Kristof Ramon, Cor Vos, photo illustration Jonny Long
For all the talk of advanced nutrition and aerodynamics, as well as racing from the flag drop almost every day, the Tour de France has undergone another huge change that isn’t getting the recognition it should: riders are not getting fined for peeing in public anymore.
Of course, the reality of racing a bike for five hours a day while keeping yourself fed and watered means so-called ‘nature breaks’ are required.
Historically, riders have had a few different options. You can hang back for a roadside stop before chasing back on, or the more uncommon approach of doing this in reverse and going ahead of the peloton to relieve yourself and then re-joining without the fear of being left behind by the bunch.
Similarly, the more able bike handlers can remove one hand from their handlebars and experience the presumably exhilirating sensation of urinating while ticking along at around 40km/h, sometimes with the assist of a teammate’s guiding hand on your saddle.
These methods are governed by one rule in the UCI’s regulations (specifically number 2.12.007 8.6), which penalises riders for: “unseemly or inappropriate behaviour (in particular undressing or urinating in public at the start or finish or during the race) and damage to the image of sport.”
This makes sense. Particularly at extremely popular races like the Tour de France, which operate as advertising boards for a litany of companies (as well as for the country of France itself), having a peloton of riders weeing indiscriminately as they pass through lush France emblazoned in paying logos is obviously bad for business.
In fact, as Raphaël on Discord told us, a segment on this year’s Tour coverage on France TV explained race organisers so hated riders peeing in front of spectators that in 1969 they simply installed toilets along the route for riders to use. Nowadays that would be unworkable. Imagine Tadej Pogačar stumbling out of a portaloo only to be greeted with a sea of fans shouting “bidon!” at him and asking for photographs as he tries to catch back up to the bunch.
A Katusha rider of yesteryear relieves themselves at the back of the bunch as team cars pass by.
At the 2019 Tour de France, the oldest year for which our records go back, 15 riders were slapped with a 200 Swiss Franc fine (about $250 USD). Fast forward to this year’s race, and only one, Lotto’s Arnaud De Lie, has been fined for a urine infraction.
You might think our fascination with this odd, but listeners to our Tour Daily podcast will know one of our recurring segments is called “Urine (you’re in) Trouble,” where every day we check the stage’s official communiqué to see if anyone has been stung for what must be the weirdest infraction in all of sports.
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