Patrick Lefevere defends Giro ‘pee bidons’: ‘Better than pulling it out in public’

Patrick Lefevere said the improvised urinals became a major talking point during his visit to the Giro d’Italia.

“The theme of the week was the ‘pee bidon’,” Lefevere wrote in Het Nieuwsblad. “Honestly, I don’t see the problem. What do we prefer? Riders pulling their d*cks out of their shorts in front of the public, or those who discreetly hide them in a water bottle? I would think the latter.”

The practice drew attention after riders were fined for public urination. Victor Campenaerts (Visma | Lease a Bike), strongly associated with the method, defended it in a Giro vlog.

“We ride the bikes through the whole country,” Campenaerts explained. “And I think by law in most countries it is forbidden to urinate in public. My solution was to pee in the bottle, to not pee in somebody’s front yard or not pee on people next to the road.”

He stressed the bottles were returned to team cars rather than discarded and described the practice as being born of “only good intentions.” While joking that he might have popularised the method, Campenaerts conceded that increased enforcement means the habit is now over.

Lefevere argued the custom is “as old as the hills” and accused the UCI of obsessing over trivialities. He mentioned rules targeting sock height, narrow handlebars, time trial helmets in road races, and restricted jersey colour combinations.

“I don’t know what it is at the UCI, but they are so keen on banning things,” he wrote.

Lefevere also highlighted the UCI’s recent courtroom loss over proposed maximum gearing rules. The Brussels Market Court rejected the UCI’s appeal against a decision by the Belgian Competition Authority, blocking a rule that would have limited gear ratios to a 54x11 equivalent.

The restriction would have particularly affected SRAM’s RED AXS groupset, which uses a 54x10 setup. The court ruled that while the UCI can pursue safety measures, it had failed to meet basic standards of transparency, objectivity, and proportionality.

Lefevere dismissed the situation as an expensive and poorly prepared blunder, saying the UCI had essentially “wet its finger and stuck it in the air” before imposing the rule.