Heat and extreme weather in racing: how the UCI's protocols work.

These protocols are rules for race organisers, commissaires, teams and riders' representatives at professional events. They are not guidance for anyone riding in heat or bad weather, and the page says nothing about heat illness or its care: anyone who may be unwell from heat or cold needs medical help. We did not open the current text of these protocols in the UCI Regulations, so the descriptions come from UCI releases and, where marked, from press reports.

The Extreme Weather Protocol (2015)

How it began

On 20 March 2015 in Milan, the UCI (in particular its commissaires), the riders' association (CPA), the teams' association (AIGCP) and the organisers' association (AIOCC) agreed that professional racing needed an action plan for extreme weather, with rider safety and health as the absolute priority. Their working group named six conditions for setting baseline criteria: rain, snow, wind, temperature, humidity and visibility. The titles of UCI articles from 2015 (read from search results) say the protocol was then tested at that year's Giro d'Italia, which started on 9 May, and at the Critérium du Dauphiné.

When it entered the rules: two versions

The UCI's own 2024 release describes the protocol as introduced in 2015 and covering all adverse weather. The cycling blog Inner Ring, writing in March 2016, describes it as a regulation new for the 2016 season, applying to WorldTour and HC events. Both may be right, with agreement and testing in 2015 and entry into the rulebook later, but we could not check the date the rulebook itself gives.

What it covers, as described by Inner Ring

According to a summary of Inner Ring's account, the protocol lists freezing rain, snow on the road, strong wind, extreme temperatures, poor visibility and air pollution. The responses it allows run from no action, through changing the start or finish, using an alternative route or neutralising a section, to cancelling the stage. If the stakeholders cannot agree, the organiser decides together with the President of the Commissaires Panel.

The High Temperature Protocol (2024)

The UCI announced a High Temperature Protocol for road races, to be introduced in the first part of the 2024 season after its Management Committee approved it in Prague (31 January to 2 February 2024). The UCI says it gives an objective assessment of conditions using temperature and relative humidity from real-time weather stations. Measures are applied by a working group convened by the President of the Commissaires Panel at the request of the UCI, teams, riders or organisers, the same mechanism as the Extreme Weather Protocol.

The measures the UCI names are graded by how severe the conditions are, and include:

• moving start areas into the shade;
• cold drinks and crushed ice;
• extra refuelling motorbikes;
• changing the start time;
• neutralising sections of the course.

The heat bands: press descriptions only

Press articles describe the protocol's bands by wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT). The UCI's release names no thresholds, so these figures are unconfirmed.

Later measures (2025)

• Restart Protocol. SafeR's protocol for races interrupted by extreme weather or safety problems sets a maximum stoppage of 15 minutes and covers how restarts, time gaps and communication are handled (UCI, about July 2025).
• Feeding in the heat. The UCI said SafeR planned flexibility on feed zones in summer heat, such as allowing feeding on categorised climbs (about July 2025).
• World Athletics. The UCI and World Athletics said in 2025 that World Athletics would share its expertise on extreme heat and poor air quality to help understand conditions in summer stage races.

An example: the 2026 Tour Down Under

According to a feature by Velora, a stakeholder meeting on the evening of 22 January 2026 changed stage 4 of the Tour Down Under in Australia, with forecasts of 43 to 45 C and an extreme fire-danger rating. The stage was cut from 176 km to 131 km, the Willunga Hill climbs were removed, the start was moved an hour earlier and the finish was moved to Willunga township. The race director cited the limits on evacuating crowds along the single access road. This is a secondary account, not a UCI document.

The wider safety structure these protocols belong to is on race safety and the UCI, and how stage races are run is on stage races and jerseys.