UCI demands waste zones where racers can jettison trash

The UCI has developed a new rule regarding the pro peloton’s garbage management. The Inner Ring has reported that in 2015 race organizers for any contest that has a feed zone must have designated areas both before and after the feed zone for riders to drop, hurl or fling their rubbish. There should also be a section of road “of sufficient length” 20-km from the finish line for riders to dump empty packets and wrappers.

This new rule–actually an addendum to existing directive 2.3.026–comes after a few years in which major organizers ASO (Tour de France, Vuelta a España, Paris-Roubaix) and RCS (Giro d’Italia, Milan-San Remo) have included designated zones for discarding waste in their races. Of course, to ensure that the riders follow the new regulations, the UCI has also decreed rule 2.2.024: “If waste zones are established by the organiser, the rider must safely and exclusively deposit their waste on the sides of the road in this area.”

In recent years there have been other steps taken to ensure that the peloton isn’t a fast-rolling, multi-segmented and garishly-coloured litter bug. Teams have utilized biodegradable bottles and the Le Coq Sportif leaders’ jerseys of ASO events have special waste pockets. Defunct French Pro Continental team Saur-Sojasun also sported a kit with waste pockets in 2011.