'Let's end this Giro d'Italia and then open a debate on where cycling is going nowadays': Vegni speaks out after stage 16 is shortened
The head of RCS said that cycling needed to be 'refounded' due to UCI's 'wrong rules'
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Giro d'Italia race organiser Mauro Vegni says a debate about how cycling is run is necessary after the queen's stage of the Giro d'Italia 2021 was shortened.
Vegni, who was enraged after the Giro peloton refused to ride a full stage due to poor weather last year, is once again irked over how much power riders have when it comes to riding races.
Speaking after stage 16, Vegni told Italian broadcasters RAI that if riders are going to make a decision they need to stick to them, saying riders "change their idea every five minutes" after team staff had apparently said they were happy to race the full stage.
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"Everything is okay," he continued, before adding that he wanted to speak to riders about making decisions after one has been made by the race organisers and team staff.
"Let's end this Giro, then let's open a debate on where cycling is going nowadays. I am happy to take part in it. The UCI...the wrong rules...cycling needs to be refounded. I'll stop here."
The queen stage was due to take in three mountain passes going over 2,000 metres in altitude. This included the Passo Fedaia, which would have been the race's highest point, as well as the Passo Pordoi and the Passo Giau.
In the end, they only raced up one of those three in the Giau, which became the new cima coppi. This, along with the other climb of La Crossetta, were the only climbs of the day with the race being cut from 212km to 153km.
Ineos Grenadiers' Egan Bernal extended his lead in the maglia rosa, riding away from his Giro rivals up the Passo Giau to finish alone, with time to spare to take off his rain jacket in order to proudly display his leader's jersey to the waiting fans.
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Hi, I'm one of Cycling Weekly's content writers for the web team responsible for writing stories on racing, tech, updating evergreen pages as well as the weekly email newsletter. Proud Yorkshireman from the UK's answer to Flanders, Calderdale, go check out the cobbled climbs!
I started watching cycling back in 2010, before all the hype around London 2012 and Bradley Wiggins at the Tour de France. In fact, it was Alberto Contador and Andy Schleck's battle in the fog up the Tourmalet on stage 17 of the Tour de France.
It took me a few more years to get into the journalism side of things, but I had a good idea I wanted to get into cycling journalism by the end of year nine at school and started doing voluntary work soon after. This got me a chance to go to the London Six Days, Tour de Yorkshire and the Tour of Britain to name a few before eventually joining Eurosport's online team while I was at uni, where I studied journalism. Eurosport gave me the opportunity to work at the world championships in Harrogate back in the awful weather.
After various bar jobs, I managed to get my way into Cycling Weekly in late February of 2020 where I mostly write about racing and everything around that as it's what I specialise in but don't be surprised to see my name on other news stories.
When not writing stories for the site, I don't really switch off my cycling side as I watch every race that is televised as well as being a rider myself and a regular user of the game Pro Cycling Manager. Maybe too regular.
My bike is a well used Specialized Tarmac SL4 when out on my local roads back in West Yorkshire as well as in northern Hampshire with the hills and mountains being my preferred terrain.
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