Cookson to consider smaller teams

The UCI president Brian Cookson has said the sport’s governing body will consider reducing the size of teams in the professional peloton following two exhilarating road races at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.

Teams were limited to five riders in the men’s race and four riders in the women’s race last weekend, with an average squad size of 2.3 and 1.7 riders respectively. Commentators and spectators praised the unpredictable, aggressive racing that was in stark contrast to the recent lockdown exerted by Team Sky in support of Chris Froome’s successful quest for a third Tour de France.

“Smaller teams is probably one of the ways that we’re going to have to go in the future, but let’s take it step-bystep,” Cookson told Cycling Weekly. “We’ve got to learn some lessons here; certainly the smaller teams made the racing more unpredictable and more exciting. There are some clear lessons there that maybe we need to think about very seriously for the future.”

Cookson highlighted potential hurdles in working with conservative organisers, teams and national federations to implement such changes, while pointing to the impact of the lack of race radios and a demanding course in making the Olympic road races a success.

“The biggest obstacle is the heritage and history, and the status quo. When you’re thinking about radical changes you need to do that in a way that brings everyone on board,” he added.

Riders also noted the unpredictability of the racing, with USA’S Taylor Phinney saying that the small teams “change the game” when it comes to tactics.

Great Britain’s Geraint Thomas told CW: “Even before the start you don’t really know what’s going to happen, what break will go and what teams will be there. There are so many variables, even more so than in a Classic where you have eight guys [per team].”