{"id":2189869,"date":"2026-10-10T11:54:41","date_gmt":"2026-10-10T08:54:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2189869"},"modified":"2026-10-10T11:54:41","modified_gmt":"2026-10-10T08:54:41","slug":"people-are-dying-riders-delay-il-lombardia-in-rare-public-protest-over-safety","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2189869","title":{"rendered":"\u2018People Are Dying\u2019: Riders Delay Il Lombardia in Rare Public Protest Over Safety"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Updated October 10, 2026 07:23AM<\/div>\n
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The riders have had enough, and the bunch delayed Il Lombardia for five minutes Saturday morning to demand safer roads after another ugly week of vehicles getting onto race courses.<\/p>\n

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World champion Brandon McNulty and European champion Remco Evenepoel stood at the front as the peloton held up the season\u2019s final monument to demand rider safety.<\/p>\n

Evenepoel grabbed the microphone and spoke for the riders in a rare public showing of solidarity.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the name of the whole bunch and not only for the guys that are here but for everybody pro cycling, we want to make this statement because there\u2019s too many incidents happening with vehicles in the race,\u201d Evenepoel said.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, we lost the life of a brother and of a colleague of us,\u201d he said. \u201cWe want to make this statement to just show to the whole world that we cannot keep accepting the fact that guys are getting injured and are literally dying while doing what we like the most.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u2018Nothing changes\u2019<\/h2>\n

The riders and the CPA also issued a joint statement asking the UCI and race organizers to take responsibility and tighten course security (see statement below<\/em>).<\/p>\n

Frustration has been bubbling behind the scenes ever since 19-year-old Finlay Tarling was killed following a collision with a vehicle that entered the Volta a Portugal course in August.<\/p>\n

Michael Tarling, the father of Finlay, took to X<\/em> to support the solidarity among the riders.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are so thankful, moved and proud of Fin\u2019s fellow cyclists today for making a stand at the Tour of Lombardy,\u201d he wrote. \u201cThings need to change and no other family should ever receive the phone call we received on 14th Aug. We sincerely hope the UCI are listening and changes will be made.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u203c\ufe0f La protesta del pelot\u00f3n, encabezada por Remco Evenepoel, antes del inicio de #IlLombardia<\/p>\n

\u26a0\ufe0f El movimiento llega tras los \u00faltimos incidentes con veh\u00edculos de carrera estas semanas#LaCasadelCiclismo pic.twitter.com\/OgEwYGlIwq<\/p>\n

\u2014 Eurosport.es (@Eurosport_ES) October 10, 2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

Saturday\u2019s protest comes on the heels of high-profile vehicle incidents at both Coppa Bernocchi and Tre Valli Varesine this week in Italy.<\/p>\n

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At Monday\u2019s Coppa Bernocchi, a DHL delivery van pulled onto the route from a side street and drove behind the breakaway before stopping.<\/p>\n

A day later, a police motorbike traveling against the direction of racing collided with Tom Pidcock\u2019s Pinarello-Q36.5 teammates Thomas Gloag and Marcel Camprub\u00ed at Tre Valli Varesine.<\/p>\n

Gloag abandoned and required stitches to his knee, while Camprub\u00ed continued and later complained that \u201cnothing changes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Heavy crashes have marked racing this week in Italy as well.<\/p>\n

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\u2018People are dying\u2019<\/h2>\n

The latest incidents add to a grim toll the past few years. Gino M\u00e4der died after crashing at the 2023 Tour de Suisse, Andr\u00e9 Drege died while descending at the Tour of Austria in 2024, and junior racer Muriel Furrer died following a crash at the 2024 UCI Road World Championships.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is why we want to stand for five minutes more, to make our statement towards organizations, to the public, to everybody that is following cycling and accepting the fact that people are dying,\u201d Evenepoel said.<\/p>\n

The UCI has introduced new safety measures, including better barriers and signage, but riders want faster action and stronger protection on race roads.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to pay our tribute and respect to everybody that was already involved in the incidents,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

After the protest, the race started without further incident.<\/p>\n

There was no immediate response from the UCI.<\/p>\n

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A message from the riders: Released by the CPA<\/h2>\n

As riders, we stand united against the unnecessary risk our lives are being subjected to.<\/em><\/p>\n

This week alone, there were multiple incidents of vehicles on race courses. Two riders crashed when they hit a motorbike who was driving the wrong way on the race route. Luckily both escaped with cuts and bruises, it could have been so much worse.<\/em><\/p>\n

This summer, a life was tragically lost to exactly this kind of failure. We will not stand for this any longer.<\/em><\/p>\n

Riders race at high speed with little protection, and we depend on the race organisers to secure the roads. That responsibility is not being met.<\/em><\/p>\n

We are calling for the help of the UCI for race organisers to take accountability and act. That means a serious, open conversation between riders, race organisers and the UCI resulting in concrete changes to how race routes are secured and managed.<\/em><\/p>\n

After five minutes, we raced as normal. We did not want to affect the race, only to show what riders can do when we stand as one.<\/em><\/p>\n

We love this sport. We respect the race organisers. We want to race hard and put on a show for our fans. However most importantly we want to come home safe to our loved ones.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Updated October 10, 2026 07:23AM<\/div>\n
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[analyse_source url=”https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-racing\/il-lombardia-riders-safety-protest\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/GettyImages-2299488309.jpg”] Updated October 10, 2026 07:23AM The riders have had enough, and the bunch delayed Il Lombardia for five minutes Saturday morning to demand safer roads after another ugly week of vehicles getting onto race courses. World champion Brandon McNulty and European champion Remco Evenepoel stood at the front as the peloton held […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,71],"class_list":["post-2189869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-velo-outsideonline-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2189869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2189869"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2189869\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2189869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2189869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2189869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}