Race radios are banned at the 2026 UCI Road World Championships, so Belgium is…

TakeWorlds3 weeks ago

Race radios are banned at the 2026 UCI Road World Championships, so Belgium is taping tactical notes to water bottles instead. Serge Pauwels calls it obvious rather than clever: "It is not rocket science. Almost every rider takes a bottle on almost every lap."

With 12 laps of the Mount Royal circuit in the men's elite road race, Remco Evenepoel counted 12 chances to grab a bottle and get an update — enough that missing one barely matters. Sport directors can write breakaway gaps or chase instructions straight onto the bidon, no earpiece required. Wout van Aert admits the trick is old, just new to him. Pauwels is blunter about the rule that made it necessary: "It is frustrating that we still have to think about solutions like this."

Sources

Belgium turn to unusual bottle tactic to guide Van Aert and Evenepoel at Worlds Message in a bottle? Belgium get around lack of radios at World Championships with unique strategy Message on a bottle: Without race radios, Belgium turns to bidons to pass along messages

Analysed 3 sources, written and summarised with AI · How we work

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