E. V. Squire Updated: Save Send news by mail electrónicoTu name *
Your email *
email *
The avenue Korfantego flows into it on its last stretch in a straight line very long, more than a kilometre with a slight negative slope. is The place is one of the main boulevards of Katowice and the scenario chosen typically to the final stage of the tour of Poland that ends up in the city . It is not the first time that this arrival forces the peloton to raise the voice, as its height increases speed of sprint as in a few places, making the last meters in a site conducive to falls. Accident at that speed will increase the risk of serious injury.
The Monday, the fears are turned into reality at that point in the Polish city when, in their eagerness to win, the Dutch Groenewegen cornered his rival Fabio Jakobsen to make an impact with the barriers of protection. The blow, brutal, made her jump through the air to the middle squad, who yesterday was put on a war footing to demand more security measures to the organizers of the races.
“Every year we suffer the same stupid sprints downhill at the tour of Poland. is Each year I wonder why the organizers think that it is a good idea . The esprints mass are already dangerous by itself, no need to raise the speed above the 80 km/h to make them more spectacular,” reflected Simon Geschke , bicyclist, German, winner of a stage in the Tour de France.
As he, other colleagues in the squad demanded a change in the design of some tests and, also, in the security measures that the organizers have in those final meters as critical. “We only miss the hands to the head when things like that happen. An arrival in the sprint on a circuit of shit and more than 80 km/h is crazy! is sometimes I get the feeling that we are mere cattle that takes us out to the road to give a spectacle and a point , ” said the spaniard Jose Joaquin Rojas, of the Movistar team.
In that same sense, the Italian Fabio Sabatini, of team Cofidis, described as “suicidal” an arrival as designed by the tour of Poland , and the spaniard Fran Ventoso went beyond asking for explanations to the union of brokers. is “If that happens it is because the CPA permits” , said the cyclist of CCC’s Pro Team.
In a season where the efforts have been focused on the protocols anticoronavirus, the accident Jakobsen has come to uncover the security holes that still survive in the majority of racing cyclists. is “they Need to start listening to the riders” , cried out yesterday at “Cyclingnews” Robbie McEwen, esprinter retired who knows well what it is to be played in those final meters. Maybe that’s why, from which he fell of the bike has struggled without success to UCI introduce new barriers less harmful to the cyclists. you Can drop Jakobsen then reflect for a time to the responsible of the bunch.
“No matter the place or the level of the race, the UCI should implement the need to have barriers that are safe in the arrivals in the sprint”, he argued McEwen , which is linked as well to the shout unanimous of the peloton after the fall of Arpaia, which has shown a chronic problem.
See the comments
