The organisers of Il Lombardia were largely supportive and accommodating of the rider protest that delayed the start of the season’s final Monument by five minutes, but race boss Luca Guercilena nevertheless suggested it could have been “done better”.
Guercilena is new to the role of general manager of RCS Sport’s cycling division, which also includes the Giro d’Italia, following his departure as Lidl-Trek boss earlier this summer.
He was approached by leading riders on the start line in Bergamo, and revealed they’d informed him of their planned protest “25 to 30 minutes before the start”. Despite the disruption to the marquee race, there was little tension on the start line, and RCS appeared perfectly accommodating, their one request being that someone take a microphone and explain what was happening to the spectators.
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Once the dust had settled, Cyclingnews caught up with Guercilena at the finish in Bergamo to get his take on the events.
“We can all agree on the content of the action, it was very fair. We all support what the riders are asking for, and for us the safety of the riders is important as well,” he said.
“For sure we would have loved to have coordinated better and given them more voice. But more than fine with how it happened. It was very fair and correct, so we respect the riders.”
As for how exactly things could have been better coordinated, Guercilena suggested the organisers would have offered the riders an even greater platform to make their statement.
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“First, I would get a clear statement, and on top of that, instead of organising a straightforward microphone, we would have loved even to have them on a stage, to express their concern about safety,” he said.
“We are all in favour of supporting safety. My concern was simply ‘just let us help you make it better’.”
In the end, Remco Evenepoel took the suggested microphone and delivered a speech to the crowds, explaining what was happening and setting out the riders’ position.
This move very much appeared to clear the air and ward off any tensions between the riders and the organisers – of the kind we’ve seen at the Giro prior to Guercilena’s appointment.
“We asked, ‘do you have a statement?’ And they said, ‘we are going online now’. So we said, ‘OK, it’s better you explain because otherwise people on-site don’t understand,’ Guercilena said.
“Then it was very fair what [Evenepoel] did, taking the microphone and explaining to the public what was happening. We and the public at the end were quite supportive of that.”
Some riders expressed sympathy with RCS Sport given that the spate of recent incidents involving vehicles that triggered this demonstration all took place in races run by other organisers. This was, simply, a timely and large platform to voice a message that they felt needed to be heard.
“It was not a bad image [for the race]. I think as RCS we are quite good at keeping control on the roads. We know some others maybe less. But our goal is to improve the safety of cycling in general, so it’s more than OK,” Guercilena said.
“No hard feelings. I would love that things are done better because we would be quite supportive always. We understand this is the last big race of the season, so they would like to express this here. It’s also important that all the organisers are treated at the same level, so other actions like this must be shared with other races and not just with us.”