'This came completely from the riders' – How the peloton united to take a stand on safety at Il Lombardia

Remco Evenepoel served as the public spokesperson for the peloton on Saturday, taking the microphone to explain their stance to the spectators gathered on the start line in Bergamo. The initiative came from the riders themselves rather than their union, the CPA, with Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) among the instigators of the protest.

“With what’s happened this week and this summer, especially, I think there’s a consensus in the peloton that not enough is being done by particularly the UCI,” Healy said after he reached the finish of Il Lombardia in 12th place. “I think this is just us standing together to show we’re not happy. 

“We didn’t want to affect the race today at all or upset the organisers, but we just wanted to show the power that we have as riders and the voice that we have. Every single team on the start line today all voted to do that this morning, so it’s a particularly strong feeling. I think hopefully it was heard.”

The riders held the stoppage to pay tribute to the late Finlay Tarling, who was killed when he was struck by a motorist who entered the course at the Volta ao Portugal in August, and also to highlight serious incidents at races in Italy over the past week.

At the Coppa Bernocchi, a DHL delivery van turned onto the route from a side street and spent some time behind the breakaway, while at Tre Valli Varesine, Pinarello-Q36.5 riders Marcel Camprubì and Thomas Gloag crashed after they were reportedly struck by a police motorcyclist travelling against the direction of the race.

Domestique understands that the demonstration was arranged in recent days via a WhatsApp group that included one rider per team. The group was deliberately restricted in size and the riders operated discreetly to prevent the protest from being diluted or postponed under pressure from the organisation or the governing body. While Healy was one of the organisers of the protest, he stressed that the sentiment was one shared by the entire peloton. 

“I don’t want to say it was just me and someone else, because all I did was rally the troops, so to say, because this isn’t just coming from me: this is coming from everyone in this peloton today and everyone in the WorldTour peloton in general,” said Healy.

“I think it’s such a big issue, you know. It’s our safety at the end of the day. And not one person had anything negative to say. It’s a pretty simple, clear message. And I think it’s one that everyone could get behind.”

A number of riders published the same statement on social media to coincide with the protest. But while CPA president Adam Hansen posted the same message on social media, Healy confirmed that the riders’ union was not involved in this protest in any way. Tom Pidcock told journalist Daniel Benson that he believed the CPA only became aware of the planned protest late on Friday. 

“No, this came completely from the riders,” Healy said. “We just wanted to make it as simple as possible. It’s not a complicated message, like I said, and all the riders stood together to say that today.”

Finlay Tarling’s tragic death was the latest in a long line of fatal incidents in top-level bike racing in recent years, and riders have grown increasingly vociferous in expressing their frustration at the apparent failure of the sport’s governing body to enforce safety standards and take firm action against race organisers who do not meet them. 

On Tuesday, Tom Pidcock revealed that he had considered pulling out of Tre Valli Varesine in protest at the events that led to his teammates’ crash. That episode, coming on the back of a similar incident at the Coppa Bernocchi, led to the riders’ protest on Saturday.

“Personally, I don’t have all the answers, that’s for sure,” Healy said. “But I just hope this starts the conversation rolling with the UCI and there needs to be some sort of standard, centralised standard across all these races of how safety is put into place. Hopefully we can just get that ball rolling.”