Marc Madiot renews call for radio earpiece ban to reduce crash risk in pro peloton

Groupama-FDJ manager Marc Madiot has renewed his calls for a ban on radio earpieces as a means of increasing safety in professional cycling.

In an interview for the L’Équipe documentary 'Crash, peloton sous tension,' Madiot suggested that instructions over radio earpieces served only to increase the fight for positions in the peloton and thus heighten the risk of crashes.

“There have been deaths and there will inevitably be more, and you'll see, we'll just start again the next day,” Madiot said. “I think we need to focus on slowing down the cyclist’s speed. That's obvious, and we have to fight for it. 

“There are some very simple solutions: get rid of earpieces, hide powermeters, and ban GPS devices. If you do all that, there will be less danger, and fewer people will take risks at the same time.”

Madiot proceeded to outline how he felt radio earpieces created an additional layer of danger rather than removing it.

“We’re constantly in contact with the rider via an earpiece, which is a kind of telephone, and through GPS and power meters,” Madiot said. “Today, I'm sorry to say, the rider is constantly being remotely controlled. We tell him, ‘Watch out, danger ahead, we're going to be passing through a village, there are speed bumps and roundabouts. You have to be at the front.’ But there isn't room for everyone at the front! Everybody is going faster to get ahead of the others, and that's no longer possible.”

During his time as president of the French pro cycling league (LCPF), Madiot initiated a ban on radio communication at the French national championships in 2009, though the move appeared to be aimed as much at improving the spectacle as at ensuring greater safety. “We want to restore the initiative of the riders," Madiot said then. “They have to study the courses of the races like we used to do when we competed before the inception of the radios.”

In the L’Équipe documentary, Madiot’s rider Guillaume Martin suggested a different solution to the issue of ever-increasing speed in the peloton. “We could consider ways to slow down bikes by having them equipped with slower tyres, which would be the same for all teams, as is done in other sports,” Martin said.

On Friday, meanwhile, the UCI confirmed that it plans to enforce equipment regulation changes from January 2026, including minimum handlebar width requirements and maximum wheel rim heights, as part of a safety initiative.

The move to impose a minimum handlebar width of 400mm has been criticised by The Cyclists’ Alliance. “It puts riders at risk,” read a statement from the union. “Female cyclists face the greatest impact from this arbitrary restriction on minimum handlebar width.”