ST GIRONS, France, (Reuters) – The International Cycling Union (UCI) has stuck to its decision to ban earpieces on two Tour de France stages despite a petition from most of the teams in the race.
“According to the decision of the UCI board, the race jury states that the 10th stage will be raced without any communication device between the riders and their sports directors,” the UCI’s race jury said in a statement on Saturday.
A petition asking Tour organisers to lift the ban was to be sent yesterday, Astana team manager Johan Bruyneel said.
“We all think that the Tour de France is the biggest event of the year, where we basically play our whole season,” the Belgian said.
Earpieces, used by sports directors to give riders orders, will also be banned on the 13th stage, the race jury confirmed. The ban is aimed at helping riders decide their own tactics.
It aims to restore some suspense and spice up the action after criticism from past riders that races were too predictable while competitors had lost all sense of tactics and strategy.
But some riders have safety fears over team officials not being able to warn them about, for example, a demonstration, crash or oil slip on the course.
“As far as I know, two teams have not signed the petition — Cofidis and Francaise des Jeux,” said Garmin-Slipstream sports director Lionel Marie.
Tour director Christian Prudhomme added: “I am not aware of that petition. This decision is a UCI decision of the UCI board, it is then up to the UCI to have the decisions of its board being respected”.
