UCI President Brian Cookson has written a long message following the death of Antoine Demoitié as a consequence of the Belgian rider's accident with a motorbike during Sunday’s Gent-Wevelgem. He called on everyone in the sport to do as much as possible to protect the safety of the riders and help to improve the safe organisation of races.
Cookson promised that the UCI would work with the relevant authorities to investigate the accident but warned people about jumping to conclusions before any investigations are completed.
“In the hours and days following the tragic death of Antoine Demoitié, many people have contacted me directly or indirectly, or have commented on social media, to express their concern and to demand action. As President of the UCI, I take these comments seriously and feel that I have a duty to respond,” Cookson writes.
ADVERTISEMENT
“The first and most important thing to say must be to offer our deepest sympathy and condolences to Antoine’s family and team. We can hardly begin to imagine how they must feel at this moment. And we, all of us who love the sport of cycling, owe them two things.”
He also talked at length about what the UCI is doing to improve race safety, revealing that the UCI is “in active discussions with the relevant parties on proposals to reduce the size of the overall race peloton”.
The UCI president shies away from calling for any kind of immediate action driven by an emotional desire to find immediate simple solutions. Instead he is keen to first identify the root cause of the problem of the seemingly increasing number of crashes and accidents involving riders and race vehicles.
- Riders, teammates and friends pay tribute to Antoine Demoitie
- Gent-Wevelgem and the tragic loss of Antoine Demoitie - Cyclingnews Podcast
- Kittel says rider safety needs same priority as anti-doping after Demoitie's death
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest News http://ift.tt/1q1IDR3
No comments:
Post a Comment