URICH, Switzerland, April 25 (Reuters) - Plans to make helmets mandatory for professional riders
came closer to fruition on Friday when members of the Professional Cycling Council (PCC) backed the
proposals at a meeting in Brussels. The call for the introduction of mandatory hemets was made after
the death of Kazakh rider Andrei Kivilev in the Paris-Nice race in March. PCC president Vittorio
Adorni met the heads of the Professional Cyclists Association (PCA) and the president of the
International Cycling Union (UCI) Hein Verbruggen to discuss the plan. They backed the planned
introduction of the new rule in time for the Giro d'Italia starting on May 10. In a statement the
UCI said: "The presidents of the associations confirmed their adhesion to the UCI's initiative to
render mandatory helmets for professional riders. "The consensus as expressed today by the members
of the PCC present in the meeting should enable (us to) reach the goal which is to establish this
rule before the start of the next Giro d'Italia." Wearing helmets has previously only been a
"permanent recommendation" from the UCI after the proposal to the make their use mandatory provoked
strike action by some riders in 1991. The death of Kivilev, riding for the Cofidis team, led to
calls for all professional riders to be forced to use head protection equipment after his team
doctor, Jean-Jacques Menuet, claimed a helmet might have saved the rider's life. The Brussels
meeting also set out plans for the future of professional cycling, which will be considered further
at future meetings. The statement said there are plans to create "a system guaranteeing the
stability and economic continuity of the movement, based on a principal of a series of competitions
reserved to the best teams." The details of these competitions are still to be decided and are
likely to be the subject of further discussion at the next PCC meeting to be held at the UCI's Swiss
headquarters in Aigle on June 6.
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