{"id":319771,"date":"2025-12-01T03:13:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T03:13:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/319771\/"},"modified":"2025-12-01T03:13:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T03:13:10","slug":"should-all-cyclists-require-a-bike-handling-licence-to-race-retired-pro-calls-for-proficiency-test-and-crash-course-to-ride-in-peloton-as-tom-dumoulin-says-protec","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/319771\/","title":{"rendered":"Should all cyclists require a \u2018bike handling licence\u2019 to race? Retired pro calls for proficiency test and \u201ccrash course\u201d to ride in peloton, as Tom Dumoulin says protective clothing should be \u201cnormalised\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

And now, retired Dutch pros Tom Dumoulin and Stef Clement have thrown their own left-field ideas into the mix, with Dumoulin calling for the \u2018normalisation\u2019 of protective race clothing and Clement arguing that prospective pros should complete a proficiency test before entering the peloton.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no proficiency test that you have to pass before you can become a professional cyclist,\u201d Clement, who retired in 2018, told the Cycling Gala in Utrecht this week, during an appearance as an analyst on cycling talk show De Laatste Etappe (The Last Stage), Wielerflits<\/a> reports.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou demonstrate that you\u2019ve got the skills to perform incredibly well on an ergometer, and then you\u2019re let loose. That\u2019s like being allowed to drive a tractor in Formula 1 with a driving licence, and then we just see how it goes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve often heard that I couldn\u2019t steer myself. And in hindsight, I think they were right. But of course, there are quite a lot of people like that in the peloton,\u201d laughed Clement, who spent 13 years as a pro from 2006 to 2018, riding for LottoNL-Jumbo in its various guises, as well as IAM Cycling and Bouygues Telecom.<\/p>\n

\"20242024 Tour de France peloton (credit: ASO\/Billy Ceusters)<\/p>\n

The show\u2019s presenter then brought up, rather uncharitably, Jay Vine, the UAE Team Emirates climber who earned his spot as a pro through the Zwift Academy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, I think we could have prevented a lot of crashes,\u201d Clement responded. \u201cIt would have been better for him if he had taken a little crash course.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Dumoulin, the winner of the 2017 Giro d\u2019Italia, who was also part of the panel, argued that protective clothing, such as knee pads, should become a staple of every pro\u2019s kit, pointing to the rule change mandating the use of helmets in races two decades ago as an example of changing norms and safety expectations.<\/p>\n

>\u00a0UCI considering use of \u201crider airbags\u201d and gear restrictions to \u201cenhance safety\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cCycling is the only sport where you go downhill at 100 kilometres per hour without any protection,\u201d the former Sunweb leader, who is currently building a healthy reputation as a runner<\/a>, said.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you think a motorcyclist enjoys wearing a full suit with knee pads and all that? No, of course not. But it\u2019s mandatory.<\/p>\n

\u201cA full motorcycle suit might be going a bit too far in cycling, but surely we should be required to wear some kind of protection if everyone has it.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt some point, you get used to it. These days, it\u2019s normal to wear a helmet, while we used to think that was ridiculous. Let\u2019s make it normal that we wear protective clothing.\u201d<\/p>\n

>\u00a0\u201cWe\u2019re cyclists. People should focus on other things\u201d: Tom Pidcock argues restricting gears will make cycling more dangerous and brands UCI safety changes a \u201csmokescreen\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t the first time Dumoulin has called for a radical shake-up to cycling\u2019s approach to kit and equipment.<\/p>\n

Speaking to commentator Jos\u00e9 De Cauwer in April, the former time trial world champion said introducing back brake lights and padded kit for riders are \u201ctwo super simple measures\u201d that would make the sport safer<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"TomTom Dumoulin wins 2017 Giro d’Italia (credit: LaPresse)<\/p>\n

\u201cOne: why the f*** don\u2019t we have traffic lights on our bikes yet?\u201d the 35-year-old asked. \u201cJust a small red light that lights up at the back when you hit your brakes. Mandatory in traffic, but not in the race. It would certainly make a difference.\u201d<\/p>\n

He continued: \u201cPoint two: protective clothing. Of course it sucks to ride with padding on your shoulders and hips, but surely the industry should be able to make something that is nice and comfortable enough?\u201d<\/p>\n

Reflecting more generally on the dangers of riding as a professional, Dumoulin told De Cauwer: \u201cI noticed that last week when I rode an amateur gravel race in the United States. On the first descent I suddenly saw race numbers everywhere on the outside and underneath. Suddenly I got scared.<\/p>\n

\u201cI realised that as a rider I had taught myself to suppress that fear. As a rider you can go into a mode to block everything, but in an amateur race I didn\u2019t want that at all. That\u2019s how it really hit me now.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"And now, retired Dutch pros Tom Dumoulin and Stef Clement have thrown their own left-field ideas into the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":319772,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,784,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-319771","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\/319771","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=319771"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319771\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/319772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=319771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=319771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=319771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}