imago images/Panoramic International
Out of control: Caleb Ewan, the fastest sprinter in the world, broke his collarbone when he fell on the home straight of the third Tour de France stage Lorient-Pontivy
Is the Tour de France on TV for children or not? This question actually came to the fore in the first week of the tour and even supplanted the debates about Corona.
Christoph Roodhooft, sporting director of the Alpecin-Fenix team, is of the opinion that kids should watch the tour. After all, a kid who grew up with the Tour de France because both his grandfather and father drove there determined the first few days. Mathieu van der Poel – son of Liège – Bastogne – Liège winner Adrie van der Poel and grandson of Raymond Poulidor, the cycling legend par excellence – won the yellow jersey on Sunday (stage 2) with a formidable double sprint on the super-steep Mur-de-Bretagne . He suppressed a few tears afterwards. Because he had succeeded in what his grandfather, the legendary “eternal second” Poulidor, had never succeeded in doing. He wore the overall leader’s yellow jersey. Above the finish line, he stretched his arms in the sky as a greeting to his inspirer, who died two years ago.
Anxious seconds
The next day the Dutchman took part in the sprint preparation for his teammate Tim Merlier. And this newcomer to the tour also won promptly. “Fantastic. We knew that the first week would be very important for our racing team. But this exceeds all expectations, ”said Roodhooft jW.
Marc Madiot was less cheerful. The French ex-racing driver is the boss of the Groupama-FDJ racing team. He was horrified because of the many falls in the first few days. “It can’t go on like this. We have to change something, ”he demanded. “Lots of families, lots of children are now watching the Tour de France on television. But what they see will keep them from cycling, ”he alluded to the numerous falls with dire consequences. The tour favorites Primoz Roglic and Geraint Thomas as well as the currently fastest sprinter Caleb Ewan were involved. Ewan had to leave the race with a broken collarbone, Roglic and Thomas continued the race after a visit in the X-ray car. The Australian Jack Haig, who did not move for a few anxious seconds after falling, made for gasping breath.
It was images like this that drove Madiot to his warning speech. “If we continue like this, there will be deaths. I don’t want to have to call a family and tell them about the death of a loved one, ”he said.
Like dominoes
The causes of falls on these first days of the tour were diverse. On the first stage, a spectator held a cardboard sign in the peloton so that the riders fell like dominoes on the side of the road. A second mass fall on the first day was triggered by a crowd in the peloton. “Everyone wants to be ahead, classification drivers and their helpers, the sprinters and their starters. The space will be tight, ”said the German sprinter Max Walscheid jW. He suggested that on the sprint stages the short time intervals that can arise over the last ten kilometers should no longer be counted. “Then the classification drivers and their helpers would no longer have to drive into the front and could leave the place to us sprinters,” he argued. If this rule were already in force, some of the heavy falls of the third stage would probably not have occurred.
But there was also criticism of the course, the narrow streets in the final. On Wednesday at least the professionals can breathe a sigh of relief. There is an individual time trial, each driver goes out on the track alone. Only driving errors can then trigger a fall. The time trial will also shape the overall standings more strongly.
