{"id":455916,"date":"2026-03-03T20:57:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T20:57:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/455916\/"},"modified":"2026-03-03T20:57:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T20:57:11","slug":"its-ridiculous-ucis-controversial-new-handlebar-rules-see-pro-cyclist-disqualified-after-60km-solo-win-but-team-insists-illegal-brake-levers-were-bent-in-crash-cycling-news-bike-reviews","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/455916\/","title":{"rendered":"“It’s ridiculous”: UCI’s controversial new handlebar rules see pro cyclist disqualified after 60km solo win, but team insists ‘illegal brake levers’ were bent in crash – Cycling News | Bike Reviews"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In one of the more bizarre racing controversies of recent times, an Italian pro cyclist saw his one-day race victory stripped following a sensational 60km solo breakaway, the commissaires ruling that his Cerv\u00e9lo\u2019s handlebars did not comply with the UCI\u2019s new minimum width rules.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Filippo D\u2019Aiuto thought he had landed a sensational win at Polese Memorial on Saturday, a national one-day race held near Treviso in Northern Italy, however after the finish line his joy turned to disbelief and frustration as race officials measured the width of his handlebars and deemed the distance between his brake levers to be too narrow.<\/p>\n

As per the rules newly introduced at the start of this season<\/a> \u2014 which attracted widespread criticism from riders, staff, bike-fitting professionals and other figures from across the sport \u2014 riders must now use a bar width of 400mm or wider and the distance between the brake hoods can only be 280mm at a minimum.<\/p>\n

The UCI cited safety when introducing the rules, the governing body evidently keen to clamp down on what it views as increasingly \u2018extreme\u2019 set-ups, however many have questioned the impact of the rule on smaller riders and the female peloton, many of whom are now forced to run wider bars than they have been prescribed by bike-fitting professionals to meet the UCI\u2019s limit.<\/p>\n

In an added twist to the story from the Italian domestic scene this weekend, D\u2019Aiuto\u2019s General Store-Essegibi-F.lli Curia team insisted his team-issue Cerv\u00e9lo was fully compliant with the regulations at the start of the day, and blamed the post-victory irregularity on a crash which left their rider cut and bloodied prior to making his race-winning move.<\/p>\n

\"FilippoFilippo D\u2019Aiuto disqualified over handlebar width rules (Image Credit: Beta Cycling\/YouTube)<\/p>\n

It is impossible to tell from the YouTube live stream of the race if this was the case although, of course, hoods can bend to avoid snapping in cases of crash impact. The team believes D\u2019Aiuto\u2019s bike was set up to the legal width and during the impact a hood was bent inwards, meaning that it fell foul of a commissaire\u2019s tape measure.<\/p>\n

Lorenzo Magli won the sprint for second place and was ultimately promoted to first following D\u2019Aiuto\u2019s disqualification. However, during the podium ceremony, Magli and Davide Boscaro left the top-step empty \u201cas a sign of respect\u201d to D\u2019Aiuto.<\/p>\n

In a statement shared later that evening, D\u2019Aiuto\u2019s General Store-Essegibi-F.lli Curia team gave their side of the story, insisting the bike was \u201cregulated in all its components\u201d at the start of the race, but a crash \u201cresulted in a shift in the position of the levers which, because of the impact, ended up at a distance less than the allowed\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"FilippoFilippo D\u2019Aiuto disqualified over handlebar width rules (Image Credit: Beta Cycling\/YouTube)<\/p>\n

The team said it \u201crespects the decision of the jury, despite being strongly criticised\u201d and thanked Team Hoppl\u00e0 and SC Padovani Polo Cherry Bank for the \u201cgesture of solidarity\u201d during the podium ceremony.<\/p>\n

In a post-race interview with Ciclismoweb<\/a>, D\u2019Aiuto expressed frustration at the decision of the commissaires: \u201cIt\u2019s ridiculous and the judges will look ridiculous. I won, there\u2019s not much else to say.\u201d<\/p>\n

He continued: \u201cI crashed and as a consequence, my brake levers were twisted inwards. They took my win away because the levers didn\u2019t respect the rules.\u201d<\/p>\n

D\u2019Aiuto was reportedly told by the commissaires he should have stopped to adjust his handlebars before resuming, a suggestion the Italian reacted with disdain for when recalling the events after the race.<\/p>\n

\"FilippoFilippo D\u2019Aiuto disqualified over handlebar width rules (Image Credit: Beta Cycling\/YouTube)<\/p>\n

\u201cI only had a gap of a minute and so what could I have done? It would have been impossible,\u201d he claimed.<\/p>\n

Second-place rider Magli said he did not feel like the winner. Calling d\u2019Aiuto \u201cthe real winner\u201dhe said the top step of the podium boycott was \u201cthe least I could do\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe crashed, raced for 60km alone, waited 90 minutes for the final decisions and then they took the win away from him. It\u2019s the least I could do,\u201d Magli explained.<\/p>\n

It would be a large understatement to say that the UCI\u2019s new maximum handlebar width regulation did not go down well in some parts of the cycling world, many accusing the rules of being particularly unfair for smaller and female riders. In fact, at least 7,000 people signed a petition on change.org<\/a>\u00a0to appeal the new regulations.<\/p>\n

That petition argued, \u201cThe new \u2018one-size-fits-all\u2019 policy does not account for the variety in body types and biomechanics among riders. Cyclists come in all shapes and sizes, and their equipment needs to reflect that diversity. Not every cyclist can perform optimally under the same conditions; some require wider handlebars to accommodate broader shoulders, while others need narrower grips for better control and manoeuvrability based on their body\u2019s build. The regulation particularly impacts female cyclists who, based on our own extensive database (one of the largest in the world) and other studies, on average require a 38cm handlebar.\u201d<\/p>\n

The petition said that this regulation could inadvertently place riders at risk of injury \u2013 the opposite of the UCI\u2019s intended consequence \u2013 on the basis that \u201cimproper bike fitting can lead to chronic pain and musculoskeletal issues\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In one of the more bizarre racing controversies of recent times, an Italian pro cyclist saw his one-day…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":455917,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-455916","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-cycling","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455916","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=455916"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455916\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/455917"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=455916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=455916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=455916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}