How will the rest of the peloton react now?

[ingsve]

With all that has happened for the riders themselves things move on not only during the Giro but also for the months to come. One question I've been thinking about is how this accident might effect the other riders in the peloton in races.

Will we see fewer risks in the downhill and perhaps a bigger difference between riders that can still take chances in downhills and riders that might get a little more careful?

Will we see less risks in bunch sprints for a while? Or will riders get more nervous in those situations as well?

I especially wonder what this will do for Tyler Farrar. He has already had a rough history with crashes that in the past left him very apprehensive in the peloton which effected how he sprinted. I wonder if something like this might bring back some of his uneasyness so that it will negatively effect his future for some time to come.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

we won't notice anything in race. same thing happened in 1995. of course it changes those close around him like farrar

 

[just some guy]

Zero change they will ride the same these are professionals if they slow down or think to much rather than use their inbuilt bike "reflexes" they will be more crashes.

I can´t remember where I read this but they interviewed a race car driver after a huge accident and he said If I start to think out their I should not be racing anymore.

 

[RedheadDane]

I think each individual will react in his own way outside racing. But while racing they have to put it asside, even though it might seem harsh.

As Kasper Klostergaard who, (if I got the info correctly) was behind Wouter and therefore saw him, has been quoted as saying "If we think about it we might as well not start."

Sure, there might be riders (maybe especially the older ones, those who've already had a fulfilling career) who decides to quit but I'm pretty sure that the rest will continue riding.

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

I think each individual will react in his own way outside racing. But while racing they have to put it asside, even though it might seem harsh.

As Kasper Klostergaard who, (if I got the info correctly) was behind Wouter and therefore saw him, has been quoted as saying "If we think about it we might as well not start."

Sure, there might be riders (maybe especially the older ones, those who've already had a fulfilling career) who decides to quit but I'm pretty sure that the rest will continue riding.

Ya, I'm hoping they can do that. Especially given a little time. Even with Tyler Farrar, as Ingsve wondered. I think they'll rebound from this ok.

 

[RedheadDane]

From what I've heard/read everybody seemed to act rather frantically after the crash of Tom Slagter. Supposedly a reaction to what happened Monday.

 

[ak-zaaf]

When you get permanently scared, you can't be a pro anymore. A tragedy like this might cause some to stop or stop competing. The general behavior in the peloton will stay the same though.

 

[krebs303]

Zero change they will ride the same these are professionals if they slow down or think to much rather than use their inbuilt bike "reflexes" they will be more crashes.

I can´t remember where I read this but they interviewed a race car driver after a huge accident and he said If I start to think out their I should not be racing anymore.

Two quotes from Grand Prix I think sums it up for most racers.

Jean-Pierre Sarti: The danger? Well, of course. But you are missing a very important point. I think if any of us imagined - really imagined - what it would be like to go into a tree at 150 miles per hour we would probably never get into the cars at all, none of us. So it has always seemed to me that to do something very dangerous requires a certain absence of imagination.


Jean-Pierre Sarti: Before you leave I want to tell you something. Not about the others, but about myself. I used to go to pieces. I'd see an accident like that and be so weak inside that I wanted to quit - stop the car and walk away. I could hardly make myself go past it. But I'm older now. When I see something really horrible, I put my foot down. Hard! Because I know that everyone else is lifting his.
Louise Frederickson: What a terrible way to win.
Jean-Pierre Sarti: No, there is no terrible way to win. There is only winning.

 

[Christian]

I think some riders will ride more cautiously now. You can see it with riders who have had bad crashes for example: it took a while for Tom Boonen to lose his fear of battling it out at the front of the peloton again.

Others go right back to where they left off, as Voigt, Cavendish or Haussler for example

 

[Libertine Seguros]

When you get permanently scared, you can't be a pro anymore. A tragedy like this might cause some to stop or stop competing. The general behavior in the peloton will stay the same though.

I think people will be nervous and react with fear to any accident for a while. Once the tragedy isn't so fresh in our memories, then things will return to 'normal'.

A bit like all the chicanes and things created in a crusade against high speed corners at motor racing circuits after Ratzenberger's and Senna's deaths; many (such as at Montmélo or Montréal) were removed almost straight away, others have been reprofiled back out, and there are high speed corners again, just with more runoff.