Zonneveld criticises the UCI and praises Evenepoel after riders' protest: 'Take it to heart to make it a bigger issue'

Evenepoel was handed the microphone and took the floor. He spoke about the death of Finlay Tarling in August, as well as the unsafe conditions in the Italian fall races. “We join the protest,” says Zonneveld in the podcast In de Waaier. “Remco Evenepoel took the microphone and said, ‘We’re fed up with our colleagues and friends dying in accidents'. We pay our respects.’”

In hindsight, there were doubts as to whether stopping for five minutes would be effective enough, but the analyst counters that. “I think it’s good that the riders are getting back to it at all. If you look at everything that’s happened in this area, you can see that a huge step forward has been taken since the Jakobsen and Groenewegen crash—something has been set up where the riders and teams are much better represented: SafeR.”

"In principle, that was a good step," says Zonneveld. "But that platform has lost its power. 'It has since been hijacked by the UCI.' And so the riders need to take matters into their own hands again."

“On the one hand, I find it incredibly sad that the riders have to do this again, and that so little has been done following the death of Finlay Tarling—and also in light of what happened in Italy this week.”

Earlier, in the Coppa Bernocchi, we saw a DHL delivery van suddenly pull onto the course, right behind the lead group. A few days later, things really went wrong at Tre Valli Varesine, where two riders from Pinarello-Q36.5 were struck by a motorcycle police officer riding in the opposite direction.

It was reason enough for the riders to draw attention to the issue.

Zonneveld, however, finds it distressing that the International Cycling Union remains so silent.

“All the measures that are being implemented come from the UCI. But more importantly, all the measures that aren’t being implemented also come from the UCI. This means, once again, that the responsibility is largely being placed on the riders, while the organizers’ responsibility is traditionally minimal.”

In any case, Evenepoel didn’t stay silent. “That guy is such a great speaker! It’s the same in interviews: as soon as he gets a microphone in front of him, he can really say some thoughtful things,” says Zonneveld.

“It’s great that he did that. Pidcock has also often put it well. So those top riders don’t just think, ‘It happened to Finlay Tarling in a race we’re not riding.’ They take it to heart to make it a bigger issue.”

On the other hand, he’s less enthusiastic about Luca Guercilena, who, after stepping down as director of Lidl-Trek, joined RCS, the organisers of the Lombardy race.

RCS stated that it supports the protest. “Here comes another ‘but.’ And he’s just stepped down as team manager, for crying out loud: he knows how awful it is to be on the side of the riders and teams, and now he’s saying things like this because he’s on the organisers’ side.”