Movistar CEO, Eusebio Unzué, suggested, in a conversation with the newspaper L’Équipe, the introduction of a substitution system in cycling. According to him, teams should be able to replace a cyclist who has to abandon a major ride during the first week due to necessity.
“Why not allow substitutions in big rounds, when someone has to abandon the race in the first week?” Unzué questioned. “All teams prepare with ten or eleven cyclists. So, we always leave two or three at home. If someone gives up, wouldn’t we have the right to a solution?”
Cycling needs changes, argues Unzué
Unzué goes on to say that, obviously, substitutions could not be made for technical or tactical reasons. “But in football, substitution was also not allowed for many years… Why not try, test? Let’s take a step forward and see how everyone reacts. We need changes.”
The 68-year-old team boss believes there is a lack of humanity in cycling. As an example, he mentions that cyclists often have to continue covering kilometers after a fall before they can be examined in detail for their injuries only at the finish line. “Wouldn’t a fall be reason enough to get in an ambulance and be able to start the next day without having to finish the race?”, he asks.
For a more humane sport
Unzué believes that cycling is “the most immobile sport there is”. “We continue to do things as we did forty years ago, when I started. Make the rules a little more humane. Let’s not be so inhumane.”
Often, favorites for the title of a grand tour fall in the first week. Unzué knows this well. During last year’s Tour de France, Movistar captain Enric Mas fell in the opening stage, being forced to abandon the competition with a broken scapula.
Richard Carapaz, the leader of EF Education-EasyPost, completed the first stage in the Basque Country despite a fall, but did not start the second day. He had suffered a fractured patella (knee).
