges fans to stop pointing fingers

The CPA president responded after a week in which several riders questioned the role of motorbikes in the race convoy, with Luke Plapp describing their impact at Romandie as “ridiculous” and Valentin Paret Peintre suggesting the peloton had benefited from their positioning while chasing the breakaway.

Hansen, writing on X, said the frustration around motorbikes is justified, but insisted the anger is being aimed at the wrong people.

“For the fans bashing riders for riding behind the motos, that’s unfair,” Hansen wrote. “The riders are free to ride anywhere on the roads.”

The former pro said riders should not be expected to move around the road in order to avoid a draft created by a motorbike ahead of them. In his view, the problem starts with the organisation of the convoy, not with the riders racing behind it.

“For races that have motos too close or just everywhere, that’s not the riders’ fault,” Hansen added. “It’s the organisation of the vehicles in front of the race that is handled badly, again not the riders’ fault. It’s first a race, not a movie production set.”

The comments come after Plapp spoke openly about the impact he felt motorbikes had during the Tour de Romandie. The Jayco AlUla rider said the speed in the peloton changed dramatically once the motorbikes moved ahead of the bunch.

“The motorbike came in front of our bunch and the speed was just unbelievable in the peloton,” Plapp said on the Stanley St. Social podcast. “We were just lined out, sprinting out of every corner, and the time gaps just raced down.”

Plapp added that the situation had become hard to ignore. “There were some stages where it was just a bit of a joke how fast we were going and how much the motorbikes influenced it,” he said.

The same issue had already caused frustration earlier in the race. Paret Peintre, who was part of the breakaway on stage 4, 'If the organisation want Pogacar to win, that’s their choice' - Paret-Peintre latest to question motorbike influencesaid afterwards that the move had worked well together but was never given enough room to truly threaten the favourites behind.

His frustration then turned towards the race convoy, with the Soudal Quick-Step rider making clear he felt the motorbikes had played a role in the chase.

“If the organisation wants Tadej Pogačar to win, that’s their choice,” Paret Peintre said after the stage. “We have said it several times, but that’s life.”

Hansen said riders themselves want more distance between the motorbikes and the peloton, and claimed the CPA has raised the topic repeatedly in meetings.

“Do the riders want the motos not influencing the race? Of course they do,” he wrote. “We hear comments all the time and we always bring it up at each meeting.”

He also linked the problem to the wider discussion around rider safety. According to Hansen, organisers have spoken about reducing speed in the peloton, but he believes there is a far simpler way to do that.

“The fastest way to slow down the bunch is not to have the motos so close to the bunch,” Hansen said.

The Australian ended his message with a pointed joke, suggesting the CPA could start a fundraiser to buy zoom lenses for the production crews on motorbikes. The line was light hearted, but the message behind it was not. Hansen believes the current situation can affect race speed, results and the riders who are left to deal with the consequences.

“Please fans, it’s the motorbikes’ fault, not the riders,” he stated. “Respect the riders, their job is hard enough and then to read on social media that they get disrespected because they have a motorbike in front of them is not fair.”