Giro's mass crash exposes limitations of UCI guidelines for organisers

Jonas Vingegaard’s words from the eve of the Giro d’Italia would prove prophetic before the opening stage had even been completed. Asked by La Gazzetta dello Sport what he would do if he were president of the UCI for a day, Vingegaard had insisted that safety would be his priority.

“I’d spend less energy on establishing rules, because some of them aren’t necessary,” Vingegaard said. “I’d focus on enforcing the existing regulations, thoroughly inspecting the routes, and ensuring that the roads are in perfect condition and kept clean – something that doesn’t always happen.”

Don’t we know it. Paul Magnier sprinted to the first maglia rosa in Burgas, but stage 1 of the Giro was overshadowed by the mass crash that occurred with 600 metres or so remaining on a narrow run-in, at a point where the roadside barriers featured metal feet that protruded unevenly into the road.

It was, as Cristiano Gatti scathingly put it over on Tuttobiciweb, “a final sequence that looked like it was drawn straight from [Italian horror director] Dario Argento’s imagination, or perhaps that of a sadistic cousin of his.”

Only ten riders escaped the crash completely and contested the sprint, with a dozen or so riders going down, while the rest of the peloton was held up behind them. Dylan Groenewegen, Kaden Groves and Matteo Moschetti were among the worst affected, though mercifully, everybody involved was able to remount and complete the stage. 

It could have been much, much worse, but it shouldn’t require horrific injuries for a dangerous finale like this to be called out as such. In one of the flagship events of the sport, this looked like a worrying lapse in safety standards – until you realise that it was actually in line with the safety standards currently enacted by the UCI.

The finishing straight itself featured barriers without protruding feet, as required for the final 500 metres of sprint stages per UCI rules, but surely it should be a requirement that the entire last kilometre – or more – of a finale like this should barriered off in a uniform way. 

With a fresh peloton rattling at high speed along narrowing roads, and with three gentle bends in the final kilometre, this finish was always going to see an intense contest for positions. 

The intensity of the racing here might have led to a crash in any case, we’ll never know, but the chances of it happening grew significantly once the peloton was sent down a narrow street with strips of metal intermittently poking out into their path. On one side of the road, the barriers seemed to be placed on a raised pavement, but on the other, the feet of the barriers were clearly an obstacle for the peloton. 

Erlend Blikra (Uno-X Mobility) was the first faller, seemingly because Tord Gudmestad (Decathlon CMA CGM) deviated to avoid hitting the foot of a barrier. The domino effect that followed saw a dozen riders come down at high speed. 

At the beginning of last year, the UCI put out a report on crashes that cited ‘rider error’ as the cause of 35% of all incidents in 2024. It would be curious to know how the governing body’s statisticians choose to classify this crash in Burgas – will they blame the rider for veering away from a protruding barrier, or might they consider that the rider shouldn’t have been forced to race along an obstacle course to begin with?

Crashes, sadly, have always been an occupational hazard in cycling, especially in bunch sprints, and the risk will never be reduced to zero. And on occasion, riders do take unnecessary chances or make what the UCI might term as unforced errors. But that clearly was not the case here. This was an eminently avoidable incident, and a sour note upon which to start the Giro.

The Grande Partenza in Bulgaria, incidentally, has netted RCS Sport an estimated €12.5 million in revenue. It’s the third, money-spinning foreign start in five years, after Hungary in 2022 and Albania twelve months ago. Perhaps RCS Sport CEO Paolo Bellino might consider investing some of that windfall on a full kilometre’s worth of Boplan barriers. 

But the root of the problem lies in the UCI rulebook. In their 2026 specifications for organisers, the UCI decree that barriers with hidden bases that do not encroach onto the finishing straight are only mandatory for the final 500 metres on a flat finish.

“In the finishing straight, over a minimum of […] the last 500 m, the organiser shall use barriers with hidden bases that do not encroach onto the finishing straight or barriers with the feet covered by boards,” reads the specification.

In other words, RCS Sport looked to be in compliance with UCI requirements in the finale in Burgas. We know how President Vingegaard would respond to that anomaly. One hopes the current UCI president is taking heed.