Concussion protocols in cycling: what each body sets, and from when.

The UCI protocol (international races, from 2021)

The UCI announced a cycling-specific protocol for sport-related concussion, applying to all disciplines on the UCI International Calendar from the 2021 season; the English version was announced in a press release dated 10 December 2020. The UCI says the protocol adapts the 2017 Berlin consensus statement on concussion in sport and was developed from 2019 by international doctors, scientists and neurologists under its Medical Director, Professor Xavier Bigard. The UCI said its Medical Rules would be amended to reflect it at the Management Committee meeting in Ostend in January 2021. We did not open the current text of the Medical Rules, so the summary below comes from the UCI's press releases.

• Who spots it. Non-medical team staff (coaches, sport directors, mechanics) and riders are to be trained to recognise signs of suspected concussion, with a race doctor confirming any suspected case.
• Assessment. A fuller standardised assessment (SCAT5) is done after the race and repeated the next day.
• Return. Under the protocol, a concussed rider should not return to competition until at least one week after symptoms have cleared, or two weeks for juniors.
• Reporting. Every concussion is reported to the UCI Medical Director, for monitoring, follow-up of individual riders and research.

The UCI names road racing, cross-country and marathon mountain biking, and the track omnium as the hardest disciplines in which to manage concussion, because injured riders can be slow to reach and remove. In a 2024 release (read from a search summary) it stressed the protocol's importance and urged everyone involved to become familiar with it. In 2025 the UCI and World Athletics named an e-learning module on concussion management as a top priority; whether it has been released could not be confirmed.

The expert document behind it: the Harrogate consensus

The protocol rests on the "Harrogate consensus agreement: cycling-specific sport-related concussion" by Swart, Bigard, Fladischer, Palfreeman, Riepenhof, Jones and Heron, from a UCI-convened meeting in Harrogate, UK, in September 2019, and published in Sports Medicine and Health Science in June 2021. The authors state it is not a clinical practice guideline or a legal standard. It says riders showing specified "red flag" features should be removed from competition immediately and permanently, and that anyone present, other riders included, may alert race officials. It describes a six-stage graded return with a minimum of one week from injury to competition, a minimum two-week recovery for juniors, and baseline testing, mandatory at elite and professional level.

AusCycling (Australia, from 26 June 2024)

AusCycling published cycling-specific concussion guidelines on 26 June 2024, after a review of about 12 months overseen by its Medical Advisory Group. They adopt the Australian Institute of Sport's concussion guidelines for youth and community sport ("if in doubt, sit them out"), with return-to-cycling rules drawing on the Australian Sports Commission's position statement on concussion and brain health. The guidelines set:

• at least 14 symptom-free days before a return to training;
• a minimum of 21 days before a return to competition;
• a return-to-play clearance form.

They apply to all recreational and competitive cycling, including riders who were concussed outside cycling.

The United Kingdom

Grassroots sport guidance (April 2023, updated November 2024)

The UK Government and the Sport and Recreation Alliance published the first UK-wide concussion guidelines for grassroots (non-elite) sport in April 2023, updated in November 2024, under the strapline "If in doubt, sit them out". They are built on three steps, Recognise, Remove and Return, and state that no one should return to sport within 24 hours of a suspected concussion. A summary of Sport England's announcement says the guidelines recommend contacting NHS 111 within 24 hours of a possible concussion.

British Cycling (March 2023): unconfirmed

British Cycling published its first concussion guidance in March 2023 under the same heading. A search summary of its announcement says a rider with suspected concussion must stop and not ride again that day, and should not return to competition for at least 21 days. The British Cycling page refused our requests, so this 21-day figure is unconfirmed; British Cycling's own current guidance is the authority.

United States

We found no USA Cycling concussion rule text. A consensus statement by Abramson and colleagues through Medicine of Cycling is referred to in the literature, but we could not confirm its status.

The minimums side by side

The gap between one week and 21 days is real, but the documents are written for different settings. The UCI rule is for international-calendar events where race doctors are present; AusCycling's covers community and club cycling as well as competition, and the scope of British Cycling's guidance could not be confirmed. Which applies depends on the event and the body running it, and decisions about an individual rider belong with a doctor.

How often head injuries occur in cycling, as the medical reviews report it, is on the injuries named page, and the UCI's wider race safety work is on race safety and the UCI.