Fractures, bruises, abrasions, falls. This is the central theme of the first days of the 108th annual Tour de France. On Saturday, a ruthless fan was dealt with, and on Monday, the riders criticized the too risky finish of the stage. Primož Roglič or Peter Sagan sat on the asphalt, for others the Tour ended.
The first week of this year’s Tour de France seems to be even more nervous than it has been lately. The very first stage of Saturday brought several mass crashes and the Tour filed a criminal prosecution against a fan who, with her irresponsible behavior, tore down her cycling dominoes.
On Monday, however, the organizers of the race became the target of criticism, as the finish of the stage in the city of Pontivy was, according to many members of the peloton, extremely dangerous. Some paid for the scars and pain, others for leaving home.
The stage began on the wet road with the fall of Geraint Thomas and Robert Gesink. And while the Dutch head domestic of the Jumbo-Visma team ended due to a collarbone fracture, the Welsh “just” shrugged and the stubborn 2018 Tour winner continued in the Ineos jersey.
The worst came in the final ten kilometers. Concentrated destruction of several cyclists and fear also on television screens. “This is a lot on the edge for me,” commented René Andrle, a Czech Television expert and sports manager of the Israel Start-Up Nation stable.
First, one of the biggest favorites fell, the Slovenian Primož Roglič from Jumbo-Visma, after contact with the Italian Sonny Colbrelli. Roglič sat back on the bike and finished the stage in the strips of a torn jersey, with extensive abrasions. His teammate Steven Kruijswijk has a severed finger.
Stage 3 of the Tour de France 2021: Blood on Steven Kruijswijk’s leg. | Photo: Reuters
In a sharp turn four kilometers before the finish came a mass fall. For Jack Haig from Team Bahrain, the Tour ended here. He broke his collarbone and suffered a concussion. Home sprinter star Arnaud Démare was also on the asphalt.
The confusing place where the fall took place was also dangerous from the point of view of onlookers and other riders who had to contend with a blocked track. Fortunately, the timely intervention of the organizers prevented further caroms and problems.
To make matters worse, in the finish line, Australian Caleb Ewan bet on the later winner Tim Merlier, drove Peter Sagan into the front lap and sent the scoring record holder to the ground with him. The “Tourminator” got bruised, but Ewan will have to have surgery due to a fourfold collarbone fracture.
Stage 3 of the Tour de France 2021: Shaken by Caleb Ewan in the care of paramedics. | Photo: Reuters
Ewan’s clash with Sagan was just the culmination of a nervous conclusion that, according to the angry responses of many riders, could have been avoided.
Cyclists did not like both the roads on which the peloton rushed to the finish line and the refusal to extend the protection zone from the last three kilometers to eight. On the Tour, if a cyclist falls three or less kilometers before the finish, the time of the group in which he would have arrived if it had not been for a fall is calculated.
Hundreds of meters before entering the protection zone were critical. In addition to the sprinters striving to win the stage, teams with leaders also pushed for the overall classification. The result was a mumraj full of falls.
“Perhaps the organizers will learn from this next time. A year ago I became a father and I think about it differently. Cycling should not be about falls,” said Tim Declercq of the Deceuninck – Quick-Step team.
“Whoever invented this route and its finish should try to race with 180 riders on a five-meter wide road, where everyone pushes each other,” wrote André Greipel from the Israel Start-Up Nation on Twitter. “The ending was crazy. These roads are just too narrow on the Tour,” added his colleague Daryl Impey.
“Families, children, mothers watch the tour on television. I’m a father myself, and after what we’ve seen, I don’t want my child to become a professional cyclist. That doesn’t go on, we have to change it. “said Marc Madiot, general manager of the FDJ team.
Michal Kwiatkowski from Ineos was glad that, as a court assistant, he helped bring leader Ricardo Carapaz to the finish line in order. “But these days, the Tour is more like Russian roulette,” the experienced Pole said on Twitter:
Simon Geschke compared the situation from the end of the third stage with the controversial rule on the ban on riding on a bicycle frame at the beginning of this season. For many years, the riders helped each other to achieve higher speeds on the descents.
“It’s funny that they banned it for safety reasons, while at the same time we have a finish on the Tour as in the third stage,” said a German veteran from Cofidis.
Julien Bernard from the Trek-Segafredo formation dug into that account again into the rule on the permitted height of socks, which must not reach cyclists higher than half the distance between the ankle and the knee. So that they are not too aerodynamic on the bike.
“I watched the replay of today’s finish and really everyone had socks at the right height. So everything is fine,” said the 29-year-old Frenchman ironically.
On Tuesday, cyclists ride a 152-kilometer-long flat stage without a single mountaineering bonus. They started it with a protest against the organizers, who, according to them, do not take sufficient account of the safety of the riders when planning the route of the race. The first time trial awaits the peloton on Wednesday.
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