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Paul Seixas has called for better race-organisation standards after 19-year-old Finlay Tarling died when he collided with a non-race vehicle on the Volta a Portugal course. A police investigation is ongoing, and cars have continued to enter race routes since Tarling’s death. Seixas’s comments renew calls for stronger safety measures, while organisers cite the challenge of securing long courses on public roads.
French rider Paul Seixas has called for better race-organisation standards after 19-year-old Finlay Tarling died following a collision with a non-race vehicle on the Volta a Portugal course. Speaking to Canal+’s Clique show, Seixas said riders being hit by cars during races “shouldn’t happen”; a police investigation into Tarling’s death remains ongoing.
Tarling died on August 14, after a vehicle that was not part of the race was driven onto the course and collided with him, according to the Cycling Weekly report. The report does not give further details about the collision or the investigation’s progress. Seixas said he had raced with Tarling and that the death had deeply affected him and other riders.
“Sometimes there really are concerns about how races are organised,” Seixas told Canal+. He said organisers do their best, but argued that standards sometimes need to improve. He also described the death as frightening and said the impact extends to riders’ families.
Seixas joined a five-minute safety protest before this year’s Il Lombardia, which he later won. Riders including Tom Pidcock and Ben Healy also shared a joint statement on social media calling on the UCI and race organisers to “take accountability and act” against cars entering race courses. The statement said: “We will not stand for this any longer.”
Pressure to Keep Vehicles Off Courses
The issue affects the safety of riders competing on roads that remain accessible to traffic, and Tarling’s death has sharpened calls for practical protections. Seixas’s remarks add the perspective of a rider who knew Tarling and competed in the protest at Il Lombardia. They also underline that safety concerns are not limited to one event: the source report describes several later incidents involving vehicles on race routes.
Those reports do not establish that the incidents had the same circumstances or risk level as Tarling’s fatal collision. They do, however, show why riders and organisers are discussing how to control access to courses. The central challenge is to protect competitors across lengthy routes without treating unverified details of any single incident as settled.
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Safety Calls After Tarling’s Death
Calls for reform have continued since Tarling died. British rider Matthew Brennan told BBC Sport last month that cycling needed an independent safety body, describing the lack of change after the death as “disgraceful.” The UCI launched SafeR in 2023 and describes it as an independent safety body, although it receives funding from the governing body, organisers, riders and teams.
In September, the UCI called for safety-tracking systems to be introduced across professional road races “as quickly as possible.” The source report also lists later vehicle incursions at Sauerlandrundfahrt, Coppa Bernocchi and the Eneco Tour. It does not specify whether those incidents led to injuries.
Organisers have pointed to the difficulty of securing public-road courses. Kiko García, technical director of the Vuelta a España and managing director of the International Association of Cycling Race Organisers, told Cycling Weekly that a 200-kilometre race may have more than 300, 400 or 500 smaller roads branching off the route, depending on the region.
““We will not stand for this any longer.””
— Riders’ joint social-media statement, including Tom Pidcock and Ben Healy
Investigation and Safety Measures Remain Open
The police investigation into Tarling’s death is ongoing, and the source report does not say whether charges have been filed or identify any findings. It is also unclear what specific changes, if any, will follow Seixas’s comments or the riders’ protest. The report does not detail how widely safety-tracking systems have been adopted, how SafeR’s independence operates in practice, or whether the listed vehicle incidents prompted formal reviews.
Organisers’ statements describe the scale of the challenge, but do not settle which measures could prevent vehicles from entering courses. The available reporting does not provide a timetable for further UCI action or a response from the governing body to Seixas’s latest remarks.
Further Action and Investigation Updates
The next confirmed development to watch is any update from police investigating Tarling’s death. Riders, race organisers and the UCI may also face continued pressure to explain how course access will be managed and how the tracking systems requested by the UCI will be implemented. No specific new measure or deadline is confirmed in the source report.
Any assessment of progress will depend on details that are not yet available, including the investigation’s findings and whether safety changes are adopted across professional races. Seixas’s comments and the riders’ protest make clear that the debate is active, but they do not by themselves establish what reforms will follow.
Key Questions
What happened to Finlay Tarling?
Tarling, 19, died on August 14 after colliding with a non-race vehicle that had been driven onto the Volta a Portugal course. Police are investigating.
What did Paul Seixas say?
Seixas said that a rider dying after colliding with a car during a race “shouldn’t happen” and called for better standards in race organisation.
What safety action has the UCI announced?
The UCI launched SafeR in 2023 and called in September for safety-tracking systems to be put in place across professional road races as quickly as possible. The report does not say how widely those systems are now in use.
Why is it difficult to keep vehicles off race routes?
Kiko García, a race-organising official, said long courses can have hundreds of smaller roads branching off them. The source report presents this as a challenge for organisers, not a reason that vehicle incursions cannot be addressed.
Source: cyclingweekly.com
