The organisers of the Coppa Bernocchi have acknowledged that they “must not underestimate” the severity of an incident that saw the driver of a van enter the route in the midst of the race on Monday.

Footage from the Italian one-day race showed a yellow DHL delivery van turning from a side street onto the race route just behind the three breakaway riders, with just under 20km remaining.

The driver hesitated before pulling out, presumably checking the coast was clear after the trio had passed. However, a chase group was only 40 seconds behind the leaders, and the peloton 45 seconds behind that, so the van was right in the middle of the race.

The driver was diverted off the route and did not cause any collisions or upheaval to the racing, but it was nevertheless an incident fraught with potential danger.

“The entry of a van onto the Coppa Bernocchi route is a serious incident, one we must not underestimate,” said two representatives from the race organisation, Luca Roveda and Gianni Dolce, in a statement to the local news outlet Milano Today.

“The fact that there were no consequences does not diminish the attention this incident deserves.

Roveda, who is the president of the US Legnanese organisation, and Dolce, who is responsible for the race route, described safety as a “priority” and outlined the measures they take to secure the route. But they indicated they would need to work out how exactly those measures were breached on Monday.

“For US Legnanese, the safety of athletes, staff, and spectators is a concrete priority, to which we dedicate men, equipment, and significant preparation,” they said.

“The prepared system included approximately 250 personnel at the guard posts, in addition to local police and Carabinieri personnel, two unmarked cars, 16 motorcycles, and four police cars, along with 20 motorcycle relays.

“These numbers demonstrate the commitment, but they don’t eliminate the need to understand how the van managed to access the course, despite the warnings and guards.”

A string of similar incidents

This comes as one of a string of incidents involving vehicles in the past week at the Italian one-day races.

At the Giro dell’Emilia on Saturday, a group of riders rode past a civilian car that was driving on the route deep into the finale. On Tuesday, two riders were struck by a vehicle at the Tre Valli Varesine, with Tom Pidcock saying it was a police motorbike that was driving against the direction of the peloton.

The spate of incidents comes just weeks after the death of Finlay Tarling, the young NSN Development rider who died after being hit by the driver of a car that had entered the race route at the Volta a Portugal.

Rider safety has been a prominent topic in recent years and while the UCI set up the SafeR collective stakeholder organisation in 2023, it has acknowledged there is work do, describing safety as the sport’s foremost responsibility in discussing the recent consultation surrounding pro cycling reform.

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