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The UCI isn\u2019t cool with what teams are doing with ice socks during the rising temperatures of this Tour de France.<\/p>\n
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Eagle-eyed reporters from Cyclingnews<\/em> noticed commissaires demanding riders remove these cooling hacks from underneath their jerseys ahead of Saturday\u2019s stage 1 TTT.<\/p>\n Is this a crazy overstep?<\/p>\n A mission to make riders melt in a European heatwave?<\/p>\n According to officials, it is part of the UCI\u2019s clampdown on the peloton\u2019s eternal search for marginal aero gains.<\/p>\n \u201cIt changes the morphology of the riders\u2019 shape,\u201d a UCI commissaire told Cyclingnews<\/em> on Saturday.<\/p>\n \u201cI know it\u2019s only a little thing, but you have to draw the line. If you allow sometimes but not others, it\u2019s not fair. And if you allow a little, riders may take more.\u201d<\/p>\n An \u201cice sock\u201d \u2013 a pair of tights that\u2019s been cut up, stuffed with ice cubes, and tied off \u2013 is a common tool for a peloton trying to stay cool.<\/p>\n Riders stuff them down the back or front of their jerseys and enjoy the freeze.<\/p>\n In the UCI\u2019s eyes, these frozen bundles create an aerodynamic faring. And that\u2019s on the naughty list.<\/p>\n The governing body\u2019s rulebook specifically prohibits riders wearing miscellaneous items that \u201cmodify the morphology [i.e., shape] of the rider.\u201d<\/p>\n The UCI recently tweaked its regulations to mandate that riders can only wear race radios in the front of their jersey for this very reason.<\/p>\n \u201cSince last year, they\u2019re quite sharp on items under your suit,\u201d Visma-Lease a Bike head of equipment Jenco Drost told Cyclingnews<\/em>. \u201cIt was shared in the Tour de France equipment meeting.<\/p>\n \u201cBut with this weather, riders try to keep it as long as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n This isn\u2019t the first time the UCI has moved to ban the use of \u201ccreative\u201d aerodynamic gains from time trials.<\/p>\n In 2022, regulations were introduced around \u201cfollow cars\u201d in TTs. Team vehicles were banned from driving too close behind their rider due to the impact on the athlete\u2019s aerodynamic drag.<\/p>\n Velo<\/em> contacted several teams for comment on their use of ice socks in Saturday\u2019s stage and the extent of any warnings they received from the UCI.<\/p>\n Of course, they\u2019re unlikely to admit that their \u201ccooling measure\u201d was being used as a specific aero hack.<\/p>\n Unlike with pee-gate at the Giro d\u2019Italia, the stage 1 ice sock block was not mentioned in the jury\u2019s post-stage report.<\/p>\n It\u2019s unclear whether the ban will be applied to the 19 road stages of this Tour de France.<\/p>\n If ice socks are out, the peloton will have to find more innovative solutions to deal with a heatwave that could reach up to 40 degrees.<\/p>\n Netcompany Ineos leads the creativity category so far.<\/p>\nPeloton gets creative to stay cool in European heatwave<\/h2>\n
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