Cycling Teams Urged to Act on Safety After Fin Tarling's Death

Richard Plugge, manager of the Visma-Lease a Bike team, has criticised cycling authorities' response following the death of 19-year-old rider Fin Tarling. The Guardian reported on Monday that Plugge wants leading teams to take a more active role in ensuring professional races are safe. His intervention came 10 days after Tarling was killed during the Volta a Portugal.

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Tarling was descending in pursuit of the peloton when he collided with a non-race vehicle travelling toward him on the race route, despite the road closure, according to The Guardian. A formal investigation is under way. Portuguese police statements cited in the report said Tarling had become isolated and was racing without a police escort at the time.

Plugge said he was disappointed by what he viewed as a lack of urgent action from the sport's governing bodies. He suggested teams may need to assume greater responsibility for safety and argued that riders must be able to trust that a race course is secure. His comments were made to the cycling website WielerFlits and reported by The Guardian.

Jonathan Vaughters, manager of EF Education-EasyPost, also called for structural changes. He said professional cycling suffers from insufficient standards and oversight, with some races operating on budgets that are too small for professional-level competition. Vaughters proposed a major reduction in the number of racing days so that the events retained could meet stronger safety requirements.

The UCI and Portuguese Cycling Federation have declined to comment further while investigators establish the circumstances. The federation said speculation would be inappropriate during the inquiry, while the UCI said it would wait until the facts surrounding the incident were clearer. Smaller races such as the Volta a Portugal use rolling road closures, which depend on policing at the front and rear of the race convoy.

Concern about that system has also been raised after Australian rider Maeve Plouffe said she was nearly struck by a car during the Tour of Britain Women. Association of Professional Cyclists president Adam Hansen said rolling closures contain a gap that must be fixed. Plugge suggested that, if long point-to-point routes cannot be secured, races may need to use shorter circuits that can be fully protected.