EDWARD PICKERING

EDITOR

The promise we have all made to ourselves during these times is that things will get back to normal. We’re all, to a lesser or greater degree, making sacrifices and there are very necessary compromises for us to make which might be hard, but contribute to the greater good. I hope that all our readers are giving and getting what support they can.

All this means we gratefully hold close anything that does resemble what used to be normal, and for us as bike fans, that means races. Things aren’t completely normal, but the French race organisers have worked minor miracles to run events like the Étoile de Bessèges and Tour de la Provence.

I’ve always loved races like Bessèges. When I were a lad, they heralded the start of the cycling year. They’ve been eclipsed by bigger events in the last decade or three, but have remained on the calendar like faithful friends. And like any good friend, they’ve come through for us when we’ve needed them. They’ve given us a mix of familiarity, with scenic landscapes in southern France, and a little bit of novelty, with some of the biggest names in cycling taking part.

What hasn’t changed at all, however, is the seemingly constant bickering between riders, teams and the UCI. The UCI recently announced some safety measures, and it provoked protests and mockery from riders, though there were some more measured voices.

There’s no real right answer to whether the rule which got most attention - banning the ‘supertuck’ position - is necessary or not, and I can see both sides of the argument. However, what I am sure about is that there’s been a breakdown in trust between the UCI and a lot of the riders. It would be helpful if the various interested parties could work on re-establishing trust, instead of point-scoring. That’s a change we can all agree would be beneficial to the sport.