UCI cracks down on ice socks as the Tour de France heats up

As first reported by Cyclingnews, UCI officials stopped riders before the start ramp in Barcelona and ordered them to remove ice socks from inside their skinsuits.

The decision turned a familiar pre race cooling trick into an early talking point of the Tour. Riders had to warm up hard enough to be ready for a flat out effort, but not so hard that they arrived at the ramp already cooking.

Across the start area, teams were all trying to solve the same problem in different ways. Netcompany-Ineos chose one of the more striking solutions of the afternoon: their riders sat in a row with their arms submerged in tubs of cold water.

But as teams search for new ways to keep riders cool, the UCI is also drawing a firmer line.

Ice socks are a simple and common cooling tool: usually a piece of stocking or tights filled with ice, then tucked behind the neck or down the back of a jersey. The UCI’s issue is not the ice, but the position, as clothing and accessories must not alter a rider’s morphology.

“It changes the morphology of the riders’ shape,” the commissaire enforcing the rule told Cyclingnews. “I know it’s only a little thing, but you have to draw the line.”

Team Visma | Lease a Bike’s Head of Performance equipment, Jenco Drost, told Cyclingnews the rule had been raised before the race. “It was shared in the Tour de France equipment meeting,” he said. “But with this weather, riders try to keep it as long as possible.”

The timing of the intervention is striking, because the heat is unlikely to disappear as the race moves on from Barcelona. The Tour is heading towards the Pyrenees in the opening week, with high temperatures forecast across parts of Catalonia and southern France.

Stage 3 from Granollers to Les Angles will take the peloton into the mountains, where the altitude may bring some relief from the worst of the heat. Even so, cooling and hydration are expected to remain central to race preparation.

The following day could prove more difficult. Stage 4 runs from Carcassonne to Foix, through a part of southern France already dealing with extreme heat, dry ground and heightened wildfire risk.

Tour organisers are monitoring the situation as the race moves north. According to Reuters, more than 2,000 firefighters have been deployed along France’s Mediterranean coast, where strong winds and dry conditions have helped fuel multiple wildfires.

Campsites near Canet en Roussillon have been evacuated, Perpignan Airport has been closed, and authorities have warned that more extreme heat could follow in the coming days.

In Catalonia, emergency services are also battling a wildfire in the Empordà region near Girona, where regional authorities have called in Spain’s Military Emergencies Unit to assist firefighting efforts, according to reports including Euronews.

Tour organisers have not announced any changes to the route, but the situation is being assessed on a day by day basis as the race moves north into France.

“It is a major concern for us,” Tour Route Director Thierry Gouvenou told L’Équipe earlier this week.

Tour General Director Christian Prudhomme also told L’Équipe that organisers are in “constant contact” with the UCI and local authorities, with any decisions dependent on conditions closer to each stage.