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

[titan31]

I think it's fair to question the stage design and to consider overall changes to the approach of the first GT week. Maybe have always a Prologue and then 1-2 stages with super boring highway stages? Maybe introduce crazy regulations like last 20k on a flat stage everyone gets the same time? I don't know.

But overall, the blame is being too easily shifted on the UCI and ASO in my opinion. The way teams approach these stages nowadays is just as much to blame. Riders are waaaay too nervous and everyone is super aggressive, if you have 5 GC teams and 5 sprint teams wanting to be at the front you gonna get carnage either way, doesn't matter if the roads are wide or without turns. Every team wants the spotlight and the financial advantages of the Tour but if you're gonna have multiple stages rolling along flat highways no one is gonna watch and the value will drop.
Plenty of cycling fans have also quite some double standards. So many people want crazy cobble stages included in GTs, before the gravel stage in the Giro everyone was hoping for rain and everyone was yawning when they had the 170km flat in a line stage. But then after unexpected crashes everyone throws their toys out of pram.

Yes this final was quite twisted but I also didn't see something outrageously dangerous. No change of surface, no weird road furniture, no crazy round abouts. 2 crashes because riders clipped wheels/were too aggressive and one because of a curve that didn't look insanely sharp.
Too early at this point in the tour? Maybe - insanely dangerous? I wouldn't say so.

We all know what the riders will do. Year after year we see the riders rush to the front on stages like this. Now if we can see it, why can't the UCI and ASO, and if they have, why have they not done something about it to make things safer or dissuade riders/teams from doing it. By not doing anything, they encourage it.

 

[yoyo]

having analysed the video, Colbrelli could have well been next to Roglic, but he didn't move at all (sideways), while the way Roglic crashed, totally indicates an overlap of wheels.
Are you still saying Colbrelli bodychecked Roglic?

It was a bodycheck. Check the video again at the point where he went flying not after when Colbrelli goes infront.

 

[Broccolidwarf]

Outside of mandatory helmets, UCI have done nothing.

So you were not part of the whole supertuck debate - nor the "hands must be on handlebars" debate?

 

[spalco]

I am or he touched his back wheel, Roglic didnt fall on his own

In the only shot we have we don't see what Roglic is doing at all. He might have been trying to avoid riding over a hedgehog on the road or whatever for all we know.

We don't even know if the DS who supposedly blamed Colbrelli knows anything more than what we do.

We just don't have enough info to make a judgement here imo.

 

[Broccolidwarf]

If the UCI listened to the riders, they wouldn't have made helmets mandatory. In the 90s the riders literally stopped stages and got off their bikes to protest against new helmet rules.

I distinctly remember looking at Riis' "hairstyle", and thinking "why the hell would this guy be against the helmet rule?"

 

[IndianCyclist]

I think definitely the latter.

From this angle, you can't tell if Roglic is in front, behind, or beside Colbrelli when he hops up in the air.

It looks like Colbrelli is on the inside and Roglic on the outside, Did Roglic leave enough space for Colbrelli to maneuver?

 

[yoyo]

It was a bodycheck. Check the video again at the point where he went flying not after when Colbrelli goes infront.

To be fair. Its either that or a pedal clip. Not a touch of wheels.

 

[Breezy1985]

Is there no 5km time rule for the riders who lost time in the final crash ?

 

[titan31]

So you were not part of the whole supertuck debate - nor the "hands must be on handlebars" debate?

I should have that said anything sensible there. That change is just stupid as we all know. Im guessing they've also banned that Poland finish but anyone with two eyes could have seen how dangerous that was for years and they still did nothing.

 

[saganftw]

i can make a judgement that you dont fall off the bike like roglic did on your own, it looked 100% like somebody bumped him, whether it was colbrelli is to be seen or even if it was intentional is another story

 

[Devil's Elbow]

If falls on these roads are inevitable, how come nobody predicted them? Did anyone on this forum, or amontg those closely related to the race, complain in advance that this was a dangerous route?
I read of riders aware that being in a good position from about 14km out as being important, but that is about tactics, not safety, and the race to a pinch point is key to the sport.

Two posts from me, the OP and one post with 15k to go right before Lopez was the first to crash:

The descent into town is quite narrow, this is inside the final 4 kilometers:

Which genius at ASO decided these roads were ideal for the final 20 kilometres of a sprint stage?

From Cyclingmole's preview:

Then we have a fast descent, on a narrow road, which is likely to be wet. The road has lots of twists and turns, this isn’t going to be pretty.

As for the finish line, this was from LFR on Twitter this morning.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1409445825881821186

I'm sure there's a bunch of others too.

 

[RedheadDane]

I distinctly remember looking at Riis' "hairstyle", and thinking "why the hell would this guy be against the helmet rule?"

His hairstyle is/was far more aeroe than, say, Daniel Oss'.

 

[Volderke]

It was a bodycheck. Check the video again at the point where he went flying not after when Colbrelli goes infront.

In my eyes, it wasn't. Look at 0.25 speed.
Either he hooked handlebars / elbows, but it wasn't a bodycheck. Colbrelli moved to the right just before Roglic crashed.
And Roglic clearly crashed because he overlapped wheels and tried to keep balance.

if it was a bodycheck, Roglic would have crashed much harder without the movements he made to correct for overlapping wheels.
So at worst, he was squeezed because he was in a place without any wiggle room for his front wheel.

View: https://youtu.be/oTkw-L3TdZM

 

[Unterlenkerfahrend]

Roglic DS saying he is not good ...went to hospital with Stephen K

Pog thinks it s the roads too and the riders asked for neutralization before the race

https://twitter.com/x/status/1409544585294934016

View: https://twitter.com/cyclingtips/status/1409544585294934016?s=20

If falls on these roads are inevitable, how come nobody predicted them? Did anyone on this forum, or amontg those closely related to the race, complain in advance that this was a dangerous route?
I read of riders aware that being in a good position from about 14km out as being important, but that is about tactics, not safety, and the race to a pinch point is key to the sport.

Tbf, Pogacar is phrasing that quite vague as well "Some riders... Yes I heard that, but appartently...". Which brings us back to the questionable riders interests coordination and teams communication. If last years TdF winner cant give a clear statement of what riders communicated before the race - and like Armchair cyclists wrote - if teams knew about this finish weeks in advantage but word of an 8km suggestion (which btw. wouldn't have changed the Roglic crash situation) only comes out on the day itself they also need to ask themselves why they approach it like that.

We all know what the riders will do. Year after year we see the riders rush to the front on stages like this. Now if we can see it, why can't the UCI and ASO, and if they have, why have they not done something about it to make things safer or dissuade riders/teams from doing it. By not doing anything, they encourage it.

They have done things, they have introduced the 1km rule and then moved it even further back to 3km, they have put changes to barriers and have put more emphasis on road furniture and so on.
Like I said, of course they could finish on a highway 5 times in a row - but are teams ready to accept the financial hit that would take? There is definitely more to be done, I totally agree with that. But the picture that is being painted is a bit too black and white.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Ewan out with a broken collarbone.

So both of the top 2 sprinters of the recent period missing. In fact if you go back a little longer practically every one of the top fast men of the last few years are now missing - Ewan, Bennett, Groenewegen, Jakobsen, Viviani, Gaviria, Ackermann. Some of them because they’ve just lost form, but mostly injuries, illnesses or the Poland incident.

Merlier will never have a better opportunity to win an absolute bucketload of Tour stages. Demare finally has a Tour field to race against that isn‘t much deeper than the little French races he runs up his win count at... But both better watch out: an angry and brutal God seems determined to clear everyone out of the way for one last Cavendish triumph. I fully expect a cartoon piano or anvil to drop out of the sky to squish the pair of them, concertina style.

 

[Broccolidwarf]

I should have that said anything sensible there. That change is just stupid as we all know. Im guessing they've also banned that Poland finish but anyone with two eyes could have seen how dangerous that was for years and they still did nothing.

But dude, you can't both blame the UCI for doing nothing about safety, while hating on them for trying to do something about safety.

 

[Leinster]

Two posts from me, the OP and one post with 15k to go right before Lopez was the first to crash:

As for the finish line, this was from LFR on Twitter this morning.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1409445825881821186

I'm sure there's a bunch of others too.

Tbf about the finish, 1.2% is a barely perceptible gradient that most people standing on the street wouldn’t call anything but flat, never mind “downhill.” I think the bend in the road is a much bigger safety factor there.

I don’t think the piece of road from “inside the 4K” that you’re showing looks bad either. If anything, there’s a nice grass verge for Primoz to launch himself into.

 

[saganftw]

Ewan out with a broken collarbone.

So both of the top 2 sprinters of the recent period missing. In fact if you go back a little longer practically every one of the top fast men of the last few years are now missing - Ewan, Bennett, Groenewegen, Jakobsen, Viviani, Gaviria, Ackermann. Some of them because they’ve just lost form, but mostly injuries, illnesses or the Poland incident.

Merlier will never have a better opportunity to win an absolute bucketload of Tour stages. Demare finally has a Tour field to race against that isn‘t much deeper than the little French races he runs up his win count at... But both better watch out: an angry and brutal God seems determined to clear everyone out of the way for one last Cavendish triumph…

one of the great ironies of this tdf is so many crashes and none of them caused by cav

 

[Broccolidwarf]

Kragh put it best post-stage:

"Yes the road is dangerous, but it is us riders that make it dangerous, also because every DS is screaming at their riders on the radio to get to the front".

 

[titan31]

But dude, you can't both blame the UCI for doing nothing about safety, while hating on them for trying to do something about safety.

Tbf the aero tuck has very little to do with safety (at least for the pro peloton, it's more a don't try this at home like in WWE). More needs to be done imo.

This is the second GT of the year and both are ruined by crashes. I don't see why that should be acceptable.

 

[Rollthedice]

It looks like Colbrelli is on the inside and Roglic on the outside, Did Roglic leave enough space for Colbrelli to maneuver?

There's another rider behind Colbrelli and the Rog. That being said from what we saw there's no way to know what happened apart from Rog falling and Sonny being angry at something.

 

[Red Rick]

But dude, you can't both blame the UCI for doing nothing about safety, while hating on them for trying to do something about safety.

It's super easy when they do the absolute lowest hanging fruit wrong things about safety.

 

[Broccolidwarf]

Tbf the aero tuck has very little to do with safety (at least for the pro peloton, it's more a don't try this at home like in WWE). More needs to be done imo.

This is the second GT of the year and both are ruined by crashes. I don't see why that should be acceptable.

But crashes happen in every racing sport that allows physical contact.

When you pay human beings a lot of money, to race faster than their opponents, in an environment where any degree of contact is allowed, crashes are inevitable.

They have also always been part of cycling.

 

[CyclistAbi]

Sorry Tour but if it looks like poop and it smells like poop then it is poop. Not likely to happen but i do hope the riders won't show up on the start tomorrow. Lets just leave it at that. I don't find this race regular anymore and if Roglič or Pogačar or Carapaz ... win this race it doesn't make much difference to me anymore.

I'm out.

 

[Broccolidwarf]

It's super easy when they do the absolute lowest hanging fruit wrong things about safety.

No it isn't, if your core argument is they do "nothing"