The UCI has reaffirmed plans to introduce GPS safety tracking across professional road racing while also launching a review of the Lugano Charter, the framework which has shaped cycling’s equipment regulations for the past 30 years.
Rider safety was again one of the main subjects discussed by the UCI Management Committee during its meeting in Montréal alongside the 2026 Road World Championships. The governing body intends to establish a regulatory framework for GPS tracking at professional races, building on systems already used at the World Championships and several major road events.
The UCI has also received the first results from its survey into crashes in professional road cycling, with the findings set to influence future prevention measures. Detailed results have not yet been made public.
GPS tracking moving towards wider professional rollout
The push for real-time tracking has accelerated over the past two seasons as the sport looks for ways to identify quickly when a rider has crashed or become separated from the race convoy.
The UCI first tested its own system at the 2025 Tour de Romandie Féminin, a trial which became controversial when five Women’s WorldTour teams refused to nominate a rider to carry the device and were subsequently disqualified. ProCyclingUK covered the Tour de Romandie GPS tracker dispute and the later CAS appeal launched by the teams and riders.
Tracking was then deployed across all categories at the 2025 Road World Championships in Kigali and has again been used at the 2026 championships in Montréal.
The wider aim is for race control, medical services and organisers to know where every rider is in real time. That can flag somebody who has stopped unexpectedly, crashed away from cameras or lost contact with the race convoy.
The UCI had already said earlier this month that it wanted tracking introduced at all professional road events as quickly as possible, beginning with the WorldTour and Women’s WorldTour.
The technology itself has not been the main point of disagreement. Questions over who supplies the system, who controls the data and how existing commercial tracking platforms fit into the process have complicated attempts to create a single model.
ProCyclingUK previously looked at the development of the technology when the UCI first announced plans to test GPS rider safety tracking.
Crash survey to guide further safety changes
The UCI has also completed the first stage of a survey examining crashes in professional road racing.
It has not yet released the underlying figures, but says the findings will be used to guide future prevention measures.
That work sits alongside the wider SafeR programme, which has already produced changes to barriers, race infrastructure, yellow cards and other safety regulations.
The governing body has increasingly tried to build those decisions around crash data rather than individual incidents, with the aim of identifying recurring circumstances which can be addressed through course design, equipment rules or changes to race organisation.
Lugano Charter to be reviewed after 30 years
A potentially much broader change concerns cycling equipment.
The UCI will begin a formal review of the Lugano Charter, adopted in 1996 as the basis for the principle that technology should remain subordinate to the rider rather than determine the outcome of competition.
Many of cycling’s familiar equipment restrictions ultimately developed from that philosophy. The sport has changed substantially since then, particularly through aerodynamics, electronic components, integrated cockpit designs, increasingly sophisticated clothing and the volume of data available to riders during races.
The review will be carried out alongside a new consultation framework with members of the cycling industry.
It comes after several recent equipment regulations generated debate between manufacturers, teams and riders, including rules governing handlebar dimensions, helmet design and attempts to limit gearing as part of the UCI’s safety work.
The UCI has not indicated which parts of the existing technical framework are most likely to change, only that the 30th anniversary is an appropriate point to reassess the document and consult the industry more closely.
New Junior Road Nations Cup also approved
The meeting also confirmed the structure of the first UCI Junior Road Nations Cup from 2027.
The new competition will feature events across all five continents and culminate in a Grand Final stage race lasting at least five days. Separate men’s and women’s continental rankings will determine qualification, while nations rankings will help allocate places at the Road World Championships.
The UCI is also increasing support for emerging cycling nations ahead of the 2027 UCI Cycling World Championships in Haute-Savoie Mont-Blanc, including additional development work through the World Cycling Centre.
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Photo Credit: Getty
For professional road racing, however, the most immediate development remains GPS tracking.
After several years of trials, disagreements and separate systems, the UCI is now moving towards making real-time rider location a standard part of race safety rather than an occasional addition at selected events.
