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UCI “kindly requests” that riders stop using race number sleeves

A letter sent to teams racing the Tour de France and Tour de France Femmes asked riders to stick to the good old-fashioned method of pinning their number on

The UCI, seemingly happy that every professional cyclist’s socks are the appropriate height, have now asked that all riders competing in this year’s Tour de France and Tour de France Femmes refrain from partaking in the peloton’s latest aero trend: race number sleeves. 

Used in time trials for several years, stick-on pocket sleeves for race numbers – like the ones produced by Nopinz – have become increasingly common in the pro peloton, even during road stages.

With road race skinsuits all the rage these days, more and more riders are now electing to forgo that sacred age-old tradition (experienced by Tour de France winners and cat four warriors alike) of securing their race number to their back pockets with safety pins, in favour of some extra aero gains.

2021 Nopinz Pro-1 All Season Skinsuit - race number holder

A handful of saved watts aside, the sticky pockets have become the bane of every fan and cycling commentator, now forced to squint ferociously to identify the rider’s number, often either hidden beneath the not-completely-transparent material or crumpled beyond recognition.

Rob Hatch can breathe a sigh of relief, however, as a letter from the UCI – obtained by CyclingTips – has advised riders to stick to the good-old-fashioned pin method on the roads of France. 

Written by three-time world time trial champion Michael Rogers, the UCI’s head of road and innovation, the letter “kindly requests” that during all road stages “rider numbers are fixed on the outer layer of the jersey/skinsuit and not placed in pin-less number fixation systems/pockets”.

“Several cycling stakeholders (UCI commissaires, Race Organisers, Cycling Media and Fans) have raised their concerns about the lack of visibility of rider numbers placed in pin-less number fixation systems/pockets (NoPinz and similar),” Rogers writes.

The former Team Sky man also drew attention to the UCI’s rules on race numbers, which stipulate that “no item of clothing may hide the lettering on the jersey or the rider’s identification number, particularly in competition and at official ceremonies”, and that “riders shall ensure that their identification number is visible and legible at all times. The identification number shall be well fixed and may not be folded or altered.”

There was no mention, however, of whether teams will be penalised for not complying with this latest request from world cycling’s governing body, while riders can still take advantage of the number sleeves for time trials.

A time triallist and aerodynamicist at heart, Rogers also attempted to placate any aero-obsessed riders by claiming that the UCI is currently discussing an alternative method for securing numbers to jerseys. I’m not sure Filippo Ganna will be waiting with bated breath…

Ryan joined road.cc in December 2021 and since then has kept the site’s readers and listeners informed and enthralled (well at least occasionally) on news, the live blog, and the road.cc Podcast. After boarding a wrong bus at the world championships and ruining a good pair of jeans at the cyclocross, he now serves as road.cc’s senior news writer. Before his foray into cycling journalism, he wallowed in the equally pitiless world of academia, where he wrote a book about Victorian politics and droned on about cycling and bikes to classes of bored students (while taking every chance he could get to talk about cycling in print or on the radio). He can be found riding his bike very slowly around the narrow, scenic country lanes of Co. Down.

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6 comments

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nick h. | 1 year ago
0 likes

The clothing companies should put a velcro square on the back. Then the numbers could be attached without any wind getting in the gap.

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adamrice | 1 year ago
2 likes

Or they could do what triathletes do, and draw the numbers on their skin with Sharpies.

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mdavidford | 1 year ago
2 likes

Quote:

the sticky pockets have become the bane of every fan and cycling commentator, now forced to squint ferociously to identify the rider’s number, often either hidden beneath the not-completely-transparent material or crumpled beyond recognition.

As opposed to flapping around in the breeze, hanging off upside down, or torn to shreds by a crash, in the good old-fashioned stylee.

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Rendel Harris | 1 year ago
6 likes

I've long wondered why they don't give each rider a squad number at the start of the season and have that printed on their jerseys in an easy-to-read size. It would be great if everyone followed the example of JV as well and put names on helmets.

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RobD replied to Rendel Harris | 1 year ago
2 likes

because that would be a sensible and organised approach to take, and doing things for wholly impractical and backwards reasons in the name of 'heritage' is kind of the point of the UCI it seems. Rather than you know, keeping riders safe from race vehicles, spectators, barriers etc

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Velophaart_95 replied to Rendel Harris | 1 year ago
1 like

I'd like to see riders have their own helmet designs, like we see in motorsport, as well as a personal squad number.....

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