Van Aert Has A Solution To Pro Cycling’s Safety Issues, But Will It Work? | GCN Racing News Show

What do you think of Wout van Aert's suggestion? 🤔 And what do you think its impact would be? ⚙

The safest thing to do would be to have a minimum tire width. Riders would have much more grip and yet can pedal as hard as they want. Of course then the industry has to build more road bikes with bigger tire spacing (which they already do more). It would have much more impact for the hobbyists like you and me, who could appreciate the extra comfort and safety.
Give the industry a set date to adapt : Lets say from 2026 onwards its mandatory to have min 40 mm tires.
It would take nootthing away from racing.
Only thing is: maybe some pros might start riding faster around corners, bc they have more grip which contradicts the argument of safety a little bit.
Still, they would be a bit slower, bad roads would be less of a problem, tire innovation for fast rolling wide tires would flourish…

Aaaalso: maybe increase the minimum bike weight from 6.8 to 8 to have more durable products for us consumers?

As far as i can remember, there has always been crashes in road biking. 180 riders riding shoulder to shoulder up and down mountain winding roads is just a dangerous sport. I guess they could improve the road surface. I do think that the barriers that are used to fence the roads in seem to be a hazard on itself. I want to imagine there could be a better designed barrier that wouldnt rip your flesh apart if you happened to crash into it.

I would go beyond: I would make bicycles slower at the speeds where they are faster, which means that I would make them less aero. UCI should ban carbon components because, to start with, they can’t be recycled so they are not environmentally friendly. And, let’s be honest, bicycles are not airplanes, we can live without carbon in our bikes. I would also make UCI legal bikes those with round tubes only, no aero shapes. And max wheel profile could be limited to 30-35mm. Considering wheels would not be made out of carbon anymore, that would make more sense. I would also try to find a way to ban aero helmets, which would also be an aesthetic benefit.
In the end what matters is that the cyclist is strong. If all the bicycles are slightly slower, the strongest cyclist still wins. By doing all this, going back to a max gear ratio of 53-11 would only be a natural move.
Brands could still work to make stiff, compliant and light bikes and tires with low rolling resistance, making the bicycles still faster in the terrain where cyclist ride slower (climbs).

Motorsports all (or perhaps I should say most) have rules to limit speeds. Why not cycling?

100+ riders in a tight pack. Crashes are unavoidable. Guess they might be slower but a fall is still a fall.

A minimum bike weight of 15kg or 20kg should do the trick

Restricted gears is dumb. How many crashes are related to spinning out the max gear? Compare with most restricted gearing of single speed crits and they have plenty of crashes. UCI should be analyzing every crash and listing causes, then start working on the top causes of crashes. Right now, no one even knows what is the biggest cause of crashes

I don't think targeting small races for UCI points is a problem. This is exactly what the point system is supposed to encourage so teams aren't skipping the small races

Can anyone provide data to support the claim that faster cadence riders are safer?

I like the idea about the gearing. And also there have to be Zone's when going downhill where you have to break to a real slow speed. Maybe going throw something left, right, left like in rally racing stages.

3:55 where’s the case study that speed restriction would improve rider safety?

It’s gotta be equal parts rider decision making, road conditions, weather.

Surely the bike is such a small component of the overall issue.

Gearing wont stop crashing ,riders need to be safer and maybe they need to look at betters safety gear as Lycra and a skull cap is not that much protection when your doing 100KPH down a mountain.

90% of deaths and major injuries come from downhill racing on narrow icy oiled and extremely wet road. Change this! Reduce peloton size by using wider roads in towns less islands and road furniture and within 5k of end of race

I don't agree. This would especially harm taller and stronger cyclists. Everyone has to measure their limits… I'm a fan of Wout but sometimes I don't understand his approach to big goals. Last year there was an oversight at Dwaars but he didn't need to risk so much 4 days before the Ronde. In the Vuelta, with 3 stages already won and 2 shirts on his back, he risks a technical and slippery descent… with the World Championships at the door..

They just have to race in full motorbike suit and helmet.

Dumb idea. Riders died when it was slower too. It hasnt gotten any more dangerous. It's just, people are getting more outraged when they see a crash. Maybe make everyone race on 50mm tires instead of trying to limit gears.

Why not little more protection on cycling suit?

There will always be riders capable of descending faster than others. That won't change if you ban certain gear ratios, you'll just change when and where they'll take risks to gain positions. They'll brake latter and corner faster instead of overtaking in the relatively safer, straighter segments of a descent. To my mind, this won't make the sport any safer, in fact it'll make it much more dangerous.
If I wanted to slow the sport down to make descending safer, I'd be more inclined to focus on when and where the greats risk of crashing occurs. It's not on the straight fast bits of a descent, it's in the braking zones and corners. I think a better solution would be to get rid of disk brakes and wider, low pressure tyres (anything over 28-30mm on a road stage) that encourage later and harder braking on approach, entry and cornering. It may seem counter intuitive but increasing braking zones and the distance it takes to scrub off speed encourages a more cautious approach, necessitating earlier, more gradual braking than the late banzai braking synonymous with disk brakes and wide contact patches.
In short, disk brakes encourage higher corner approach speeds and later braking. Rim brakes don't. The latter is safer, but it will always be a dangerous sport as long as it's raced on public roads.

10 speeds and box section rims

There have always been crashes. Been there, done that. The courses are to blame.