Rider trackers are set to be introduced by the UCI at next month’s Road World Championships in Rwanda, one year after the death of 18-year-old Muriel Furrer at last year’s competition.
The GPS safety technology will first be trialled at the Tour de Romandie Féminin next week, starting on August 15.
Furrer crashed in Zurich on September 27 last year, passing away in hospital one day later. She was competing in the junior women’s road race course, which began just 20 minutes from her hometown of Egg.
A subsequent investigation by The Athletic found that Furrer had been lying undiscovered in the forest for an hour and a half before receiving medical attention. Her bicycle did not possess a safety tracker. Instead, it had a transponder which recorded when riders passed through checkpoints but didn’t offer full tracking, and was for rider identification instead of safety.
The Athletic was also told of two separate parties which offered local organisers and the UCI use of publicly-accessible tracking systems ahead of the race. Neither of these were taken up, with issues over the timescale and data-usage being blamed. A Swiss police investigation into Furrer’s death is currently taking place, which, as of late July, has not been completed.
Speaking to The Athletic last December, the UCI stated that: “The UCI, in its role as governing body, is currently exploring potential software and hardware developments that would enable the broadest number of event organisers and teams to access localisation data live and at all times as well as ensuring that in-race devices also serve for safety whenever possible.”
Thursday afternoon’s announcement represents the first time that the UCI will have made safety trackers mandatory in one of their races. The Tour de Suisse, whose race director, Olivier Senn, was the local organiser in charge of last year’s world championships, introduced rider and convoy tracking at the race’s latest edition in June.
“This initiative, part of the UCI’s and SafeR’s ongoing efforts to enhance rider safety in professional road cycling, will see one rider per team carry a GPS tracking device,” read the UCI’s statement.
“The same technology will be deployed at the 2025 UCI Road World Championships in Kigali, Rwanda, where all riders will carry the device.
“The objective of this test is to refine the UCI’s safety tracking software and establish protocols to provide real-time data to race control, medical teams and UCI Commissaires. This system will strengthen the monitoring of rider safety during races and enable rapid response in case of incidents.
“This represents an important step forward in ensuring the safety of riders, and the UCI will continue to work closely with event organisers and all stakeholders on the broader implementation of such technology in the coming seasons.”
The Road World Championships are due to take place between September 21 to 28, it is the first time that the African continent has hosted them.
(Photo: ZAC WILLIAMS/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
