About the project

Race cycling safety is a hot topic in the news today. A surge in crashes during recent seasons, some with severe consequences, has emphasized the limitations of traditional safety measures. Rules and subjective judgments—long relied upon by federations—have failed to significantly reduce injury rates, as evidenced by data from ProCyclingStats.

Recognizing the need for a transformative approach, the SPORSA project (SPORts SAfety) was launched by the Sports Data Science team at IDLab (UGent-imec). Under the leadership of Professor Steven Verstockt, SPORSA aims to enhance cycling safety through innovative technology, offering real-time insights and efficient communication tools tailored to the sport’s unique demands.

The core objective of SPORSA is to leverage technology to mitigate risks, improve race dynamics monitoring, and facilitate timely communication during cycling events. By addressing specific safety-related needs, identified through extensive stakeholder engagement, SPORSA is poised to redefine how safety is managed in the cycling domain. Key priorities identified for the project include continuous safety insights, accurate live data dissemination, objective decision-making and detailed race analytics (in order of priority).

IDLab role

IDLAb is the coordinator and the principal investigator in the project.

The project is funded by IOF.