UCI halts disc brakes amid safety fears

The horrific leg injury sustained by Spanish road cyclist Francesco Ventoso has forced the sport’s governing body, the UCI, to suspend the use of a new type of braking mechanism in the pro peloton.

Disc brakes were trialled by some teams during last Sunday’s Paris-Roubaix but when Movistar rider Ventoso came into contact with one such brake, he suffered a shocking gash to his leg.

“Shortly afterwards [after the crash], I have a glance at that leg: it doesn’t hurt, there’s not a lot of blood covering it, but I can clearly see part of the periosteum, the membrane or surface that covers my tibia,” Ventoso wrote in an open letter to the UCI this week, describing his injury.