The shocking crashes that occurred in the last kilometer of the Wednesday stage of the Tour de Pollogne (Rzeszów) and the Wednesday stage of the Vuelta a Burgos (Villadiego) highlighted the ineffectiveness of UCI safety rules and guidelines for major race courses.

Following Fabio Jacobsen's horrific crash on the opening stage of the 2020 Tour de Pollogne, the UCI's "Specifications for Organizers" (opens in new tab), released in February 2021, states that defects in course and barrier design that endanger riders Additional measures were added that are intended to prevent ...

The specifications for organizers state: "No obstacles such as narrow road widths, traffic islands, speed bumps, etc. shall be placed in the last kilometer. The finishing straight should have several safety considerations and should be carefully chosen with these requirements in mind.

"The finishing straight should be as long as possible, at least 200 meters. It must also be wide enough, at least 6 meters and ideally 8 to 10 meters. The width of the road must be constant and not narrow at all."

The document also states that "According to Article 2.2.089 of the UCI Regulations (open in new tab), organizers are obliged to comply with the various requirements of this document as well as the UCI regulations."

However, the organizers of the Vuelta a Burgos set up a speed bump in the last kilometer of the second stage (see video below), causing David Decker of Jumbo-Visma to lose control and crash in front of the peloton, which was entering the downhill sprint at full speed.

Organizers included this speed bump in their exhaustive list of danger points along the course and successfully used the same finish for the 2020 event, but their luck ran out on Wednesday. Additionally, barriers along the course were not fixed when riders fell in, evoking disturbing images of Jacobsen's crash in 2020.

David Decker, who was the first to crash on the speed bump, said, "I couldn't see it. I didn't see the speed bump coming and it was at that high speed on the downhill section and I completely lost control," he said in a message on social media. I sincerely hope everyone involved in the crash is safe and recovers quickly."

Meanwhile, Dekker's teammate Affini said the course in the last kilometer of the stage was unacceptable.

"Dear UCI, after all that happened, to allow a finish with such a high speed bump in the last 800m from a super fast section is a disgrace. Unacceptable," he wrote on Twiter (opens in new tab), also noting that he and Rosen were unaware of the crash as they raced to the finish.

In the Tour of Poland, a massive crash occurred near the front of the peloton within the final kilometer due to a significant reduction in road width from two lanes to one. Organizers had warned of a turn with 800m to go, but not of the narrowing.

Article 2.2.089 above applies to UCI World Tours, UCI Pro Series and UCI Women's World Tours such as the Tour de Pologne (UWT) and Vuelta a Burgos (2.Pro).

Following an incident at the 2020 Tour de Pollogne, the UCI reformed its safety measures and added a requirement for barriers to be used in the final kilometer of the race." It stated that "barriers must be weighted so that they do not move under pressure from strong winds or spectators.

The barriers at the Vuelta a Burgos were damaged in a similar fashion to Jacobsen's crash, but were heavier and did not fly into the course. Fortunately, it appears that none of the riders were seriously injured in Jacobsen's near-fatal crash.

UCI safety measures also stipulated that each race would have an event safety manager who would report to the UCI safety manager.

It is not clear if either race has a safety manager on site or if they used the provisions of the rules: "The UCI may use the services of an independent expert to assess the safety and compliance of the route. the UCI or an appointed independent expert. The results of the evaluation of the competition route by the UCI will be communicated by the UCI to the organizer, who may implement the necessary corrective actions.

CyclingNews has not received a response to its request for comment from the UCI.