Ineos Grenadiers team owner Jim Ratcliffe, whose Itzulia Basque Country high-speed crash and other racing accidents have put many riders out of action, and Tour de France winner Jonas Vingegaard in Spain reportedly in hospital, called on the governing body of the professional cycling sport to take "real action" to improve safety.

Ineos Grenadiers was one of the driving forces behind the creation of SafeR (SafeRoadcycling), an independent organization founded and funded by stakeholders in the sport to improve racing, and Ratcliffe was the first to publish an open letter on safety team owner.

Cycling News reports that there is real anger in parts of the sport that politics and rivalries between teams are slowing the process of improving safety.

Jaap van Hooten was recently appointed CEO of SafeR, and Michael Rogers recently left the UCI after playing a key role in establishing SafeR. Van Hooten left his position as Chief Operations Officer of the Vimalis a Bike team to become CEO of SafeR, but will begin work on May 1.

According to Cycling News, Safe-R has begun holding weekly meetings and apparently discussed the Iturria-Basque crash on Thursday, but has yet to officially begin the big job of improving safety for the upcoming race, which will begin for the 2025 season

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Ratcliffe's open letter calls for further action without specifying what needs to be done.

"In Formula One, when Ayrton Senna fatally crashed in Italy 30 years ago, the governing body initiated changes to safety regulations in one of the world's most dangerous sports, resulting in a significant reduction in injuries. Contrast this with cycling. Just last week, we had another horrific accident involving three world-class cyclists," Ratcliffe said in an open letter released by the Ineos Grenadiers team.

The UCI and other stakeholders responsible for race safety have yet to respond to Ratcliffe's call.

Ratcliffe accepted that professional athletes "always push things forward" and that Charles Froome and Eoghan Bernal suffered major injuries while studying the time trial course during training at the 2019 Criterium du Dauphiné and Colombia, respectively. They recalled that.

"Cyclists, as elite sportsmen, always push things to the limit, which is why action is so important," Ratcliffe wrote, emphasizing the role SafeR can play.

"In June, the UCI announced the creation of SafeR, a specialized organization to oversee all aspects of safety in cycling. For the first time, the sport will have a dedicated safety organization that will focus solely on making the sport safer and reducing risks for riders and spectators, without losing the thrill of racing.

"This is something that Formula 1 has done very well over the past 30 years and we expect the same to happen in cycling.

"I applaud the UCI for taking on this issue and agreeing to support the creation of SafeR. We now need to see real action to ensure the safety of our sport.

Before last weekend's Paris-Roubaix race, UCI President David Lapartient called on all those in the sport to unite for the good of the sport.

"Safety is clearly the most important topic for the sport today, both for the UCI and for the various stakeholders," Lapartiento told Cycling News, understanding that the sport must act.

"I have seen all the debates about equipment, new technologies, earpieces, etc. There is still much to understand. But now is the time to act and improve race safety."

"We need lots of small safety improvements. That's what the riders want and that's what we will work on.