Where can riders eat, drink and throw away bottles in a road race?
A · Advanced · The road race · 2 of 5Riders take food and drink from team staff on foot in signposted feed zones, or from the team car behind the commissaire's car. No feeding is allowed in the first 30 or the last 20 kilometres. Bottles and wrappers may be dropped only in the litter zones or handed back to a team or race vehicle.
How it works
- Feed zones: signposted, up to 5 kilometres long, placed about every 30 to 40 kilometres.
- On foot: food and drink are handed up by at most three licensed team staff, in team clothing, standing no more than a metre from the edge of the road and on one side only.
- From the car: riders drop back level with their sports director's car, "behind the commissaire's car and in no case in or behind the bunch".
- A small breakaway: a group of 15 riders or fewer may be fed at the rear of that group.
- No feeding: "during the first 30 and last 20 km".
- Also no feeding: in the 500 metres before and 50 metres after a classification sprint, on descents of classified climbs and in urban areas.
- Flexible: the commissaires may change those distances for the weather or the type of race.
- Litter: riders "may not jettison food, bonk-bags, feeding bottles, clothes, etc. outside of the litter zones".
- Never on the road: waste goes on the side of the road in the zone, not on the roadway.
- Other ways: bottles and clothing may be given to team cars, race vehicles or feeding staff.
- Heat: in a heat wave the president of the commissaires' panel may put exceptional measures in place.
- Glass: carrying or using glass objects is forbidden.
The glossary has the feeding zone, the domestique and the peloton.
Tricky cases
Can a rider throw an empty bottle to a child at the roadside?
No, not outside a litter zone, unless the commissaires allow an exception. The rule leaves "other exceptional situations" to their discretion.
Can a rider take a bottle from the team car with 10 kilometres to go?
No. All feeding is forbidden in the last 20 kilometres, unless the commissaires have changed the distance and announced it.
Can the team car feed a rider inside the signposted feed zone?
No. Feeding from team cars in the organiser's feed zones is forbidden.
A rider is in a breakaway of six. Where does their car feed them?
At the rear of that group. Food and drink may be supplied behind a breakaway of 15 riders or fewer.
Why the rule exists
A race of five or six hours cannot be ridden without eating, so feeding has to be allowed. Limiting it to marked places and quiet moments keeps staff and cars away from the bunch when it is fastest. The litter rule is newer and plainer: the race passes through places where people live.
Where it differs
| Where | What changes | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Most road races | Feed zones on foot and feeding from the car | UCI 2.3.025; UCI 2.3.025bis |
| Olympic Games and world championships | Feeding only from team cars and at fixed pits, from a time the UCI sets | UCI 2.3.028 |
| Time trials | The event's own regulations say whether feeding is allowed | UCI 2.4.021 |
From the rule book
Union Cycliste Internationale, Cycling Regulations, Part 2: Road Races (2026 edition, amendments to 1 July 2026), articles 2.2.025, 2.3.025, 2.3.025bis, 2.3.027 and 2.3.028. Checked 14 October 2026. Official document: UCI Cycling Regulations, Part 2 (PDF).