The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) and the World Federation of the Sporting Goods Industry(WFSGI) announce that, following numerous consultations with different stakeholders, tests will beginthis season with a view to introducing disc brakes to professional road cycling in the future.
During the 2015 UCI professional road season, all teams will have the opportunity to use bikes withdisc brakes at two events of their choice during August and September. The testing will continue in2016 at all events on the UCI professional road calendar and, if the experience is satisfactory, discbrakes will be officially introduced to the UCI WorldTour in 2017. The aim is to eventually introducedisc brakes to all levels of road cycling.
UCI President Brian Cookson said: "Although disc brakes have been used for around a decade inmountain biking and for the last two years in cyclo-cross, their introduction to road cycling must becarefully studied in collaboration with all those who are directly concerned. That includes riders, teamsand manufacturers. This step is part of the UCI’s desire to encourage innovation in order to ensurecycling is even more attractive for spectators, riders, bike users and broadcasters."
"The industry is delighted by this news and also thanks the UCI for the very positive collaboration. Thisdecision will further develop innovation and create new possibilities for the bicycle industry as well asadditional performance for the riders. There is still some fine tuning to do on detailed requirements forthe procedure, but it is very exciting to finally have reached this decision. The remaining open topicssuch as neutral race support or the UCI and Teams protocol will be tackled soon," states WFSGISecretary General Robbert de Kock.
Further information regarding detailed procedures will be communicated at a later stage.
For more information:
Louis Chenaille
UCI Press Officer
+41 79 198 70 47
louis.chenaille@uci.ch
John Zerafa
VERO Communications
+44 7813 814 816
jzerafa@verocom.co.uk
Robbert de Kock
WFSGI Secretary General
+41 79 434 14 77
rdekock@wfsgi.org
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