Wanty-Groupe Gobert rider Demoitié died following a crash involving a motorbike during the Gent-Wevelgem one-day classic on Sunday (March 27).

Although the team’s press officer, José Been, refused to blame the motorbike rider involved in incident, the UCI has faced calls to act following the death and incidents that have caused injury to riders and others in recent months.

Cookson expressed his sympathies to Demoitié’s family and stated that the UCI would work with relevant authorities to investigate the incident in a message on the governing body’s website, accessible here. 

He then detailed that the UCI is working on revised protocols and regulations of road racing, in particular "the conduct of race vehicles".

Detailed commissaire briefings to identify potential risks, enhanced operational guides for each vehicle’s role within the race caravan, and the creation of new sanctions to all drivers were among the changes which Cookson identified as areas being discussed, as well as proposals to reduce the size of the overall race peloton.

He also called upon the fans and stakeholders within the sport to acknowledge the complexity of staging road races, taking into account the nature of events being held on temporarily closed public roads, with man-made and natural obstacles.

"The key question therefore is, given the nature of our sport, how do we minimise the risks?" Cookson stated.

"There's a quotation that I have used before that I think is relevant here; "For every complex problem, there is a solution that is clear, simple…and wrong".

"Complex problems require complex solutions.

"The fact is that road racing as we know it and love it could not take place without motorcycles, cars and other vehicles, often in close attendance.

"They are there to carry out a function, and that function relates directly to how and where they are in the race."

Among those to call for action following Demoitié's death was Gianni Bugno, President of the International Association of Professional Cyclists.

Bugno had stated that the organisation had "specifically asked to communicate fast the strategies developed recently to improve security during the races" and said he wanted people to reflect on their responsibility to maintain a "very high level of attention, awareness, and control over safety standards during each race". 

Germany’s Marcel Kittel, an eight-time Tour de France stage winner, claimed on Facebook that it was up to race organisers and the UCI to "set higher and better standards" rather than riders.

"There are so many things in a race that are beyond the control of a rider: dangerous finishes, all the other vehicles that follow the race, spectators and weather for example," he said.

"The riders are busy enough with concentrating on the race and need to trust organisers and the rules that they will be guided safely by experienced people on carefully chosen roads."

While reiterating that the UCI would continue to work on addressing issues around safety in road cycling, Cookson called upon everyone involved in the sport to take responsibility to make racing safer.

"I certainly anticipate that there will be changes in rules and in recommendations about the conduct of those involved," he said.

"But at the end of the day, rules and recommendations can only go so far in regulating human behaviour.

"We all must remember that we have responsibility not just for our own safety but also for the safety of the people around us."

Cycling is currently mourning the deaths of three riders in the past week, with Belgian cyclist Daan Myngheer having died on Monday (March 28) after suffering a heart-attack at the Criterium International in Corsica.

Randall Fox, an American collegiate cyclist, died at the age of 29 on Saturday (March 26) following a crash at a race in Washington.