Rider Safety - The Solutions?

[Andy99]

Having covered the Tour de France for 20+ years and driven many, many miles in the race I can tell you that what happened today with the TV car knocking down the riders is not normal. Thank heavens.

There is a very strict order for cars in the peloton based on the color of your credential. The only cars allowed that close to the peloton are race officials, team cars,and service.

Unfortuately, Antenne 2/3 because they are the official TV broadcaster of the Tour have a bit of leeway where they can be, but the Antenne 2/3 car which knocked down the riders today should not have been there.

My guess is that that particular car was actually in front of the race, but pulled over for some reason. Because the gap between the breakway and the peloton was so big, the car was able to get back on course in the wrong postition.

Every auto credential has a number and where you are and where you are supposed to be during the race is closely monitored by race officials and the gendarmes. If you are in the wrong place, you will be ordered to pull over and wait until it is appropriate for you to be back on course.

I think the rules are OK. This was just the case of a car driver being in the wrong place and somehow being allowed back on course.

Totally agree.

I have driven team cars in Pro Races (not the tdf, I must add!) and the convoy of vehicles is as you say closely monitored - often infact having it's own comissaire, and even sometimes police presence.

Press cars are generally not allowed into the race bubble - indeed a specific route is detailed to enable press vehicles to get from the start to the finish without needing to pass through the race.

Press/VIP cars can travel along the race route though, well in advance of the race passing.

 

[Captain_Cavman]

Do people think that the lack of time gaps has had an impact? Someone (a rider) raised the point midweek that with 198 potential yellow jersey wearers, the peleton hasn't established a natural pecking order and settled down. A prologue and longer TTT would have decreased the jostling for position. Dunno. Thoughts?

 

[Race Radio]

As far as I know though, it didn't have that permission. There was a short interview shown on NOS (Dutch tv) with Prudhomme. During it he said the car had orders to fall back.

Just saw this...amazing. What an idiot.

 

[luckyboy]

Yeah that is pretty unbelievable.

 

[enrecul]

Can't help thinking that Armstrong had no major smashes in his tdf reign. Also during that time we never saw the carnage we saw today
someone mentioned earlier that the peloton has no leader.
Would LA's luck have anyhting to do with the fact that he totally controlled the peloton and that anyone riding like a tool was dealt with?
Or that any race officials driving like tools were dealt with?
Or any race organisers being tools were dealt with?

 

[Damiano Machiavelli]

Can't help thinking that Armstrong had no major smashes in his tdf reign. Also during that time we never saw the carnage we saw today
someone mentioned earlier that the peloton has no leader.
Would LA's luck have anyhting to do with the fact that he totally controlled the peloton and that anyone riding like a tool was dealt with?
Or that any race officials driving like tools were dealt with?
Or any race organisers being tools were dealt with?

Armstrong would be too busy punishing people for talking about clean cycling or testifying against doctors to spend any time on unsafe riders.

The fans have pointed out riders with sketchy skills. Not to bag on Soler while he is recovering, but was anyone really surprised when he crashed in Switzerland? In the past when riders got into the sport, the older riders would make sure that he new guys learned how to handle their bikes. Lots of swearing and peer pressure was used. Nowdays we have ten year pros who look like they learned to ride last week.

The motor vehicle incidents are outside the riders control, but I still suspect that there is not enough group discipline. Too much half wheeling. Too many riders squeezing through non-existent holes. Too many people not paying attention.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Also, as time gaps get tighter (and more and more races are engineered towards final showdowns) more and more people feel the need to protect their aims, so you have a constant struggle to be at the front, the road isn't forcing the natural selection early. At most races that's fine, but the average speed at the Tour is too high for this.

 

[Eric8-A]

How about making helmets that not only protect the head, but the face as well?

 

[Dr. Maserati]

Can't help thinking that Armstrong had no major smashes in his tdf reign. Also during that time we never saw the carnage we saw today
someone mentioned earlier that the peloton has no leader.
Would LA's luck have anyhting to do with the fact that he totally controlled the peloton and that anyone riding like a tool was dealt with?
Or that any race officials driving like tools were dealt with?
Or any race organisers being tools were dealt with?

Ah, Passage du Gois.

Do people think that the lack of time gaps has had an impact? Someone (a rider) raised the point midweek that with 198 potential yellow jersey wearers, the peleton hasn't established a natural pecking order and settled down. A prologue and longer TTT would have decreased the jostling for position. Dunno. Thoughts?

Not really.
The GC had already settled down before the bigger incidents this week.
Todays crashes were not connected, even to each other. One was a damp corner on a decent - and the other was the stupidity of a vehicle in the cavalcade.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Cut all the French B teams that have no business riding the TDF out of this race.

 

[ProfTournesol]

This is a related safety issue, I also wonder about the rider's bone density. Cycling is a non-weight bearing sport anyway and we know that older cyclists are at risk of osteoporosis. Add to that the incredibly low weight and low body fat that these guys have, and I wonder if they may be osteopenic (reduced bone density) even if not formally osteoporotic. There seems to be an awful lot of broken bones from what may have otherwise been more innocuous accidents.

 

[thehog]

Can't help thinking that Armstrong had no major smashes in his tdf reign. Also during that time we never saw the carnage we saw today
someone mentioned earlier that the peloton has no leader.
Would LA's luck have anyhting to do with the fact that he totally controlled the peloton and that anyone riding like a tool was dealt with?
Or that any race officials driving like tools were dealt with?
Or any race organisers being tools were dealt with?

He did have the luxury of having the "super team" being able to sit on the front of the peloton day after day & control the speed. That doesn't happen any more so you get varying speeds and changes teams at the front. This cause crashes a lot more frequently.

 

[Big GMaC]

Cut all the French B teams that have no business riding the TDF out of this race.

Like Europcar of the MJ wearer?

 

[kuoirad]

How about making helmets that not only protect the head, but the face as well?

I suspect there would be ventilation issues.

 

[hfer07]

Are we? I think there has been an increasing number of incidents (crashes) over the years but the helmets appear to be doing a great job. Imagine if Horner or Boonen had not been wearing a helmet?

nobody is questioning the use of helmets but rather their real effectiveness in serious crashes- It's because of the current ones we've witnessed during the races lately, indicate to me that organizers & specially the UCI should raise serious questions to the manufactures & recommend much more higher impact resistance helmets for the Pros -instead of those scary "lightweight" helmets that quite honestly don't help at all....

 

[screaming fist]

Interesting and for me surprising read:
http://cyclocosm.com/2011/07/has-the-2011-tour-de-france-really-been-more-dangerous/

 

[Dr. Maserati]

nobody is questioning the use of helmets but rather their real effectiveness in serious crashes- It's because of the current ones we've witnessed during the races lately, indicate to me that organizers & specially the UCI should raise serious questions to the manufactures & recommend much more higher impact resistance helmets for the Pros -instead of those scary "lightweight" helmets that quite honestly don't help at all....

I would argue that both Horner's and Boonen's crashes show the effectiveness of these helmets. They escaped with quite light injuries thankfully.

Cycling helmets are designed to absorb the energy from an impact, which lessen how much the brain moves within the skull - it does that job well.
There was a suggestion of 'full face' helmets earlier - which could block out sound, an essential sense in a large bunch.

 

[Pantani_lives]

The French television has apologized:
http://tour-de-france.sport.francetv.fr/cyclisme/88506-france-télévisions

 

[Anonymous]

Interesting and for me surprising read:
http://cyclocosm.com/2011/07/has-the-2011-tour-de-france-really-been-more-dangerous/

not really.

its already been pulled to peices, the article is glaringly innacurate. the withdrawal rate in 1998 and 2007 was high due to doping withdrawals (festina and astana) and the withdrawal rate in 2003 was high because the race went to the alps in the first week and 15 riders failed to finish in the two alpine stages (including alpe dhuez)

all that article proves is withdrawals for pure crashes are higher this year than at any previous tour.

 

[For The World]

not really.

its already been pulled to peices, the article is glaringly innacurate. the withdrawal rate in 1998 and 2007 was high due to doping withdrawals (festina and astana) and the withdrawal rate in 2003 was high because the race went to the alps in the first week and 15 riders failed to finish in the two alpine stages (including alpe dhuez)

all that article proves is withdrawals for pure crashes are higher this year than at any previous tour.

Please see the number of withdrawals caused by crashes for the 1997 Tour, all by stage 8:

Alex Zulle
Fabiano Fontanelli
Tony Rominger
Gilles Talmant
Arsenio Gonzalez
Vicente Garcia
Evgeni Berzin
Ivan Gotti
Mario Cipollini
Leon Van Bon

 

[ManInFull]

First proposal for the ASO.


Helmets need to be seriously looked at. We seem to be seeing an increase in head and facial injuries. Whats changed in helmet design?

When you fall on your face, like Horner did, your helmet isn't going to do much for you.

 

[Dr. Maserati]

not really.

its already been pulled to peices, the article is glaringly innacurate. the withdrawal rate in 1998 and 2007 was high due to doping withdrawals (festina and astana) and the withdrawal rate in 2003 was high because the race went to the alps in the first week and 15 riders failed to finish in the two alpine stages (including alpe dhuez)

all that article proves is withdrawals for pure crashes are higher this year than at any previous tour.

Hey Dim, you know how Team Sky have this new 'green awareness' thing - shouldn't Brailsford applaud the driver for taking down Flecha instead of hitting a tree?

 

[screaming fist]

not really.

its already been pulled to peices, the article is glaringly innacurate. the withdrawal rate in 1998 and 2007 was high due to doping withdrawals (festina and astana) and the withdrawal rate in 2003 was high because the race went to the alps in the first week and 15 riders failed to finish in the two alpine stages (including alpe dhuez)

all that article proves is withdrawals for pure crashes are higher this year than at any previous tour.

thanks for making that clear.

 

[Eric8-A]

Also looking at it, are the bones from cyclists really brittle? Is that why they break so easily?

 

[ManInFull]

Also looking at it, are the bones from cyclists really brittle? Is that why they break so easily?

There have been studies that show that elite cyclists, largely because they do not do any weight-bearing exercises, sometimes suffer from low bone density.