by Marco Bonarrigo
The accident before the paved section. Milan also retired: he and Viviani are Italy’s best hopes for the Olympics. The other cyclists involved left with visible abrasions
The Paris-Roubaix can hurt even very far from the pav, which begins almost 100 kilometers after the start of the ville royale of Compigne. On Sunday, following a trivial mass fall which occurred on a very wide stretch of road only 40 minutes after the start, the race of two Italian Olympic champions ended: Elia Viviani and Jonathan Milan, who was among the outsiders of the race. The Veronese (gold in the points race at Rio 2016) was taken to hospital by ambulance for checks, the Friulian (gold with the Pursuit quartet at Tokyo 2020) returned to base in the flagship. Among the twenty who ended up on the ground there were also Bettiol, Merlier and Politt. The results of the x-ray tests are awaited for Viviani.
After the accident at the Tour of the Basque Country involving Vingegaard, there has been much discussion in recent days about the safety alert in cycling and the measures to safeguard the health of the riders. Precisely at this year’s Paris-Roubaix it was decided to place a chicane just before the pav section of the Arenberg forest. But the chicane to slow down the runners – in addition to desecrating, according to some, one of the epic places of the race – in turn creates another danger generated by a hairpin bend which could lead to contacts and falls, so some runners, including the favorite Van der Poel , they cried scandal.
The Roubaix is a very demanding race, so much so that the riders tackle it with special bicycles (HERE the technical secrets). But the risk of ending up on the ground is always around the corner.
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April 7, 2024 (modified April 7, 2024 | 1.36pm)
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2024-04-07 11:14:07
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