{"id":346048,"date":"2025-12-13T20:22:17","date_gmt":"2025-12-13T20:22:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/346048\/"},"modified":"2025-12-13T20:22:17","modified_gmt":"2025-12-13T20:22:17","slug":"gear-restrictions-are-a-no-brainer-cadel-evans-and-stuart-ogrady-on-cyclings-safety-debate-how-the-sport-has-changed-protests-and-why-fans-should-just","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/346048\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cGear restrictions are a no-brainer\u201d: Cadel Evans and Stuart O\u2019Grady on cycling\u2019s safety debate, how the sport has changed, protests, and why fans should \u201cjust enjoy watching Poga\u010dar\u2019s greatness\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

The UCI\u2019s controversial plans to introduce gear restrictions in the professional peloton<\/a>, in a bid to reduce speeds and increase safety, has been branded \u201can absolute no-brainer\u201d by 2007 Paris-Roubaix winner Stuart O\u2019Grady.<\/p>\n

The 52-year-old former GAN, CSC, and GreenEdge pro, who now organises the Santos Tour Down Under, the road season\u2019s annual curtain raiser, back home in Australia, also called for cycling\u2019s ongoing technological revolution to be \u201creined in a bit\u201d, describing the use of wider handlebars and restricted gears as \u201ccommon sense stuff\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"StuartStuart O’Grady signs on at the 2012 Tour Down Under (credit: Santos Tour Down Under:Regallo)<\/p>\n

O\u2019Grady\u2019s fellow retired Aussie pro, 2011 Tour de France winner Cadel Evans, while acknowledging that the sport has to \u201cevolve\u201d, also criticised cycling\u2019s modern fixation with increasingly narrow handlebars and extreme positions, arguing that some riders are now using \u201cbrake levers that you can\u2019t reach to avoid a crash\u201d, a situation the former world champion said was \u201cludicrous\u201d.<\/p>\n

Evans and O\u2019Grady made the claims during a recent appearance on the road.cc Podcast, where they also discussed their shifting perspectives on pro cycling since retiring over a decade ago, how the sport has changed during that period, the impact of this year\u2019s anti-Israel protests on organisers, teams, and riders, the future of Australian racing, and why fans should just sit back and enjoy the greatness of the \u201cfreak\u201d that is Tadej Poga\u010dar \u2013 even when he kills off a race with 100km to go.<\/p>\n

\u201cInnovation has just exploded\u201d<\/p>\n

The duo \u2013 two of the pioneers of the Aussie invasion of European road racing in the 1990s and 2000s \u2013 may have both moved back home after spending the best part of three decades making a living racing their bikes on the other side of the world.<\/p>\n

But they still manage to keep up to speed with cycling\u2019s current so-called golden era, through O\u2019Grady\u2019s organising role at the Tour Down Under, a position he\u2019s held since 2019, and their stints as tour guides at the classics and grand tours with cycling tourism company Mummu Cycling.<\/p>\n

\"TourTour Down Under 2015, Cadel Evans signs on (credit: Regallo)<\/p>\n

Asked if they\u2019ve noticed a discernible shift within cycling since they left the sport, Evans, one of the most consistent grand tour riders of his era (and the subject of a recent sold-out show at the Edinburgh Fringe<\/a>), told the podcast: \u201cThere\u2019s been a massive increase in professionalism. Sky was the real instigator. I was really dedicated to my job and did everything I could, altitude training and specific training.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost of my BMC team in 2011 went to altitude before the Tour. Then Sky started doing it where there weren\u2019t just the nine riders going to altitude, it was 11. So every team had to do that, just to be competitive.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the early 2010s, what maybe in the past just the leader, and one or two helpers, did in terms of professionalism and dedication, now numbers eight and nine in the team were doing. And that pushes the whole level of the group to go faster.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd it\u2019s not just the preparation, it\u2019s the technology, the tyres, everything together is impacting the average speeds. And then you have two guys who seem to be not just head and shoulders above everyone else, but with reserves too.\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019Grady\u2019s powerful CSC team were one of the early adopters of what came to be, rather nauseatingly, referred to as \u2018marginal gains\u2019, though the two-time Tour de France stage winner reckons even they were merely \u201ctinkering with things\u201d in the late 2000s, compared to the data-driven methods that would come later.<\/p>\n

\"StuartStuart O’Grady wins the 2007 Paris-Roubaix (credit: Getty)<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, it\u2019s the professionalisation of the entire team,\u201d O\u2019Grady, who became the first Australian since Phil Anderson to lead the Tour de France when he donned the yellow jersey for three days at the 1998 race, said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBack in our day, you had a mechanic, the directeur sportif, maybe a couple of riders had a coach, but you didn\u2019t have a personal coach. Now, it\u2019s the data-backed science, nutrition.<\/p>\n

\u201cCSC with Bjarne Riis, we were one of the first teams to have a full-time chef, and it was all the different seeds and all the three different types of oats. And we were going, \u2018what are you talking about? What are we doing?\u2019 We didn\u2019t really understand it. We were tinkering with things, but now it\u2019s all science-based data.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd with that data, they\u2019re getting feedback and recovery is more important. Personally, I think we were all overtrained. I definitely was. We felt bad so we had to go and smash ourselves for another seven hours the next day because you thought you weren\u2019t fit enough. Whereas you probably just needed to have a day off your bike, which was just not a thing back then.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe bikes, the aerodynamics, the changing positions, the equipment \u2013 things didn\u2019t seem to happen very much up until I retired. But since then, it\u2019s like everything\u2019s just been snowballed into one, the innovation has just exploded.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd a lot of the speed is down to aerodynamics. [Fabian] Cancellara would have had access to a wind tunnel at CSC, but certainly not all of us. Now, everyone\u2019s doing the aerodynamics and wind testing, and everyone\u2019s got the nutrition just dialled in.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAll I see is people crashing coming down a hill at 80kph\u201d<\/p>\n

However, O\u2019Grady believes that the whirlwind of technological innovation that has gripped the sport over the past decade has had a serious knock-on effect for its safety.<\/p>\n

\u201cI personally think it\u2019s all too much at once, especially the aero positions and all that,\u201d the 52-year-old, a gold medallist in the Madison with Graeme Brown at the 2004 Athens Olympics, says.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that needs to be reined in a bit, because as an organiser now, all I see is people crashing coming down a hill at 80kph.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd we used to go 100kph as well, but we weren\u2019t pedalling when we were doing it. We were in the tuck and we had good skill levels because our handlebars were the same width as our shoulders, which gives you control of your bike. It was common sense stuff.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut now they\u2019re tucked in like this and they get a bump and you crash, right? So as an organiser, it\u2019s hard to watch a few of these things, but the UCI are doing their best. At the end of the day, you want to see riders riding their bike and not crashing. There seems to be a phenomenal amount of crashes happening, so hopefully we can see some improvements in that area.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"CadelCadel Evans on last day of 2011 Tour de France (credit: Photosport International)<\/p>\n

In an attempt to deal with this increase in crashes, earlier this year the UCI announced its much-maligned plans to introduce a raft of safety-focused equipment changes<\/a>, including a new minimum handlebar width rule, new rim height and fork width limits, the banning of time trial helmets in road races, and a new gear restriction rule to slow speeds (with the attempt to trial the latter sparking a legal battle with components brand SRAM<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Describing the UCI\u2019s bid to intervene in cycling\u2019s technical revolution as a \u201cseries of Band-Aid patches\u201d, Evans told the podcast: \u201cThere\u2019s been this accumulation of one percenters that have really come one after the other. I had my last race was in 2015, the first edition of my race [the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race] was my last professional race.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow it\u2019s 10 years later, and the speeds and the level has just gone up phenomenally. In terms of safety, brake lever position, handlebar width, this is all part of it. And for sure, if you can reach your brake levers, well, you\u2019re going to be able to use them more effectively. That doesn\u2019t require much discussion.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut when a governing body makes rules, they also have to make rules that they can police effectively, the former Lotto and BMC leader, who converted to the road after a successful stint as a mountain biker (so he knows a thing for two about bike handling) continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s useless just to make rules that you can\u2019t police effectively because then you\u2019re only disadvantaging the good people, the law-abiding participants in sport. I don\u2019t want to put all the responsibility on the UCI, but they do make the rules. So they have to keep on top of this.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut all of us together, whether it\u2019s journalists, fans, race organisers, governing bodies, we also have to keep a clear North Star. This is what the sport was. This is what the sport is today. Where do we want it in the future? And we also have to keep that firmly in mind, because it\u2019s a pity to not let the sport evolve.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut then, there are some brake levers that you can\u2019t reach to avoid a crash. That just seems ludicrous, but if that\u2019s what you need to do to keep your contracts as a professional athlete, that\u2019s what you do.\u201d<\/p>\n

>\u00a0“Being rejected for chasing your dreams hurts”: Jan-Willem van Schip responds to mad aero bike disqualification due to upside down seatpost, calling himself an “outcast<\/a><\/p>\n

The UCI\u2019s plans to implement a new gearing rule, a variation on the old junior gears system<\/a>, marks the first technical gear limitation in modern professional cycling and will cap the distance covered per pedal revolution to 10.46 meters, effectively limiting riders to a maximum gear ratio of 54×11 on 700c wheels \u2013 something O\u2019Grady says is necessary to limit speeds in an era of increasing traffic furniture and poorer roads.<\/p>\n

\"GreenEdge'sGreenEdge’s Stuart O’Grady at the head of the peloton at the 2012 Tour Down Under (credit: Santos Tour Down Under:Regallo)<\/p>\n

\u201cI just think every motorised sport has gear restrictions, or motor restrictions right?\u201d he asked. \u201cYou can\u2019t, you know, put a drag racing vehicle on a Formula One track, because it’s just going to go fast and go off the course, right?<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, I do think there needs to be gear restrictions because with the technology and equipment, everything\u2019s just going faster and faster. But the roads, if anything, are deteriorating and they\u2019ve got more traffic furniture. Every region, every town is trying to slow traffic down, minimise traffic, safety, speed limits are all coming down.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMore speed bumps, more traffic islands, more roundabouts,\u201d Evans interjected.<\/p>\n

\u201cYet in cycling the peloton is bigger and faster than ever,\u201d O\u2019Grady continued. \u201cAnd with a sprinkling of inexperience due to the younger peloton, it\u2019s the perfect storm at the moment. So I think gear restrictions are just an absolute no-brainer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI can see it from both sides\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the other big stories of the 2025 cycling season centred on the pro-Palestine protests targeting Israel-Premier Tech\u2019s participation in the sport\u2019s biggest races amid the devastation in Gaza.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Grady experienced the protests firsthand at the Tour Down Under in January<\/a>, before they eventually reached a crescendo at the Vuelta and culminated in Israel-Premier Tech\u2019s rebranding as NSN Cycling, complete with dual Swiss-Spanish nationality and a Barcelona-centric image<\/a> fronted by the friendly face of footballing legend Andr\u00e9s Iniesta.<\/p>\n

\"Pro-PalestinePro-Palestine protests in Madrid, 2025 Vuelta (credit: Zac Williams\/SWpix.com)<\/p>\n

\u201cI can definitely see it from both sides,\u201d O\u2019Grady says now, reflecting on the impact of the protests on the cycling season.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe organisers are bound by the UCI regulations, okay? We\u2019ve got mandatory participation [in the WorldTour]. The teams have to be invited, that\u2019s part of their licensing agreement. We\u2019ve got to go with whatever the UCI says.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a race organiser, it\u2019s not quite as simple, but I also think from a team\u2019s point of view, when you see the disruption going on and the magnitude of it day after day \u2013 I think everyone\u2019s probably got a different opinion on what should and shouldn\u2019t happen.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd if you\u2019re a rider in that team, then it\u2019s obviously going to be very difficult as well, because you\u2019re just out there doing your job. [NSN rider] Simon Clarke, our good mate, is just trying to get through his last season and retire in front of his home fans in Australia. So of course you feel for the rider, you feel for the humans.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m definitely not going to get into the politics of it, but as a race organiser, life becomes complicated and I definitely followed it very, very closely. But let\u2019s just hope we don\u2019t have to deal with those things in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"CadelCadel Evans and Stuart O’Grady (credit: Mummu Cycling)<\/p>\n

While Israel-Premier Tech\u2019s rebranding operation may, at least superficially, quell the controversy surrounding the team, one other, less serious, debate shows no signs of slowing down: Has Tadej Poga\u010dar made men\u2019s cycling boring?<\/p>\n

O\u2019Grady and Evans are unequivocal \u2013 no, he hasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end of the day, Poga\u010dar\u2019s just a freak,\u201d O\u2019Grady says. \u201cWhat he\u2019s doing, his capacity to just be so dialled in on every race now, it\u2019s basically seeing guys just race for second. As soon as he goes, they just sit up and go, okay, I\u2019m not going to try and follow him. I\u2019m going to try and get on the podium.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis job\u2019s almost becoming easier. I don\u2019t mean that disrespectfully, but the other guys now who have tried to follow him are just exploding and not getting their second or third. So now it\u2019s almost just letting go and then we can concentrate. All I know is it\u2019s bloody good to watch when you\u2019re when you\u2019re not racing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just happy just to sit on the sidelines,\u201d Evans adds. \u201cI didn\u2019t know he was going to go so far out at the worlds this year. That was a bit unpredictable, wasn\u2019t it?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI enjoy watching greatness,\u201d O\u2019Grady argues. \u201cI think people are very quick to go, \u2018this is boring\u2019. Come on, man, this guy\u2019s up there with the greatest of all time. Just enjoy watching greatness, enjoy watching history, because this is a pretty special moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd those battles will resurface, there\u2019ll be the next Poga\u010dar in a few years. There\u2019ll be someone in the junior ranks, who we\u2019ve never heard of, who we\u2019re going to be talking about in five years\u2019 time. You\u2019ve just got to enjoy the moment, honestly.\u201d<\/p>\n

The\u00a0road.cc\u00a0Podcast is available on\u00a0Apple Podcasts<\/a>,\u00a0Spotify<\/a>, and\u00a0Amazon Music<\/a>, and if you have an Alexa you can just tell it to play the\u00a0road.cc\u00a0Podcast. It\u2019s also embedded further up the page, so you can just press play.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The UCI\u2019s controversial plans to introduce gear restrictions in the professional peloton, in a bid to reduce speeds…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":346049,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,784,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-346048","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\/346048","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=346048"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346048\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/346049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=346048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=346048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=346048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}