I noticed that nobody got rid of their helmets on the last climb today; did the UCI change the rule so that helmets are required even if it’s a mountaintop finish?
Yes I think they have - they used to be able to give them to helpers on the roadside at the start of the climb to a moutnaintop finish but it caused too much of a scrum in the peloton so it’s helmets for everyone all the time this year.
Axl Merckx got disqualified earlier this year because he (and others, like his DS, too) were uninformed about this change in regulation.
It’s the rule. What a bummer.