Vingegaard’s fall between increasingly higher speeds and dangerous roads. So cycling is less safe

The war bulletin of fourth stage of the Basque Country talks about 12 riders who fell and seven who withdrew with diagnoses ranging from serious to dramatic: Vingegaard he fractured his collarbone and numerous ribs (plus, this morning’s news, he has a pulmonary contusion and remains under observation in hospital), Roglic he was saved from major damage but got into the limping flagship, Evenepoel He has fractures of his right clavicle and shoulder blades. Things went much worse for the Australian Jay Vinewho suffered a fracture of a cervical and two thoracic vertebrae. Steff Tomorrow he suffered a pneumothorax, several broken ribs and two fractures to his dorsal vertebrae, as well as several bruises, wounds and abrasions. No fractures, but numerous bruises and abrasions for the Eritrean Tesfatsionthe first runner to end up on the ground, while the Irishman Sean Quinn he suffered a concussion and a fractured sternum, as well as abrasions and bruises.

A wild ride: asphalt not up to par

It all happened in an intermediate stage of Itzulia, the Tour of the Basque Country, a traditionally tough race and also rather extreme due to the weather and very nervous routes, at the limit and often beyond. At the point of the fall, several witnesses said, the asphalt was wrinkled by emerging roots. This made, at the speed at which one descended, at least 60 hours, controlling the bike is very complicated. High profile wheels, although more performing, now used by practically everyone, are generally considered stiffer, therefore less shock-absorbing in the event of irregularities on the asphalt.

From the images it emerges that at least a couple of runners tackled the curve at full speed, only to suddenly realize the unevenness of the terrain: at that point braking does nothing but catapult a man and a half to the ground. And the domino effect is guaranteed: those coming from behind brake instinctively. Evenepoel tried to escape into the woods, but fell heavily himself. The curve was dangerous, poorly signposted and there was that drainage channel dangerously left open. In one of these, at the 2019 Tour of Poland, he met his death Bjorg Lambrecht.

“Too much tension in the group”

After the fall, however, the riders had different ideas about what had happened. Pello Bilbao, Basque, with a profound knowledge of those roads, as well as the route, he blamed some colleagues: “You get to some points faster and faster and you notice more and more tension in the group. I believe we need to change this way of racing, which is too aggressive.”

On the eve of Paris-Roubaix, Mathieu Van der Poel also expressed his opinion on the subject: “”We take big risks in the race and this is the biggest problem. Everyone wants to be in front at the right time and this is not possible. Speed “It’s very high and with current gears you can still pedal even if you’re already going at 70 km/h. This makes running stressful and even earphones, which are necessary for safety, cause further stress.” Van der Poel also talks about the clothing: “The riders are poorly protected. Think about the clothing. If you think about what we wear when pedaling at that speed, you understand that it is certainly not the best. You would think that we should wear something that protects us better. We will never be completely safe and it’s a shame. Sometimes you also have to be lucky.”

Tension, lack of sense of limits, at times. Therefore very high speeds, now difficult to maintain on secondary roads such as those usually involved in races. Roads on which the speed limit for cars rarely exceeds 50 per hour: the runners, in their ultra-performance vehicles, often go close to 100 on the descent. And there is the equipment variant: you run bare-skinned in practice, exposed therefore to unexpected events without a minimum of protection. Indeed: in the past, the position of the batteries of the radios, placed on the back, in a very dangerous manner in the event of falls similar to Vingegaard’s, has caused much discussion. Helmets have proven to be fundamental: but until 21 years ago they were not mandatory. It was a death, that of Andrei Kivilev during the Paris-Nice, to push the UCI towards compulsory. The death of Gino Mäder at the Tour of Switzerland last year it has so far produced only a small novelty.

Is cycling safe?

The UCI has shown sensitivity on the subject. There is the independent working group created within theUciis called SafeR, “a direct response to the trend of increasing accidents occurring in men’s and women’s professional road cycling. This trend has sparked extensive discussions among professional road cycling stakeholders, leading to unanimous agreement on the need for a more structured and systematic approach to ensuring safety.” Thus writes theInternational Cycling Union. The group was formed less than a year ago.