Tuesday, June 29, 2021
Bad falls at the Tour de France
“This is no longer cycling”
This year’s Tour de France is overshadowed by serious falls. Several drivers were eliminated with injuries. This anger not only her, but also her colleagues. The accusation: The route is too dangerous, the world association sets other priorities.
After the heavy falls at the 108th Tour de France, criticism of the organizers is growing. The winding final of the third stage on Monday in Pontivy as well as the previous descent resulted in a hectic peloton – with sometimes dramatic consequences. “The road is narrow, there is a fight for positions – sprinters as well as overall classification drivers”, said the German professional cyclist Roger Kluge: “Unfortunately it happens again and again.”
Clever teammate at Lotto-Soudal, the Australian top sprinter Caleb Ewan, had a serious fall in the finish sprint and had carried away ex-world champion Peter Sagan (Slovakia / Bora-hansgrohe). For Ewan, the tour ended with a broken collarbone. “I can’t remember too much, it all happened so quickly. I was in severe pain straight away,” said the 26-year-old: “The bone is broken in four places. I’ll have to have an operation.” At least Sagan was uninjured except for bruises and abrasions.
Previously, the Slovenian Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma), who was second in Slovenia from last year, lost valuable time. He had rolled to the finish line, bleeding and with torn pants. He was more than 1:21 minutes behind the winner of the day Tim Merlier and around a minute behind the big competitor Tadej Pogacar.
“It certainly doesn’t have to be. If the finish were maybe ten kilometers later, it wouldn’t be so important to be in front on the descent,” said Kluge: “When the three-kilometer mark is below, everyone wants to start from the front . ” Former world-class professional Marc Madiot, team principal of the French FDJ team, had lost his winning sprinter Arnaud Demare in a fall a few kilometers from the finish and said completely upset: “When I see something like this, I don’t want my child to become a professional cyclist . This is no longer cycling. ” The former tour stage winner demanded: “We have to change that, otherwise there will be deaths.”
The Berlin-based Simon Geschke from Team Cofidis shot against the world association UCI via Twitter. This had issued new safety regulations in the course of the year. For example, the so-called supertuck, in which the rider sits on the top tube of the bike, is forbidden. In addition, the forearms may no longer be placed on the handlebars for a more aerodynamic riding style. It’s funny that these positions are banned for “safety reasons”, “while we have target arrivals like this at the same time,” said Geschke.
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