No More Mechanics On The Move

A short piece to mark a change in the sport. The UCI are clamping down on mechanics leaning out of car windows to service riders in a races. It’s been such a famous image from many races and now it’s going away for good. It’ll have tactical consequences too.

Here are the UCI rules, first the rule banning mobile mechanics (2.3.030) and second the fines liable if caught (12.1.040)

As you can see, repairs have to be done “when stationary”. It’s an old rule too that’s sat in the rulebook for years without being enforced. Until now.

Earlier this week the UCI commissaires warned teams in Paris-Nice about this. You can see the note above, it’s in French but the “il est interdit aux mécaniciens de se tenir penché à l’extérieur du véhicule” is about it being forbidden for mechanics to hang outside of cars. Soon after the warning was issued the UCI followed up with action and yesterday the commissaires fined Tinkoff-Saxo and Katusha pour encourager les autres:

You’ll see the 1,000 Swiss Franc fines (US$1,000) for team managers Dimitry Konyshev and Sean Yates because mechanics in their cars were caught leaning out of the window.

Earlier this week Philippe Gilbert dropped back to the BMC Racing team car for some help but it was for his shoes so he was able to hold on to the car while the mechanic did some work on the cleats inside the car. This is within the rules so there’s no fine.

Adieu magic spanner

The tactical consequences are two-fold:

if there’s a problem, a mechanic won’t attempt a mobile repair, instead there will be a rapid bike change so the rider can get going on a spare leaving the mechanic to fix the problem on the original bike

if a rider has a problem they can’t rely on the team car for a “magic spanner” push back to the peloton; the traditional ruse has been for the rider to get a spare wheel after a puncture and only to “complain” the wheel rubs on the brake blocks and so the team car appears, the rider holds on to the car while the mechanic gets to work on the “faulty” brake calliper… all while the car accelerates to 50km/h and suddenly the brake is fixed and the rider is driven back to the bunch for free. Now a mechanical or a puncture in a race will have more consequences, a rider won’t be able to make up lost time so easily. Teams can shoulder a fine but repeat it and they risk more severe punishments.

Enforce the rule or scrap it

Having a rule that people choose to ignore turns the UCI rulebook into a menu where teams and riders try to see what they can get away with. This reduces the credibility of the UCI and its commissaires. Maybe some rules need changing… but this means they need changing rather than leaving it up to the commissaires to interpret which ones to apply on a given day.

Summary

Not so much as a rule change as a mood change. Mechanics have been forbidden from leaning outside of team cars for a while but since the rule was ignored it carried on and you’ll have seen plenty of pictures and video of it happening in races. Now the UCI wants the rule respected. It’ll mean the end of some iconic images but the real point is a tactical shift: puncture or crash late in a race and if a rider gets a new bike they’ll use extra energy to get back.