Lappartient shares his thoughts on earpieces in the race, yellow cards, GPS trackers and UCI points in other disciplines

The 2024 cycling year will, unfortunately (also) go down in history as the year of many serious crashes. This led to many discussions, and the UCI also implemented changes such as tests with earpieces and yellow cards. Lappartient shared his thoughts on the outcome of these actions.

An important topic of discussion was the use of earpieces during races. Several experiments were carried out this season, some races without earphones and some with earphones only for the 'road captain.' "These tests show fewer crashes occur when no earpieces are used. The problem with earpieces is that all riders receive the same information simultaneously, for example, when a road narrowing is announced. Everyone tries to get to the front, so the crashes occur precisely before the road narrows," Lappartient explained.

According to the French UCI president, omitting earpieces results in fewer crashes. "Team managers want earpieces mainly because of tactics and strategy, but that has nothing to do with safety," Lappartient stated. "An alternative could be to have riders listen only to the race radio," he adds. Nevertheless, the president emphasizes that no definitive conclusions can be drawn from the current tests. "Interestingly, several top riders have indicated they are happy to say goodbye to earpieces," Lappartient said.

After the World Championships and the tragic accident of Muriel Furrer, demands for GPS trackers became numerous. Earlier this week, it was revealed that a few organizers would like to introduce it. "Can we consider changing the rules to locate a rider in certain situations? No. However, the problem here is not that the rider was not traceable with her GPS but that no one had noticed her during the race anymore. If there is a possible evolution of GPS systems where an alert is sent to judges or cars of supervisors saying, "Attention, this GPS sensor is no longer moving," that would be very valuable. We will never create technological obstacles that compromise the safety of riders," Lappartient stressed.

However, the UCI is very much in favor of the yellow cards. "We know we have to make changes to this, and we are talking about it with the different parties involved, first and foremost the riders. It's important to prevent potentially dangerous behavior, and we think that giving a yellow card, knowing that a second one will exclude you from the race, for example, will attract more attention. Some behaviors should be punished but maybe don't deserve an exclusion; it's just that, at that time, we had few options. I think the riders agree. We've had positive feedback and will try to implement this soon."

The UCI is also considering some changes to the cycling calendar from 2026, with extreme weather conditions and sustainability in mind. "If you change something, there has to be a reason for it," Lappartient began. "If you make the change, it's to solve a problem. I'll give you an example. The Tour Down Under and the Cadel Evans Road Race occasionally have to deal with temperatures around 45°. It's nice to start the year there, but maybe it is also possible to end the season there. If so, which race will open the season then? I'm not saying anything will change, but asking yourself these questions is good."

While there are no plans to move significant races such as the Tour de France or the Giro d'Italia, the UCI is open to discussions about the future of the Vuelta a España (because of the temperature) and Il Lombardia. For example, Lappartient is keen on ending the season with the World Championships. "If we make changes, they have to be logical and have a positive impact," he added.

The possibility of earning UCI points in disciplines such as cyclo-cross, track cycling, and mountain biking was also discussed. While the idea is attractive, it faces practical challenges. "Right now, it is an idea. However, for some athletes, the opportunity to qualify for other world championships, such as the Olympics, and to become a track or MTB champion is unique. So it's something to discuss with the teams because we don't want them to be deprived of participating in these disciplines. Still, we also don't want them to compete in other disciplines just to score points," concluded The UCI president.