Helmet Requirements?

PartisanRanger said:

I thought that pro cyclists were required to wear helmets, but I was watching footage of the Armstrong/Pantani battle up Mont Ventoux and realized that neither was wearing a helmet. What's the deal here? Is there any such requirement? Is it void for mountain stages?

Until last year (when the rule changed to helmets always - no exceptions) if stage ended in a climb the riders could remove their helmets at the beginning of that last climb - not before then. I think that the reasoning was that the riders would not be moving particularly fast and there were no really scary mass sprints if the stage ended on a mountain top. If you watch the TDF (or in fact any Pro-Tour race) from last season you'll see that they always have on helmets, even on final climbs.

Eden said:

Until last year (when the rule changed to helmets always - no exceptions) if stage ended in a climb the riders could remove their helmets at the beginning of that last climb - not before then. I think that the reasoning was that the riders would not be moving particularly fast and there were no really scary mass sprints if the stage ended on a mountain top. If you watch the TDF (or in fact any Pro-Tour race) from last season you'll see that they always have on helmets, even on final climbs.

Thanks for clearing that up. Even though I guess there's still a safety issue there, I think climbing sans helmet looks pretty cool, especially when Marco did it with his bandana and whatnot.

It really wasn't long ago that the pros didn't have to wear helmets at all. The rule cam into effect near the end of the '90s. Anyone know the exact year? There's a chance "Lance v. Il Pirata" was before the rule....

I just did a Google Image search on "Marco Pantani" and at least the first five pages had no images of Il Pirata wearing anything more than a scarf. Granted, most of th epictures showed him going up hill, but there was this picture of him sporting this very aerodynamic look in a timetrial in the '98 Giro:

The UCI started requiring helmets in 2004 with a mountian top finish exemption, unless there was a legal statute that required helmets. In 2005, the mountian top finish exemption was dropped. The USCF has always required helmets since whenever. There was an earlier attempt at a helmet rule in 1991 that was stopped by a rider boycott. After Andri Tafi's death, the UCI had to force the rule.

Dieseldan said:

The UCI started requiring helmets in 2004 with a mountian top finish exemption, unless there was a legal statute that required helmets. In 2005, the mountian top finish exemption was dropped. The USCF has always required helmets since whenever. There was an earlier attempt at a helmet rule in 1991 that was stopped by a rider boycott. After Andri Tafi's death, the UCI had to force the rule.

I think you mean Andre Kivilev. Tafi retired from the sport last year in one piece. The helmet rule went into effect in 2003, and the Pantani/Armstrong battle up Ventoux was in 2000.

It was Kivilev's death that prompted the helmet rule - what a loss to the peloton.

In the days when helmets weren't required for mountain finishes, I remember Ligget's comment at the bottom of one climb - hats off, boys!

Would they just toss them to spectators like a water bottle, or would they give them to the team car? That'd be sweet to get on of those helmets, especially Boonen's diamond-studded one.

Nah, they take them back to the car or toss them to a guy waiting by the side of the road.

GV27 said:

Nah, they take them back to the car or toss them to a guy waiting by the side of the road.

sometimes a domestique collects a bunch and returns them to the team car

If you wear a helmet, and you have a choice.................you're a DORK.

Erzulis Boat said:

If you wear a helmet, and you have a choice.................you're a DORK.

That's what I love about this forum. Some of the spot-on, intelligent remarks we get. 🙄

LOL, i love the pic, do you think he gets much drag with that hair-do?🙄

jrstevens said:

sometimes a domestique collects a bunch and returns them to the team car

in some footage i was watching from 2003, i think, i saw three guys from different teams all hand their helmets to the same car. i guess they sorted things out at night after the stage was over.