“If we don’t change anything, there will be deaths.” Marc Madiot, a former racing driver and now team boss at the French racing team FDJ, found drastic words after the first days of the Tour de France were overshadowed by numerous serious falls. The UCI and the tour organizer ASO moved into the center of criticism. Upper Austria’s Michael Gogl is also annoyed on his fourth tour of France, although he has come through unscathed so far.
“Unfortunately, falls are always part of the agenda in the first week of the tour, it is hectic because there is so much at stake. But this year the route was sometimes really dangerous to the public,” says Wolfsegger.
On Monday it caught, among other things, the previous year’s second Primoz Roglic, 2018 winner Geraint Thomas and sprint star Caleb Ewan, for whom the tour ended in the hospital. “It’s a dangerous sport and the pressure on everyone is great,” said overall leader Mathieu van der Poel.
The drivers are often the last link in the chain. The calls for better safety precautions on the route have so far mostly gone unheard. “So much money is being collected here for the TV pictures, and then of course it has to be spectacular. But such a winding finale with narrow streets and a descent just before the finish as on Monday is simply not necessary,” says Gogl. “It is always easy to say that it is dangerous, but you have to recognize that it is becoming more and more difficult to find destinations,” said race director Thierry Gouvenou.
The peloton protested yesterday at the start of the fourth stage from Redon to Fougeres in their own way: the riders stopped for a minute shortly after the start. Then things went comparatively calmly. Runaway Brent van Moer was only set 200 meters from the finish, then the big hour for old master Mark Cavendish struck. He won his 31st stage in the sprint final and shed tears of joy afterwards.
First time trial is rising
Today, the overall classification should get a new face when from Change to Laval Espace Mayenne a relatively flat 27.2 kilometers have to be covered in individual time trial mode.
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
