Revolutionary measure in international cycling, the UCI implements the yellow card: how will it work?

World cycling may be approaching a revolutionary change. The International Cycling Union (UCI) announced this Wednesday the implementation of yellow cards in its races starting January 1, 2025.

Richard Plugge general manager of Visma-Lease a Bike, and Jim Ratcliffe owner of Ineos Grenadiers, decided to create SafeR, an independent body that is responsible for this important change in cycling.

The yellow card measure seeks to reinforce safety in UCI road races, after a start to the season marked by several serious accidents involving stars such as Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel in the Return to the Basque Country.

The yellow cards will be tested from August 1 until the end of the year and “will represent a sanction, but will not have a physical existence”, and will complete the “red card” already existing in the form of disqualification of the runner. Riders may be issued with a card

After the test phase, “from January 1, 2025, sanctions will be pronounced in the event of accumulation of warnings.”

What will the sanctions for yellow cards be like?

During a race, any cyclist who receives two yellow cards in the same race will be disqualified from the race and will have a 7-day sanction.

In the case of seeing the yellow card three times during a period of 30 days, the rider will be sanctioned with 14 days without participating in a UCI professional race.

And if a rider receives six yellow warnings during a period of one year, he will be sanctioned for 30 days for off-roading.

The reasons for the ICU

The ICU He also decided to “test this year the effects of the restriction on wearing earpieces in races,” with the idea of ​​”for example limiting its use to two runners per team.”

“This decision is based on discussions held on the matter within SafeR (new structure dedicated to safety launched by the UCI), whose conclusion was that the earpieces could constitute a source of distraction for the runners, a physical danger given that the radio units are installed on their back, and represent a great risk when a large number of teams simultaneously ask their riders to climb to the head of the race,” explains the UCI.

Lastly, the ICU It will also allow race organizers to test the extension of the three-kilometer rule, which allows a runner who is the victim of a fall or a technical incident to qualify with the same time as the group where they were, five kilometers from the finish line.

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With AFP.