It might seem counter-intuitive in a sport built around speed, but the world governing body for competitive cycling wants to slow elite riders down.<\/p>\n
Worried about high-speed crashes during pro-racing events, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) has proposed a cap on the gear size<\/a> riders can use. The idea is to lower the possible top speed bikes can achieve. <\/p>\n The risks are real, too. At the recent Tour Down Under Men\u2019s Classic in Australia, a high-speed multi-rider crash on the final corner sent bikes into the barriers and into the crowd, badly injuring a spectator<\/a>.<\/p>\n In August this year, champion British rider Chris Froome crashed while training<\/a> in France, suffering a collapsed lung, broken ribs and a spinal fracture. <\/p>\n But would restricting gear size prevent these kinds of high-speed crashes? Certainly, not everyone thinks so<\/a>. <\/p>\n Earlier this month, a Belgian court paused the rule change<\/a> after teams and a major cycle component maker argued the safety case was not proven. While slower bikes might sound safer, they argue, the evidence tells a different story.<\/p>\n What the evidence tells us<\/p>\n The proposed rule would limit the largest gear size to 54 teeth on the front chainring and 11 on the rear sprocket. The idea is simple: lower the top gear to reduce top speed and, in theory, cut risk. <\/p>\n But while speed clearly matters when it comes to crashes, it is only one part of how they happen in a tightly packed peloton<\/a> (the main pack of riders in a road race).<\/p>\n Our recent review<\/a> of 18 studies of race speed and crash risk found two clear patterns: <\/p>\n higher speed makes injuries worse once a crash occurs Injury rates in the UCI WorldTour<\/a> have climbed even though average race speeds have been steady. So, something else is at work.<\/p>\n We also examined the proposed gear cap<\/a> itself. Based on our analysis, we argue any rule change should be evidence-based rather than simply a reaction to pressure after high-profile incidents. <\/p>\n Understanding why crashes occur is central to this. Essentially, they are about people and space, and happen for a number of reasons: <\/p>\n when riders fight for position<\/a> as they enter a narrowing corner or when road \u201cfurniture\u201d appears too late to be avoided.<\/p>\n In this year\u2019s Paris\u2013Nice race, for example, Mattias Skjelmose struck a traffic island<\/a> at speed and abandoned the race. Reports described it as a poorly marked obstacle.<\/p>\n Course design, peloton density and inconsistent rule enforcement often play a bigger role than a few extra kilometres per hour.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Olympic champion Tom Pidcock demonstrates a high-speed descent on the Rossfeld Panoramastrasse in Germany.<\/p>\n Why a gear limit won\u2019t help much<\/p>\n On hill descents, where many serious injuries occur, riders freewheel in a tucked body position. Gravity and aerodynamics set the speed \u2013 gearing does not. <\/p>\n When riders are actually pedalling in a sprint, a 54\u00d711 gear at high \u201ccadence\u201d (around 110\u2013120 revolutions per minute) gives a speed of roughly 65 kilometres per hour (km\/h). The very fastest finishes in elite men\u2019s races reach about 75 km\/h \u2013 the absolute peak speed.<\/p>\n A cap on gearing would trim roughly 5\u201310 km\/h from the top-end, bringing the fastest sprints down to around 65\u201370 km\/h. But most sprint pileups start below those speeds and are triggered by contact or line changes. <\/p>\n Lowering everyone\u2019s top speed could even bunch the field more tightly and raise the risk of contact. The pro-cycling world already knows what helps:<\/p>\n These steps match what other high-speed sports have done to reduce injuries. Motor sports redesign the environment rather than just limit speed, with NASCAR and IndyCar having adopted energy-absorbing barriers<\/a> to cut wall-impact forces. <\/p>\n And alpine skiing manages risk<\/a> with course design, as well as nets and airbag protection to control speed and crash severity.<\/p>\n Similar approaches to safety are used in aviation<\/a>, mining<\/a> and healthcare<\/a>. The aim is to focus on the environment and behaviour<\/a>, measure exposure<\/a>, fix the hotspots<\/a> and share what works<\/a> to keep improving safety.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It might seem counter-intuitive in a sport built around speed, but the world governing body for competitive cycling…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":233798,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,784,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-233797","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-cycling","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233797","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=233797"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233797\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/233798"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=233797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=233797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=233797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nbut the link between speed and the chance of crashing is weaker and depends on context. <\/p>\n
\nwhen sprint \u201ctrains\u201d (riders in the same team lining up for aerodynamic efficiency) cross wheels<\/a><\/p>\n