robertclark125
Established Member
As I write this, it's the 2019 Paris - Roubaix one day cycle race in Northern France. In 2006 and again in 2015, the race has been disrupted due to a level crossing being closed, to allow a train to pass. The 2006 incident is shown in the video below.
As commentator Phil Liggett said at the end, those three who ignored the barriers and went over were disqualified. In 2015, there was a bigger incident when about 30 riders went over a closed crossing, but due to the size of the field who ignored the barriers, no one was disqualified. SNCF called for those riders to be prosecuted, although this didn't happen.
UCI rules state that when the barriers are down, you MUST stop, and you lose the time. The clock doesn't stop, it carries on.
If that incident ever happened here in the UK, could riders be facing prosecution by the authorities, which the UCI rules do allow? The UCI does warn that riders who ignore closed barriers can face prosecution by authorities, so if this occurred in a major one day race or stage race in the UK, would it be right to expect police to prosecute?
And yes, I did notice that a neutral service bike (The Mavic yellow one) and the TV camera bike went over before the train came. I'd like to hope that they faced disciplinary action as well.
As commentator Phil Liggett said at the end, those three who ignored the barriers and went over were disqualified. In 2015, there was a bigger incident when about 30 riders went over a closed crossing, but due to the size of the field who ignored the barriers, no one was disqualified. SNCF called for those riders to be prosecuted, although this didn't happen.
UCI rules state that when the barriers are down, you MUST stop, and you lose the time. The clock doesn't stop, it carries on.
If that incident ever happened here in the UK, could riders be facing prosecution by the authorities, which the UCI rules do allow? The UCI does warn that riders who ignore closed barriers can face prosecution by authorities, so if this occurred in a major one day race or stage race in the UK, would it be right to expect police to prosecute?
And yes, I did notice that a neutral service bike (The Mavic yellow one) and the TV camera bike went over before the train came. I'd like to hope that they faced disciplinary action as well.