‘These bikes are behaving more like motorcycles’ - Tour de France course designer warns over rising speeds

Tour de France course designer Thierry Gouvenou has acknowledged riders’ concerns over safety following a series of incidents that prompted a protest at Il Lombardia. 

The peloton delayed the start of Il Lombardia by five minutes in order to pay tribute to Finlay Tarling and to highlight the UCI and race organisers’ failure to improve safety standards in the weeks since his tragic death.

At the Volta a Portugal in August, Tarling was killed when he was struck by a motorist who entered the course on stage 8. He was 19 years old.

At Tre Valli Varesine last week, a police motorcyclist reportedly travelled against the direction of the race, causing the Pinarello-Q36.5 pair of Marcel Camprubí and Thomas Gloag to crash.

Meanwhile at the Coppa Bernocchi, a DHL delivery van pulled onto the course from a side road and drove behind the breakaway before it was ushered off the course again.

Even since the Il Lombardia protest, there have been more incidents, with a vehicle spotted driving just ahead of the breakaway on stage 1 of the Eneco Tour. 

In an interview with Road.cc, Gouvenou said he understood the concerns driving the riders’ protests. 

“I can understand the riders; they don’t get on their bikes with the intention of ending up disabled or dead. We certainly understand where the riders are coming from,” Gouvenou told Road.cc.

“We are going to sit down around a table; that’s clear. I’m part of the SafeR group, so we’ll be having plenty of discussions.”

However, Gouvenou also suggested the increasing speeds in the peloton are making races more difficult for race organisers to secure. 

“But there’s more to it than that. Races have evolved, the riders are moving much faster, which makes it significantly harder for organisers to secure the course. We, the organisers, are also calling for measures to reduce speeds,” he said. 

“I am the safety manager for a bicycle race, but I don’t want to end up being the safety manager for a motorcycle race. Right now, on the descents, these bikes are behaving more like motorcycles than bicycles.”

Gouvenou also highlighted the limitations of protecting races on public roads where organisers do not have the resources or power to guarantee that everyone will follow the rules. 

“No race organiser can ever guarantee that an incident will not occur during their event. The true nature of cycling is that it takes place in an open environment, not within a stadium,” Gouvenou said. 

“Races are held on public roads, where some individuals may choose to disregard the rules, ignore course marshals, or even venture onto the race route itself.”

He added that there are further challenges caused by the financial demands to secure protection. 

“We invest a significant amount of money into safety, yet maintaining the financial balance of these events remains extremely difficult,” he said. 

“After all, you cannot station a police officer in front of every single house [or] on every corner. But people, humanity in general, are becoming less and less respectful of the rules.”

SafeR is an independent body established in 2023 that brings together the UCI riders, teams and race organisers to analyse risks and develop safety measures. 

However, speaking as a guest on the Domestique Hotseat in the week prior to the protest, CPA president Adam Hansen said SafeR can recommend changes to dangerous routes but does not have the authority to force organisers to implement them.

Hansen cited an incident at the Renewi Tour where he said SafeR analysts had reportedly identified a cracked road surface and recommended an alternative route. 

According to Hansen, the advice was ignored by the race organiser and two crashes subsequently occurred.