Richard Plugge presses UCI after Finlay Tarling death

Visma-Lease a Bike manager Richard Plugge has urged the UCI to take stronger action on race safety after the death of Finlay Tarling. He said cycling teams may have to assume more responsibility themselves if governing bodies and organisers do not provide safer courses.

Tarling died 11 days earlier after being hit during the eighth stage of the Tour of Portugal. The vehicle involved was not part of the race and was travelling in the wrong direction on a descent. Plugge argued that the incident showed the scale of the danger facing riders on open roads.

The Dutch manager criticised what he described as an inadequate response from UCI president David Lappartient and others. He said expressions of regret were followed by qualifications rather than a determined effort to prevent a repeat. Plugge contrasted cycling with Formula One, where a vehicle entering the track in the wrong direction would be treated as an unacceptable safety failure.

Plugge proposed changing the structure of road races if point-to-point routes of around 200 kilometres cannot be fully secured. Events could instead use 15-, 20- or 25-kilometre circuits, provided those loops can be protected completely. He said the priority must be giving riders confidence that the route is safe before they compete.