Reduce the Number of Cars and Motos!

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FilipeFD

Dec 30, 2015
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Tom Dumoulin's opinion in a sequence of tweets

I don't like to start a big discussion after such an accident, but I have a feeling not much is happening to prevent it in the future.

Imagine Formula 1 with 10 safety cars driving around the Formula 1 cars all the time and anyone with a driver license can apply for the job.

That's pretty much the situation in cycling right now...

Ok, that's the exaggerated, emotional version, but you get the point don't you? Let's try to be objective:

80% of all the motorbikes we need in the peloton to prevent accidents and the 20% we need for race footage (no footage>no money).

And most of the time I'm very happy that they are there. And most of them have a lot of experience and are very good in the bunch.

But some are not and some are even more aggressive and full of adrenaline than us riders.

We need to have motorbikes in the peloton that are the opposite of us riders: calm, patient and reasonable. Let us do the racing.

Motorcyclists: we need you for our safety. We don't need you to do your own little race before a corner, trying to overtake the bunch.

So the solution? Better rules when to overtake and when not to. More experience required. Some motorcyclists need a different mentality.
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DFA123

DFA123

Nov 7, 2010
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I think something may be happening with the motos - at least at WT level. I was stood on the climb to Risoul in the Giro a couple of days ago and it was quite surprising how detached most motos were from the riders - even though the race was really split up by that stage. About a minute before the lead group, about 30 motos went through in a bunch. All the riders had a lot of space, I don't remember seeing very many motos at all as they went past.

Compare that to last year, when I was stood on Plateau de Beille in the Tour, which was absurd. It was almost impossible to see Kwiatkowski when he went through as he was completely surrounded by motos. Same with the next few groups - any bunch with a GT contender or big name was surrounded by at least 3 or 4 motos in close proximity. i've noticed similar things in previous years - even in much more minor one day and stage races.

Obviously this isn't a great sample size, so not sure if this has been a concerted change of approach, or it is just by chance where I was standing. But, it was really noticeable how most of the motos seemed to have been separated from the riders this Giro; far more than previously - so hopefully it's a sign that the UCI is doing something to address the issue.
 
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veji11

Apr 15, 2013
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Re:

RedheadDane said:
Yeah... why not have more race vehicles connected to the race, but they wouldn't all be in the race at the same time?
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he is right, but it's a matter of having the money and equipment for that. Organisers and media have to admit that when you don't have the ideal number of bikes, coverage might suffer a wee bit, but it's better than a deadly accident.
 
J

jmdirt

Dec 6, 2013
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What TB is saying makes complete sense as far as motos passing through the platoon. This does not address many of the issue though. Also, the "relay hand-off" of motos will likely cause even more issues.
 
N

Night Rider

Jan 20, 2010
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Re:

ice&fire said:
Boonen disagrees with this thread title. Interestingly, his explanation makes sense.
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/boonen-argues-that-more-vehicles-would-make-peloton-safer/
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I know where he is coming from but he hasn't really thought the logistics of it through. His comments are in relation to course closing motos that constantly have to leapfrog the peloton and that if there were more of them they wouldn't have to pass as often. What that would lead to though is big groups of motos trying to get past not quite so often.

Still doesn't fix the elephant in the room either, the photographers who seem to be the biggest problem.
 
PremierAndrew

PremierAndrew

May 9, 2014
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Looks like the UCI have at least been learning to some extent.

As annoying as the lack of footage for Nibali and Henao's crash, as well as Thomas' crash, at least there wasn't a moto in front of them slowing them down/being a danger

(But there should have been a heli to catch the footage)
 
Arredondo

Arredondo

Aug 16, 2013
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It's absolutely horrible and disguisting what happened, but it's not evidence to reduce the number of cars and/or motos.

This was just an example of a motard who is totally unfit to serve as a motard. It was an individual mistake, not a consequence of a bigger problem imo.
 
J

jmdirt

Dec 6, 2013
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Re:

Arredondo said:
It's absolutely horrible and disguisting what happened, but it's not evidence to reduce the number of cars and/or motos.

This was just an example of a motard who is totally unfit to serve as a motard. It was an individual mistake, not a consequence of a bigger problem imo.
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If the numbers would have been reduced, he might not have even been in the race to cause the crash/injuries.
 
benzwire

benzwire

Jul 27, 2010
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Re:

Lequack said:
They're going to be using electric motorbikes at tour of California that starts today. Still not the solution but they're supposed to be much less bulky.

Source:
http://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/racing/tour-california-use-electric-motos-stage-six-time-trial-326221
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I was at the first 2 stages of the Women's Tour of California and the motorbikes seemed exactly the same. They look and sound the same, so I don't know if that will change with the men's race, but they certainly aren't any smaller. Most had 2 guys on them. Still going to be a major problem if they collide with a bicycle.
 
Lequack

Lequack

Jul 10, 2014
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Re: Re:

benzwire said:
Lequack said:
They're going to be using electric motorbikes at tour of California that starts today. Still not the solution but they're supposed to be much less bulky.

Source:
http://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/racing/tour-california-use-electric-motos-stage-six-time-trial-326221
Click to expand...
I was at the first 2 stages of the Women's Tour of California and the motorbikes seemed exactly the same. They look and sound the same, so I don't know if that will change with the men's race, but they certainly aren't any smaller. Most had 2 guys on them. Still going to be a major problem if they collide with a bicycle.
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Yeah apparently they will only use it for the TT stage, according to the article. So I guess in the women's race they were using the regular bikes.
 
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