Nope, this is not a humour piece. And to be fair, safety in cycling is nothing to joke about. Given some of the horrific crashes in the past few years—including fatal ones, like the one that took the lives of Gino Mäder and Muriel Furrer—safety has become an increasingly important concern, with many, including Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ), calling for more measures to protect athletes.
The Swiss rider, who suffered a horrific accident during the Euro TT champs, says that “airbags” could reduce the risk of injury during races.
As Road.CC first reported, there are a variety of products in development that act as an airbag—inflatable bibs, jerseys, or helmets—that would reduce impact if you hit the pavement.
Pushing beyond the limit can have serious consequences
“We’re riding faster and often pushing ourselves beyond the limit during races. But we don’t have tracks specifically built for us with chicanes to help slow us down,” Küng said in an interview with Sporza.
Stefan Küng reveals what happened when he had that horrible crash at the European champs
Some of the kit isn’t cheap, but he says it would be worth it. “What is 500 euro if it can prevent serious injuries or even fatalities?” He said that while the international skiing federation (FIS) once attempted to mandate airbags for skiers, many skiers initially requested exemptions due to concerns about the impact of the airbag on their necks. Despite these reservations, Küng remains hopeful that with proper development, airbag systems could be effective in cycling, reducing the severity of crashes.
Küng specifically mentioned the “aerObag” outfit being designed by SID.
“If an airbag works well and is made mandatory in races, it could be a solution,” Küng said.
The UCI has been steadily introducing more safety measures after some of the brutal crashes of late. In 2024, there were some terrible accidents that derailed some of the biggest names in cycling. Jonas Vingegaard, Primož Roglič, and Remco Evenepoel crashed at the Tour of the Basque Country. The Dane was worse off, and couldn’t ride his bike for some time. In fact, his recovery was so long it wasn’t even clear if he would be in form for the Tour.
Organizers have been increasing the number of barriers or netting around particularly sketchy corners or descents, or reconfiguring key sections of races to slow riders down. At the 2024 Paris-Roubaix, before the always fast and dangerous entrance to the…
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