Tour de France Tour de France 2021, Stage 3: Lorient - Pontivy, 183.9 km

[Rackham]

Yes i know. That is why it is called not 'theory' but hypothesis/opinion. Yet u thought it was worth replying

Of course I replied, because you can't just throw out a "uh I think the preparation was wrong because he crashed due to rustiness" & not expect a response; whether you're speculating, theorizing or talking to yourself in your sleep.

 

[Red Rick]

lol Roglic just got body checked off the road by Colbrelli, had nothing to do with rust

Video or gif?

 

[BlueRoads]

None of my real personal favourites went down (except for Ewan, and that was a rider's mistake); Alaphilippe and Carapaz were actually "winners" of the stage - but I found the stage design outragious, taking into account the size of the peloton and the positioning of the stage within the race.
Either you have a classic's stage with twisty roads - okay, but then you need some serious hills before the final or a big mountain stage before that. Or you have a full bunch sprint with many GC contenders still in it, then you need to design the final 30 km differently.
Yes, it's always rider's faults in the sense "if you had handled the situation perfectly you could have avoided it", but every route designer knows that not 180 people will handle every situation perfectly, so some minor mistakes or strong fights for positioning have to be taken into account.
Everyone who saw the final 15 km could see that something like this would happen before the race. Would be different if you could say "nobody could foresee this".
Reducing the peloton's size would also help and I would like it anyway.

 

[Tim Cahill]

1	MATHIEU VAN DER POEL	101	ALPECIN - FENIX	12h 58' 53''	-	B : 18''	-
2	JULIAN ALAPHILIPPE	51	DECEUNINCK - QUICK - STEP	12h 59' 01''	+ 00h 00' 08''	B : 10''	-
3	RICHARD CARAPAZ	22	INEOS GRENADIERS	12h 59' 24''	+ 00h 00' 31''	-	-
4	WOUT VAN AERT	12	JUMBO - VISMA	12h 59' 24''	+ 00h 00' 31''	-	-
5	WILCO KELDERMAN	73	BORA - HANSGROHE	12h 59' 31''	+ 00h 00' 38''	-	-
6	TADEJ POGACAR	1	UAE TEAM EMIRATES	12h 59' 32''	+ 00h 00' 39''	B : 11''	-
7	ENRIC MAS	65	MOVISTAR TEAM	12h 59' 33''	+ 00h 00' 40''	-	-
8	NAIRO QUINTANA	136	TEAM ARKEA - SAMSIC	12h 59' 33''	+ 00h 00' 40''	-	-
9	PIERRE LATOUR	201	TOTALENERGIES	12h 59' 38''	+ 00h 00' 45''	-	-
10	SERGIO ANDRES HIGUITA	114	EF EDUCATION - NIPPO	12h 59' 45''	+ 00h 00' 52''	-	-
11	BAUKE MOLLEMA	44	TREK - SEGAFREDO	12h 59' 45''	+ 00h 00' 52''	-	-
12	DAVID GAUDU	81	GROUPAMA - FDJ	12h 59' 45''	+ 00h 00' 52''	-	-
13	ALEXEY LUTSENKO	188	ASTANA - PREMIER TECH	12h 59' 45''	+ 00h 00' 52''	-	-
14	JHOAN ESTEBAN CHAVES	172	TEAM BIKEEXCHANGE	12h 59' 45''	+ 00h 00' 52''	-	-
15	RIGOBERTO URAN	111	EF EDUCATION - NIPPO	12h 59' 45''	+ 00h 00' 52''	-	-
16	VINCENZO NIBALI	41	TREK - SEGAFREDO	12h 59' 48''	+ 00h 00' 55''	-	-
17	JAKOB FUGLSANG	181	ASTANA - PREMIER TECH	12h 59' 48''	+ 00h 00' 55''	-	-
18	GERAINT THOMAS	21	INEOS GRENADIERS	13h 00' 00''	+ 00h 01' 07''	-	-
19	SONNY COLBRELLI	163	BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS	13h 00' 05''	+ 00h 01' 12''	-	-
20	PRIMOŽ ROGLIČ	11	JUMBO - VISMA	13h 00' 28''	+ 00h 01' 35''	B : 10''	-
21	LUCAS HAMILTON	174	TEAM BIKEEXCHANGE	13h 00' 35''	+ 00h 01' 42''	-	-
22	KASPER ASGREEN	52	DECEUNINCK - QUICK - STEP	13h 00' 36''	+ 00h 01' 43''	-	-
23	JONAS VINGEGAARD	18	JUMBO - VISMA	13h 00' 40''	+ 00h 01' 47''	-	-
24	PEIO BILBAO	162	BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS	13h 00' 40''	+ 00h 01' 47''	-	-
25	SERGIO LUIS HENAO	191	TEAM QHUBEKA NEXTHASH	13h 01' 14''	+ 00h 02' 21''	-	-
26	TOMS SKUJINS	46	TREK - SEGAFREDO	13h 01' 19''	+ 00h 02' 26''	-	-
27	EMANUEL BUCHMANN	72	BORA - HANSGROHE	13h 01' 26''	+ 00h 02' 33''	-	-
28	GUILLAUME MARTIN	91	COFIDIS	13h 01' 26''	+ 00h 02' 33''	-

 

[Aimar16]

Dont talk to me about Sagan ...the way he rides...saw him totally push Cees Bol and nearing caused him to crash so Bol practically sat up

The Secret Pro was right about Sagan

Most weirdo fall because they’re not good at cycling. They have the power to be successful in this sport but they look awkward on the bike. They have no talent other than power.

 

[IndianCyclist]

Bahrain can't get any luck this year with their GT captains.

Time for Bilbao and Poels to channel their inner Caruso.

wont work as it is 'Revenge of Padun' and 'Attack of the Mader'

 

[memyselfandI]

He's right here.

Since Saturday this 'race' has been about attrition, luck & survival. That's not what cycling is.

He's wrong. Supertuck is banned, too high socks are banned (well except kid magnifique Mathieu..) so goal achieved, all safe please keep moving. Next!

 

[CyclistAbi]

For me the stage 1 already crossed the line. Hope that teams do the right thing and go home.

 

[pablohidalgo7]

Video or gif?

https://twitter.com/x/status/1409534568944738307

View: https://twitter.com/cyclingtips/status/1409534568944738307

 

[Leinster]

it cannot be said enough what an absolute tool wiggins is.

"Nobody expected Tim Merlier to win."

Where have you been the past year, Brad?

 

[Broccolidwarf]

You need riders to have an exciting race though. Not going to be very fun when everyone is out or banged up so they can't perform at their best.

Sure, but nothing about this route was particularly unusual.

I mean, the road where Roglic crashed was like 3 cars wide, if that is suddenly "dangerous", we will have to restrict racing to motorways.

 

[solo80k]

Missed finishing kms, looks like another ambush and crashes left and right

 

[titan31]

People claiming it’s the riders fault sound like F1 organizers in the 60s who didn’t want to build barriers around the track despite several deaths during a season because it would eat into their revenue. Drivers should simply drive less fast if they can’t keep their car on the road was their argument…

ASO and the likes still act like it’s 1980. Because it’s in their benefit financially. Appalling that many on this forum agree with them…

The riders race to win. As hard as possible. That is literally their job. in that situation accidents will happen. But it’s the organizers and governing body’s responsibility to take every safety measure in their control to minimize the possibility for accidents and their consequences.

Ya, without wanting to get in a huge argument on this one (which probably means I will), there have been more deaths in the professional peloton in the last 10-15 years than in F1. Now some might say thats down to there being more cyclists or more race days or whatever but end of the day F1 has made serious strides in driver safety since Senna's death.

What has cycling done? We got mandatory helmets after Kivilev, and some bs changes like the aero tuck being banned but what else. We're still seeing dangerous finishes, dangerous descents and whilst the riders go overboard at times (Giro this year with Fedaia being perfectly safe), in general they are correct in looking for better safety protocols.

Cycling needs to learn from F1 here. Look at what Grosjean survived in F1 cos of the safety improvements. Cycling has done very little in comparison here tbh

 

[MrTea1976]

The downhill turn looked like the bad section. The other crashes looked a lot more like rider problems. They just all happened on the same day.

 

[Red Rick]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1409534568944738307

View: https://twitter.com/cyclingtips/status/1409534568944738307

Really gonna need an aerial shot on that.

 

[Broccolidwarf]

All I can say is that if G had gone down where Roglic did nobody would be talking about the route.

Not true at all, and I would find it very odd indeed, if people let their fandom of a particular rider inform how they feel about rider safety.

 

[titan31]

Sure, but nothing about this route was particularly unusual.

I mean, the road where Roglic crashed was like 3 cars wide, if that is suddenly "dangerous", we will have to restrict racing to motorways.

How small of a car do you drive? You'd barely get two down that road.

 

[spalco]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1409534568944738307

View: https://twitter.com/cyclingtips/status/1409534568944738307

Is this a "sorry" gesture, or (what it looks like to me) "look where you're going, idiot"?

Too bad there was no heli shot there; can't really blame Colbrelli without further info.

 

[simoni]

I get that the organisers want a spectacular start to the race but they are possibly going a bit too far. I wonder if we need to go back to a prologue to settle the GC down a bit and then a bit more thought to the safety of the route to try and reduce some of this (and that obviously isn't to say that the organisers are directly at fault for all crashes at all but, in general, the more stressed a person is the more likely they are to make a mistake).

Balance is extremely hard to find and stuff like the weather can make a big difference but I want to ultimately watch a race where most of the best riders have a chance to show their best and that is now far from a guarantee.

 

[Rackham]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1409534568944738307

View: https://twitter.com/cyclingtips/status/1409534568944738307

That looks pretty disgraceful.

 

[MrTea1976]

Kwiatkowski wanted a prologue. Maybe he was correct.

 

[topt]

Dont agree with Eisel that roads are the problem or that organizer should plan it better.

I don’t want riders on motorways…

If anything is it necessary for all the GC guys to be up there with all the sprinters?

Teams and riders need to rethink how they race these finals. They are causing a lot of stress and intense racing that then causes the crashes. There are too many riders up there.

you dont because you are not riding

 

[saganftw]

roglic crash looked like he tried to overtake colbrelli who then bumped him out, hence the gesture

 

[King Of The Wolds]

The downhill turn looked like the bad section. The other crashes looked a lot more like rider problems. They just all happened on the same day.

With 4km to go, madness. I winced when I saw that when the group hit that corner. You didn't need to then get the overhead shot of bodies all over - you knew it was going to happen anyway. Hugely negligent of the ASO.

 

[Broccolidwarf]

For me the stage 1 already crossed the line. Hope that teams do the right thing and go home.

I gotta ask.

Why are you still watching, if you feel that way?