Cycling’s world governing body, the UCI, appears set to make a u-turn on the controversial banning of race radios for stage 13 of the Tour de France on Friday.

However, UCI chief Pat McQuaid said no decision will be made by the UCI’s management committee until Thursday.

“The Tour organizers have requested that radios be allowed for Friday’s stage and we have put that request to our management committee who will make a decision on Thursday,” McQuaid told Bicycle.net.

Race radios were banned for the 10th stage of the race, a move which prompted 14 of the Tour’s 20 teams to submit a petition in protest.

The radios are all-important in that they allow team managers to talk to their riders throughout the race.

Friday’s stage runs from Vittel to Colmar, the first stage since the Pyrenees which heads into the mountains, of the Vosges region.

The absence of radios could, in theory, benefit the teams hoping to distance the powerful Astana team of Alberto Contador and Lance Armstrong.