Giro di Lombardia: Rider safety protest delays start of UCI World Tour race won by 20-year-old Paul Seixas

“This week alone, there were multiple incidents of vehicles on race courses,” said the CPA union, which represents professional cyclists, in a statement which was re-posted on Instagram by riders including Evenepoel and Pidcock., external

“This summer, a life was tragically lost to exactly this kind of failure. We will not stand for this any longer.”

The CPA has called for cycling’s governing body, the UCI, to help ensure race organisers “take responsibility” and “act” to improve safety standards.

Earlier this week, Thomas Gloag and Marcel Camprubi were struck by a police motorcycle travelling in the opposite direction during the Tre Valli Varesine race.

“Riders race at high speed with little protection, and we depend on the UCI and race organisers to secure the roads. That responsibility is not being met,” the CPA statement added.

“We did not want to affect the race, only to show what riders can do when we stand as one.

“We love this sport. We respect the race organisers. We want to race hard and put on a show for our fans. However most importantly we want to come home safe to our loved ones.”

The Giro di Lombardia is the last of the season’s five Monuments, a set of long-standing, prestigious one-day races.

It has been won by Tadej Pogacar for the past five years but the Slovenian was not present at the race, which is also the penultimate event on this year’s UCI World Tour calendar, after sustaining a season-ending injury at the Vuelta a Espana.

Seixas, who finished fourth in this year’s Tour de France, also finished second behind Pogacar at Liege–Bastogne–Liege, his only other Monument appearance this season.

The Decathlon–CMA CGM rider is the first Frenchman to win a Monument since Julian Alaphilippe at Milan–San Remo in 2019, and the first to triumph at the Giro di Lombardia since Thibaut Pinot in 2018.