The assistance motorcycles They are, without a doubt, one of the key pieces in the broadcast of any sporting event related to road cycling. In this context, as has been customary for decades, they accompany the participants of the Giro d’Italia during the demanding race that this year has nearly 3,500 kilometers of route spread over 21 stages.
The work of the assistance motorcycles called into question
Now and thanks to our colleagues at Moto IT we have learned how this year various participants, belonging to the different teams competing, are criticizing the performance of some of the assistance motorcycles. As the Italian media describes it, they accuse them of “Circulating too close to cyclists generates slipstreams and distorts the results.”
It may seem like a totally misplaced claim, and in fact a veteran of the Giro d’Italia, Vito Mulazzanihas given his opinion on the matter in an interesting interview given to the transalpine website. In it he clearly explains that the opinions expressed by some cyclists are nothing more than “rumors resulting from discontent.”
Apparently, this unfounded idea about the assistance motorcycles participating in the Giro 2026 was born after the dispute of the 15th stage on May 24 in which the Norwegian Dversnes Lavik was proclaimed, surprisingly, the winner of it. According to a specialized media, the four escaped cyclists held back the peloton’s comeback, and the American Warbasse, convinced that the peloton was giving its best, ended up declaring after the stage:
“They were tired, they only managed to contain our comeback thanks to their motorcycles.” It obviously refers to assistance motorcycles. In any case, the latter always circulate where the organization of the test allows them. It is possible that a cyclist, at a certain moment, gains some advantage by placing himself in the slipstream of one of the assistance motorcycles of his own team.
The rule is clear in this regard: “Motorcycles must film riders from the side or at a three-quarter angle.” If we stick to pure and hard science Berto Blockenan expert in aerodynamics and former consultant for a cycling team, says that “A cyclist traveling at 54 kilometers per hour gains 12.7 seconds per kilometer if he is two and a half meters from a motorcycle; this advantage increases to 1.6 seconds per kilometer if the distance is 50 meters.”
On this issue, Vito Mulazzani, motorcyclist and long-time collaborator of RCS Sport, is clear: it is the result of widespread discontent. This explains that “It’s all a farce. It’s an exaggerated alarm: the motorcyclist is well prepared, the photographer knows how to behave as such, there really is no slipstream: it’s an exaggeration”. However, he openly acknowledges that the quality of riders in the Giro may have declined.
He also intuits the causes of this, emphasizing that the professionals on board the assistance motorcycles “they are underpaid”. He concludes by stating: “We are not talking about hidden collaborations or accidents caused by motorcyclists, because accidents on the road happen all the time. There are many variables, and then there is human error… It has always happened.”
