Fuglsang speaks out on motorcycles: “If you attack first, they can’t catch you anymore”

The issue of vehicles either helping or obstructing riders has been around for years. One of the most discussed examples came in the 2023 Amstel Gold Race, when there was a storm of criticism over a car carrying race director Leo van Vliet that stayed in front of Tadej Pogačar for too long, helping the Slovenian stay out of reach of the peloton.

The same year, at the Tour de France, Pogačar was on the other side of the problem when two motorcycles got in his way as he tried to attack Jonas Vingegaard. In the end, Vingegaard took bonus seconds on the stage after that incident disrupted the Slovenian’s move.

Those are just two examples of the influence vehicles, and motorcycles in particular, can have on a race. Fuglsang says he has been watching the problem unfold for years. “I’ve believed for a long time that the motorcycles are more decisive than many other factors,” he said. “They help determine whether the rider who gets away actually stays away.”

According to the Dane, that depends heavily on how closely a motorcycle stays in front of a rider. “It’s all about being the first to attack. If you do that, you get the motorcycle with you and they can’t catch you anymore.” Fuglsang even pointed to a very recent example. “Without a motorcycle in front, Mathieu van der Poel probably wouldn’t have won E3.”

The influence of TV motorcycles is not just a recent issue. Research from Eindhoven University of Technology in 2019 found that when a motorcycle rides 30 metres in front of a rider, that rider can travel as much as 2.6 seconds faster per minute. Over the course of a race, that can absolutely make the difference between winning and losing.

Fuglsang went a step further, saying teams were well aware of it in the past. “At Quick-Step, using the motorcycles almost used to be part of the tactic,” he explained. “In the Belgian classics, it’s all about attacking first, because on those twisting roads it’s hard for motorbikes to get away. And of course they need good TV pictures.”

The 41-year-old Dane first pointed the finger at the UCI. “They talk about limiting gears for safety reasons, but that’s not what really makes the difference. It’s the motorcycles,” he said bluntly. Still, Fuglsang also believes riders themselves are part of the equation. “When a group is chasing the leaders, a psychological mechanism quickly appears where everyone starts racing after the motorcycle — a kind of Schrödinger’s motorbike.”

If the UCI were to take a first step, Fuglsang says he would also support an agreement within the peloton. “It will probably never really be possible, but we should agree not to race behind the motorcycles.” At the same time, the Dane, who retired in 2025, knows it is far from an easy problem to solve.