Ineos owner Jim Ratcliffe appeals to UCI for 'real action' on rider safety

A little over a week on from the horror crash that brought down many riders at the Itzulia Basque Country and left multiple Tour de France favourites with serious injuries, Ineos Grenadiers' owner Jim Ratcliffe has issued an open letter to the sport's governing body, the UCI, appealing for a greater emphasis to be placed on rider safety.

Published by the owner of petrochemical giant Ineos on Friday morning, Ratcliffe's letter points to the transformation of Formula 1's safety regulations in light of the death of Ayrton Senna in 1994.

After the death of the Brazilian and Roland Ratzenberger at the San Marino Grand Prix, the sport's governing body, the FIA, introduced many new protocols such as crash barriers and increased crash safety standards, which successfully reduced the number of fatalities at the top level of motorsport.

"This contrasts starkly with cycling where, until now, governing bodies have made very few changes and serious accidents are a common occurrence," wrote Ratcliffe.

The billionaire Brit pointed to the crashes suffered by Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) and Primož Roglič (Bora-Hansgrohe) on stage 4 of last week's Itzulia Basque Country, with Vingegaard and Evenepoel both suffering broken bones and Roglič ruled out of the Ardennes Classics as recently as Friday morning.

Read more: Primož Roglič forced to skip Liège-Bastogne-Liège through injury

Ratcliffe also pointed to the injuries suffered by his own Ineos Grenadiers riders in training since he acquired full ownership of the team from Sky Group UK in 2019.

"Even whilst training, top riders are at serious risk, indeed Ineos Grenadiers have had two horrendous accidents in recent years both involving Tour de France winners," he wrote.

"Chris Froome experienced a compound fracture of his femur on a recon ride and Egan Bernal broke his back and many other bones on a training ride. Both were lucky to be able to even get back on a bike."

Ratcliffe recently appeared on the Geraint Thomas Cycling Club podcast and recalled the moment that he too suffered a crash whilst out riding with Froome in the aftermath of the four-time Tour de France champion's life-threatening incident. Ratcliffe escaped any major injuries, but the danger of riding on public roads is clearly at the forefront of the 71-year-old's mind as his team prepares for the first Grand Tour of the season, the Giro d'Italia.

Read more: ‘The most dangerous thing is the riders’ – safety top of agenda between Itzulia crash and Paris-Roubaix

There, the British team will be led by Geraint Thomas, a rider all too familiar with the danger of professional cycling. As for what might be done to protect elite sportsmen and women pushing themselves to the limit, Ratcliffe praised the introduction of the UCI's SafeR group.

"In June, the UCI announced the formation of SafeR, a specialist entity to oversee all aspects of cycling safety. For the first time, the sport will have a dedicated safety body whose sole concern is to make the sport safer, reducing the risks to riders and spectators whilst losing none of the thrill of racing," he wrote, once more making comparisons with Formula 1 over the past 30 years.

Read more:

• Full medical bulletin from the horror crash at Itzulia Basque Country
• Injury update: Jay Vine walking, Vingegaard and Evenepoel operated upon

Ratcliffe's Ineos petrochemicals company is a one-third shareholder in the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team and the 71-year-old continues to be heavily involved across the Ineos Sport group, from Ineos Grenadiers and Manchester United to Ben Aislie's America's Cup sailing team and French football club, OGC Nice.

The Brit ended his letter with an appeal to the UCI to take real action in regard to rider safety, without proposing any specific changes to the current regulations.

"I applaud the UCI for taking the issues on board and agreeing to support the establishment of SafeR. We now need to see real action to ensure the safety of the sport."

With the spate of high-speed crashes that has recently befallen the peloton and the ever-increasing role of the Cyclistes Professionnels Associés under the leadership of Adam Hansen, rider safety is being pushed towards the very top of the UCI's agenda, if it were not there already.

Ratcliffe is the first team owner to publish an open letter to the UCI on the matter.

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