ROULEUR N o 100 ECHAPPÉE Going Green

Bike racing sends out the wrong message when it comes to environmental impact. How the sport is waking up to a more sustainable world

As stage 7 of the 2018 Tour de words by fantastical lap of France. Tot up all the northernmost race can market itself on the has already helped install a permanent 4G passes through Alençon, a different kind IAN PARKER cars and bikes in the race, throw in the unique drama of its landscape – the remote mobile network. of race is being run 40 miles south. Along many bizarre contraptions that make up islands and fjords that make up the land of Hyundai supplied 46 electric cars that the A81 motorway, team staff, officials and the advertising caravan, then consider the midnight sun. Yet it is this backdrop were used in last year’s race, a number which the media make their way on the hors course, all of this on top. On any given day at the which puts the August event on the front- had been due to grow to between 70 and 80 the official diversion designed to get you Tour, there are 4,500 accredited individ- line of the fight against climate change. in 2020. The coronavirus pandemic may from the start to the finish of any given uals following the race, ferried around in a 10–12 million “We are very close to the most hurtable have put paid to this year’s event, but Dybdal stage without tripping over the race route sprawling fleet of cars, vans and minibuses. areas,” race director Knut-Eirik Dybdal said it had done nothing to slow work on this itself. At a service station near Le Mans, As much as we adore this great travelling total said. “The conditions here are very special. project, which remains on course for all 120 parking is at a premium for anyone wanting circus, it is surely unsustainable. spectators roadside The world needs to change. We have to ask cars to be electric from 2022. a late lunch. So as we run down our own fuel supplies ourselves how we can be part of it.” “We hope what we are doing up in the It is during pit stops like these, where on the road to Chartres, it becomes increas- To that end, the event has pledged to north can be shared with others,” Dybdal team buses queue for diesel and hungry jour- ingly clear that a sport which prides itself shift entirely to electric vehicles by 2022, said. “We can tell people what we are doing nalists like me contemplate the limited range on promoting the most environmentally- a promise which includes not only the ones and how it can work. We are trying to build of pre-packed soft baguettes, that the vast friendly of transport modes can’t go on used by officials but also those driven by something here.” It is a significant state- impact of this race really hits home. Anyone mixing that message with flagship events the teams, who do not bring their own ment given that this is a race organised lining the route or watching at home gets that pollute the air and litter the roads. cars so far north. To deliver on their goal, in partnership with the Amaury Sports a sense of the lengthy convoy of vehicles It cannot use the world’s beauty spots as race organisers must first help build the Organisation, the single biggest bike race which surrounds the peloton, but that is only a stadium while at the same time risking infrastructure, working with the major organiser on the planet. Ideas that work a fraction of the huge number that follows permanent damage. hydroelectric power suppliers in the area to here can go global and Dybdal has already every stage – hundreds of lorries, vans and But the good news is that cycling is fast design and install mobile charging hangars been quizzed on his progress when visiting cars clocking up thousands of kilometres catching up to that fact. Race organisers, which can keep their cars topped up. And other events, not least the Tour itself. every day in pursuit of a bike race. teams and governing bodies are starting with planning to phase out the sale “[Race director] Christian Prudhomme I hit the road again and the conver- to imagine a new, more environmentally- of diesel and petrol powered cars by 2025, did an interview here in which he said the sation with colleagues in the car shifts friendly future for the sport. this is infrastructure that will provide a real Arctic Race is really pushing ASO to go in as we resume overtaking the long line of illustrations by Few events feel the need to act more and long-lasting benefit for the people who one direction,” Dybdal said with evident mechanics’ trucks also completing this TOM JAY than the Arctic Race of Norway. The world’s inhabit this remote region – just as the race pride. “We are not saying that everyone

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The environmental impact of a WorldTour team HELMETS GELS Deceuninck-Quick Step in 2019 180 12,500 KILOMETRES RIDDEN BIKES WHEELS JERSEYS 280 GROUPSETS 300 400 750 325,000 CAPS CHAINS RACES COUNTRIES DAYS OF RACING 79 20 272 2,500 600 52 53 ROULEUR N o 100 ECHAPPÉE has to do this the same day as us or even undermined if a race leaves a major clean-up such as Greenpeace, who say it cannot be tomorrow, but we have to have this in our operation in its wake. a viable alternative to carbon reductions, minds and take things step by step.” That is now a key focus for the UCI, though some see it as a step in the right Prudhomme has followed up his words which has shifted environmental issues direction at least. It also doesn’t come cheap, with action. This year’s Tour de France was well up the agenda when it comes to but even in a sport where many teams face shepherded on to the Champs-Élysées by organising both its own events and in a constant fight for survival, Gravalos does an electric car, with ASO using Skoda’s new shaping the framework for others. The 1,288 not believe that should prevent others from Enyaq as the race director’s transport on UCI Organiser’s Guide To Road Events is a seeing what they could do. “In my opinion, stages five, 20 and 21. Baby steps perhaps, 334-page handbook covering pretty much it’s not an economic problem,” he said. “All tonnes of CO2 but a clear statement of intent. every detail of how to put on a professional (equivalent of 1,288 return of the teams spend a lot more money on bike race worthy of a place on the inter- trips between Paris and New York) other things than they would on this. There used by Deceuninck in 2019 national calendar, but it is noticeable that might be some economic issues around the section emphasising the importance of changing your energy use and putting up Other races are making progress of their environmental values comes before you even solar panels that might cost money, but own, though the pace at which everybody get to the contents page. “By its very nature, there is another part to this which is about moves is generally dictated by a myriad of the bicycle is the perfect environmentally- educating, and that does not cost money. commercial and sponsorship deals, and friendly means of transport,” the guide That is an internal process.” the reality of what different partners can states. “It is thus essential that all cycling make a point as they pledged to become Whether initiatives come from race last year’s Tour de France. Prudhomme has deliver. At last year’s World Championships events are exemplary in their environmental carbon neutral. The project, a baby of the organisers, teams or the UCI themselves, spoken of the need to reduce the amount in Yorkshire, ambitions for the entire car considerations.” To that end, organisers are team’s marketing and communication every idea, big or small, can push the sport of plastic tat, usually quickly thrown away, fleet to be made up of hybrids were quickly told that environmental issues should be manager Alessandro Tegner, committed in the right direction. “Top down or bottom handed out to spectators, while at the route derailed by supply issues and they were “completely embedded and form an integral the leading WorldTour squad to reducing up, change is happening,” said Claire Poole, launch for this year’s Tour, ASO president forced to accept diesels. But as the tech- 12–15 million part of the organisational plan”. its own plastic and carbon use, while also founder and chief executive of the Sport Jean-Etienne Amaury spoke of a future in nology develops at a rapid pace, so do the Earlier this year, the UCI signed up working to offset the remaining CO2 emis- Positive summit, which aims to promote which all the caravan’s vehicles were electric. opportunities. The Tour of Britain had been freebies thrown out by to the United Nations’ Sports for Climate sions through certified climate projects – the advance towards a low carbon future for There is always more that can be done. due to switch to hybrids this year until it too Tour advertising caravan Action Framework, which brings together one in Uganda and another close to cycling sport. “There is always low-hanging fruit Every day at the Tour, journalists get had to postpone its 2020 event, and hopes governing bodies, competitions, teams and hearts on Mont Ventoux. to be had and many sports organisations through thousands of single-use bottles of to quickly move to electric cars after that, other stakeholders with a goal of reducing “Cycling has a unique relationship with have started small with their sustainability water, doled out in the usually baking-hot perhaps as soon as 2022. greenhouse gas emissions. Joining commits the environment in that it is our stadium. efforts. Behaviour change such as ensuring press rooms by sponsors. But give everyone a But though the vehicles within the race the UCI to five principles: undertaking And like any stadium, it needs to be cared recycling takes place, swapping out high- bidon on stage one, park a tanker outside the are a huge factor – and one of the most systematic efforts to promote greater for and looked after,” Tegner said at the carbon footprint staff meals with plant- building each day and we could get to Paris noticeable for anyone watching – the more environmental responsibility; reducing time of the announcement. “As a team we based alternatives or changing lighting to having used a tiny fraction of the plastic. race organisers think about their envi- the overall climate impact; educating for travel thousands of miles every year and LED. We need to be doing much more than Back in Norway, Dybdal and the ronmental impact, the more they realise climate action; promoting sustainable and expend a large amount of energy, so we this to drive real change, but doing some- Arctic Race are thinking even bigger. Any how much more can, and should, be done. responsible consumption; and advocating have to take our share of the responsibility.” thing is always better than doing nothing.” roadside fan will know the telltale sign of After being taken aback by the impact of for climate action through communication. In June, Movistar joined the cause, Put in cycling terms, this is marginal gains an approaching race is the tremendous hotel rooms when studying its own carbon “We realised there was something unveiling their own project to become writ large. noise of the television helicopters roaring footprint, Tour of Britain and Women’s 27,000 lacking within the federation guidelines 100 per cent sustainable through carbon And the will is increasingly there across overhead. Dybdal wants to see them Tour organiser Sweetspot has changed in terms of having a standard policy and reduction and off-setting, and working the sport. The more we see podium jerseys grounded for good. “We’ve been working its booking criteria, with price no longer guidelines that we could apply across all with ’s Ministry for Ecological made of recycled fabrics, the sooner we with a university to see if we can take away the sole concern as it also looks at green bidons used by Deceuninck in 2019 disciplines,” said Isabella Burczak, the UCI’s Transition (MITECO) to make sure it will see them worn in the peloton. ASO, those helicopters and use drones,” he says. credentials. advocacy manager. “How can we improve happens. “We need to be responsible meanwhile, has acknowledged the issues Had this year’s race gone ahead as It is a decade since the environmental the way we deliver our sport? How can we not just in our professional activities as a with its beloved advertising caravan, which scheduled in August, the plan was to exper- group Coalition Nature tried to bring reduce the amount of waste? How can we team,” the team’s chief executive Miguel was denounced on environmental grounds iment with these during the parts of the criminal charges against three riders, improve transport patterns and promote Gravalos explains. “But also recognise our by a group of 30 French MPs on the eve of race not shown live. It is too soon to know including a young , for littering the bicycle as a form of transport at our position as a speaker to the general public: if the idea can work reliably, but that won’t at La Flèche Wallonne, but there has been events? That is work that has just started to transmit a positive message that we can stop Dybdal and his colleagues from trying. a huge push since then made on “green and we’re hoping to deliver a framework by all implement in our lives.” “It may need more time, but we are looking zones” for the discarding of gel and food the end of the year.” The project will take time to deliver. at everything,” he said. “We have to ask wrappers. From last year, the fines were The UCI’s focus to this point has been The team’s headquarters in Pamplona is ourselves what might be possible. We have increased, up to 1000 Swiss francs a throw, on race organisers and events, but now we being kitted out with solar panels but other to look into it and challenge ourselves to for tossing a bidon in the wrong place, even are also seeing teams step up to the mark elements must wait. A new fleet of hybrid make the sport greener. We have to be at if actually policing it remains fraught with with their own initiatives. The biggest wow Volvo cars will not be ready until next year. the forefront of it. If you ask me, the future difficulties. It can seem like a small thing, factor at this year’s Deceuninck-Quick Step In all, Gravalos believes it will take between 120 for cycling looks good.” but for organisers the bad image resulting team launch didn’t come from a surprise three to four years for the team to reach from riders dropping a gel wrapper can be signing or a new bike. The numbers leapt its target of zero net emissions. Working trucks in Tour technical a considerable problem. Gone are the days straight off the page as the Belgian squad with MITECO, the team estimated they can area for broadcast when local authorities simply looked at the revealed the full environmental impact of cut their direct emissions by around 25 per economic impact hosting a bike race could running a WorldTour team: 27,000 bidons cent, relying on offsetting for the remaining bring. Now it is all tied in with promoting used, 12,500 energy gels, 1,288 tonnes 75 per cent. healthier lifestyles and green transport of CO2 – the list went on. But Patrick It is far from perfect – offsetting has alternatives. That message can be hugely Lefevere’s team were spelling this out to been heavily criticised by organisations

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