Now that it seems like everyone has made it out of there alive, I would also like to point out that the situation is not comparable to Mäder's fatal accident at Suisse last year.
- At Suisse, it seems highly unlikely that the crash was caused by unnecessary risks given how far back Mäder/Sheffield were. Here, the peloton entered the curve at what I would say was an irresponsible pace.
- At Suisse, the road surface was in excellent condition. Here, it clearly wasn't. Error number one by the organisers of Itzulia that doesn't apply to Suisse.
- At Suisse, any rider could have seen that missing the curve would mean falling down the mountain, whereas the hazards in this curve were not visible at all for the riders. Obstacles invisible to the riders, but visible to the organiser should be given additional attention. Error number two by the organisers of Itzulia that doesn't apply to Suisse.
- At Suisse, the concrete structure that ended up killing Mäder was ~100 metres away from the road, and therefore almost impossible for the organisers to be conscious of. Here, the ditch and boulders were right next to the road. Error number three by the organisers of Itzulia that doesn't apply to Suisse.
- At Suisse, the descent in question had been used over and over in the exact same position relative to the finish line without major incident, whereas I can't find the last time (if there is any) they went through the upper part (where they crashed) of this descent.
For these reasons, nobody was to blame for Mäder's death, whereas (the severity of) this crash was probably preventable on multiple counts. Thank f*ck it seems the consequences of these errors are not quite so severe.
Now, was the descent inherently too much? No, but this curve needed more attention than it got for the risk levels to be adequate.