Tom Pidcock has criticised the UCI’s recent attempts to overhaul equipment standards, reduce speeds, and increase safety in the professional peloton, branding the decision to introduce a gear restriction trial and a new minimum handlebar width as a “smokescreen” hiding “more important issues”.
Pidcock, who is set to make his return to road racing on Thursday at the Arctic Race of Norway after a successful summer on his mountain bike, also argued that restricting gear choice, and therefore limiting top speeds, would “only make everything more dangerous” by bunching the peloton together on descents.
After a 2024 season marred by high-profile crashes, injuries, and tragedy, rider safety has been at the top of the pro cycling agenda this year. The build-up to the Tour de France was marked by the UCI’s plans to introduce a raft of equipment changes, ostensibly to deal with the “safety implications” of the increasing speed of professional races.
Julian Alaphilippe sprints for third against Wout van Aert in Carcassonne, stage 15, 2025 Tour de France (credit: Zac Williams/SWpix.com)
The new rules – most of which are set to come into effect from next January – will see time trial helmets banned in road races, a maximum rim height set, a new fork width limit introduced, and, most controversially, the implementation of a new minimum handlebar width of 400mm.
Meanwhile, the governing body also announced that it will trial a new maximum gearing rule at the Tour of Guangxi in China in October, in another attempt to limit top speeds in the peloton.
This junior-style gear restriction, suggested by Wout van Aert earlier this year, will cap riders at a 54×11 gear ratio on 700c wheels, potentially hitting SRAM-sponsored teams hardest, as their 10-tooth cog setup will exceed the new limit.
> UCI to trial maximum gearing rule — but will it really make racing safer?
These proposed rules, however, have been heavily criticised across the cycling world. For instance, riders, fans, bike fitters, teams, and brands have all questioned the governing body’s plans to implement a minimum width for all riders’ handlebars of 40cm, regardless of rider height or gender.
Dauphiné 2025 Markus Hoelgaard UNO-X Ridley Noah Fast (3).JPG (credit: road.cc)
According to the critics, this change will disproportionately impact smaller riders and the women’s peloton, many of whom use bars narrower than 40cm, not for aerodynamic gains, but simply to ride a bike set-up that fits properly, with SD Worx’s European champion Lorena Wiebes arguing that the UCI is “not really thinking about our safety”.
And at the start of the Tour de France in Lille, former Hour Record holder and Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe’s head of engineering Dan Bigham claimed that restricting gears will have no impact on speeds during races and argued the new rules were a distraction from the real changes that could be made to improve safety in pro cycling.
That argument appears to be one shared by Tom Pidcock, the double Olympic mountain bike champion telling Marca ahead of the start of the Arctic Race of Norway that there is too much focus on rider speeds, and not on the other issues that have a greater impact on race safety.
Tom Pidcock, 2025 Giro d’Italia (credit: Zac Williams/SWpix.com)
“Limiting gears will only make everything more dangerous. If we’re all going at the same top speed, we’ll be closer together, and on descents, that means we’ll take up more of the road,” the Q36.5 Pro Cycling leader, regarded as one of the best descenders in the peloton, told the Spanish newspaper.
“The debate about handlebar width also seems like a smokescreen to me. We need to talk about the important issues.”
Pidcock also joked that if the UCI was really serious about slowing down the peloton, they should limit the amount of food riders can eat during races, Henri Desgrange-style.
“I told my brother that if we continue like this, they should limit carbs for everyone and put us in ketosis – then the races would be slower,” he said.
“We’re cyclists… people should focus on other things.”
The tendency for cycling’s stakeholders to place the onus for safety on the riders themselves, as noted by Pidcock, has been echoed by the British star’s colleagues in the peloton in recent weeks.
During the Tour de France, Israel-Premier Tech’s Michael Woods criticised race organisers ASO’s pre-race safety presentation, which he claimed appeared to lay most of the blame for crashes on the riders, telling them that they “must also take greater measures to reduce risks, and if they don’t, they may have to be forced to wear protective equipment in the future”.
In a lengthy blog post, former Tour stage winner Woods also devised his own four-point plan to make cycling safer, including scrapping the relegation system, which he said increases stress, and reducing the size of the peloton, noting that the smaller bunch featured in the Olympics road race made it the safest event of last season.
Nevertheless, the 38-year-old also argued that speeds could be lowered by restricting bike and equipment design, and that steps should be taken to “reduce distractions”, such as the use of race radios and the modern trend of riders constantly looking at information on their bike computers.
Away from the sport’s ongoing safety debates, Pidcock told Marca that he is confident heading into his second grand tour of the season, the Vuelta a España, where he will once again lead Q36.5.
The 26-year-old joined the second-tier Swiss team at the start of this season after four years with the Ineos Grenadiers, and got off to a spectacular start, winning two stages and the overall at the AlUla Tour and a stage of the Ruta del Sol.
He then finished second to a rampant Tadej Pogačar at Strade Bianche, before securing three top tens at the Ardennes Classics, including third at Flèche Wallonne, again behind Pogačar.
Tom Pidcock, Colle delle Finestre, 2025 Giro d’Italia (credit: Zac Williams/SWpix.com)
However, his debut Giro d’Italia was largely underwhelming, finishing 16th overall after losing time in the Alps, with third on stage five to Matera his best result.
But after a successful, unbeaten July on the mountain bike, which included a European title in Portugal, Pidcock is optimistic he can impress over the three weeks in Spain.
“I can make a lot of progress at La Vuelta; I feel refreshed,” he told Marca. “If I can improve a little and regain the feeling I had at the start of the season, that would be excellent.”