Are Gearing Restrictions Good For Pro Cycling?

January 3, 2025

The governing bodies of cycling are always looking for ways to make the sport safer for athletes. Recent calls for change have drawn attention to the rules surrounding bike gearing in the peloton.

What’s the big deal with gearing restrictions? And will they really make the peloton safer for the average pro cyclist?

Amidst controversy over safety, pros such as Wout van Aert call for changes to rules surrounding bike gearing.

Cycling changes. The bikes the pros ride today would likely feel totally foreign to history’s stars like Eddy Merckx. The Belgian great may or may not be able to hold his own if he was riding today. It’s what makes comparisons across eras so difficult.

When technology begins to outpace rider safety, when is the right time to step in?

Wout van Aert, one of the most prominent Belgians riding today, has some ideas for how to make the sport of cycling safer. In a recent interview, he called for gearing restrictions — limiting access to the largest possible gears, which are primarily used when racing downhill. Downhill segments are a key area of concern for race officials and leadership, as they are often the most dangerous sections of the race for riders.

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Van Aert knows this better than most. He suffered a crash in Dwars door Vlaanderen during the 2024 season that put him out of commission for most of the spring classics. Missing these major season goal races, including the cobbled Monument Paris-Roubaix, is a major blow. Van Aert’s crash happened during a downhill section immediately before reaching a key climb of the race. At this point, riders were jostling for position and hoping to get ahead of the competition, creating a dangerous situation for those around them.

From Van Aert’s perspective, limiting the gearing allowed in pro races would be a simple fix for a persistent problem — safety. But whether the idea gains any traction with the sport’s leadership and Van Aert’s fellow riders remains to be seen.

What would gearing restrictions limit?

Anyone who follows the sport of cycling knows that race speeds have been slowly but steadily increasing over the past several years. The 2024 season saw higher speeds than ever before for many races, including individual Grand Tour stages and one-day races.

Overview of the average race speed per season for WorldTour races. All WorldTour and classics only are shown. Raw data taken from ProCyclingStats.

The gradual speed increase since 2019 can be attributed to many things, so gearing is only one small piece of the puzzle. However, as riders continue to choose bigger and bigger chainrings to keep up with the competition, it may be wise to consider a cap.

If the UCI were to consider gearing restrictions, they could safeguard against future technological advances by capping the maximum allowed gear at the existing limit of innovation. However, it’s not clear whether this would actually improve rider safety in the current racing climate.

Would the UCI take existing gearing options away from riders for safety’s sake? As it stands now… probably not. Restrictions on gearing for junior riders were actually removed by the UCI in 2023.

So while gearing limits aren’t on the immediate horizon, it’s worth considering what would actually need to be done and how changes might improve safety.

Gearing restrictions would primarily affect downhill racing.

As suggested above, gearing restrictions would primarily be an issue for downhill racing. From Van Aert’s perspective, limiting gearing would discourage riders from trying to overtake one another on descents, which would be much safer in the long run.

One thing’s for sure: speeds while descending can be crazy. As noted above, the average speed of the men’s peloton hovers around 40 to 45 kilometers pet hour. However, Van Aert was traveling at around 70 kph at Dwars door Vlaanderen when he crashed, and many other WorldTour races feature even more astonishing top speeds on descent segments. Because of the potential for severe injuries when crashing at high speeds, descents should be a key safety focus for the UCI and cycling’s leadership. Limitations that target descending speeds, such as gearing restrictions as well as course modifications, should be an easy first order of business.

Is it really so clear cut? Some riders known for attacking on the descent, like Matej Mohoric or Tom Pidcock, probably wouldn’t agree with focusing so hard on restricting descent speeds.

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It’s just hard to deny that fast descent segments are some of the riskiest part of cycling and lead to many of the high-profile injuries and accidents within the sport.

Are course modifications a better answer to curb dangerous descending? Not necessarily. One of the biggest examples of this is Gino Mader’s fatal crash in the Tour of Switzerland, which occurred on a remote downhill section of the course. As many discussed at the time of that accident, the roadway where the incident happened was not particularly dangerous from a course design perspective. Safety measures intended to make a “slower course” wouldn’t be able to make a difference aside from avoiding descents altogether. Mader, who was known for being a strong descender, might have been safer with gearing restrictions put into place. It is difficult to say for sure.

Would restrictions affect sprinters or sprint finishes?

When considering any kind of new regulation, it’s best to consider any unintended effects. Sprinters use big gears to reach their top speeds at the finish line. While sprinting is also a dangerous part of cycling responsible for many accidents, it’s not totally clear how gearing restrictions would change the culture surrounding sprinting.

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If the UCI restricted only the fastest gearing options, such as 54×10 or 56×10, this would only really impact the top speed on fast sections of 75kph or above — predominantly downhills. Sprinters, on the other hand, typically do not cross the 70kph threshold, even with the most optimal straight-line sprinting conditions. They are likely to select different gearing, including a 54 chainring, to focus on optimal power output and cadence.

It is commonly thought that sprints are the fastest part of a bike race. But while sprints can definitely be the most fast-paced and exciting, descents are much faster on pure speed — and they are much more dangerous as well.

Focusing on safety for the future.

While no one can say whether the UCI is considering restricting gearing at this point, it’s positive to see some of cycling’s stars putting out suggestions of their own on how to improve safety. Van Aert’s proposition makes sense on paper, but how much of a real difference would it make in application?

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Other riders may also weigh in on this idea in the coming days, especially as the 2025 season approaches. If the idea gets enough popular momentum from riders, staff, and team leadership, we might see concrete changes being proposed. When, where, and how regulations should be imposed are more subjects for consideration within this complex issue.

At the very least, gearing restrictions are food for thought. When it comes to improving safety, let’s keep all the options on the table.

Do you think the UCI’s safety framework should include gearing limitations? Why or why not? Let us know in the comments or on social media. ★