The VAR arrives in cycling

The Dutch cycling federation will incorporate cameras on the handlebars of all participants in order to establish a VAR that allows judges to observe in real time any incidents in the race and apply the measures they deem appropriate.

The Netherlands Cycling Federation will test the VAR in its winter racing circuit

Although for some years now the cycling race referees have immediate access to television images and have the power to make decisions based on them, now the Netherlands Cycling Federation has decided to go further and establish a true VAR system to judge incidents that occur during the race.

An experiment that will take place in the NL Beach Cup, a curious winter competition in which cyclists pedal on the beach in intense races lasting about 90 minutes, a competition in which referees have a hard time following closely what happens in the race and for which they have decided to place Go Pro cameras on the handlebars of the cyclists.

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The images from these cameras are broadcast in real time to the room where the referees constantly observe what happens in the race in order to make decisions based on what they see.

Based on the results obtained with this VAR experiment, the Dutch Federation will decide whether to extend it to other disciplines and competitions.