© Yves Perret / YP Médias
“A new season has just begun.
For us, as organisers, it’s all about delivering events that fit in with an increasingly professional world.
We are constantly highlighting the beauty of our sport, the exciting races that an exciting generation of athletes magnify, the breathtakingly scenic courses that we offer roadside fans and television viewers.
Professional cycling is a pyramid with the biggest races at the top and dozens of races organised over the years by passionate volunteers at the bottom. Without them, there would be no professional cycling.
The safety of everyone – riders, followers and spectators – is the most important issue for us. It’s a constant obsession.
The road is a stadium that does not belong to us, a public space that we share and to which we invite ourselves, with our constraints.
The incidents during the Etoile de Bessèges race and the reaction of certain teams must continue to fuel our thinking and our work, in the same way as those carried out every week within Safer, in which the AIOCC is a very committed player.
Our sport is magnificent. It is sometimes cruel.
Organisers are more united than ever, federated by the AIOCC, which has 11 new members this year, and determined never to give up on key issues.
Have a great season! “
Christian Prudhomme
AIOCC President