We’ve seen some nasty accidents in races in the previous few seasons – essentially the most infamous was the one at Itzulia Basque Nation that introduced down Jonas Vingegaard, Primož Roglič, and Remco Evenepoel amongst others. The lengthy shadow it threw over the season means it was at the very least as consequential to the 12 months as, say, the collected efforts of Crew Ineos.
Michael Hutchinson
A number of nationwide champion on the bike and award-winning creator Michael Hutchinson writes for CW each week
The way you make the game safer is a vital query, with no straightforward solutions. On the latest race organisers’ convention, Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme drew on years of expertise to inform the room, “The races must decelerate. The riders are going too quick.”
He’s probably not mistaken, per se. However, “the riders are going too quick” is like standing by the roadside flapping your arms and shouting, “Cautious!” I do know that doesn’t work as a result of these have been the precise phrases I heard a number of years again instantly earlier than going headfirst over a wall right into a subject of sheep. Coming from somebody like Prudhomme, whose whole enterprise mannequin exists solely to incentivise bike riders to go as quick as potential, it’s extra like irony than evaluation.
However, to take it at face worth for a second, might we gradual all of it down? Limiting the scale of gears has been a proposal, which might cease riders pedalling on descents. Right here’s the issue, although. For those who’re belting down a ten% hill, pedalling at 300 watts in one thing like 58 x 11 and doing 85kph, you’re clearly at some danger. For those who needed to freewheel as an alternative, you’d nonetheless be doing 80kph. Besides that should you don’t need to pedal you may undertake a extra aero place and do most of 85kph anyway.
There have been different concepts. We might use the regs to unwind some know-how advances. If we mandated flapping jerseys, box-section wheels, helmets with vents large enough to suck in complete birds and frames made out of massive spherical tubes, it could set aerodynamics again 30 years and gradual racing at a stroke.
Right here the issue is worse than physics. It’s optics. Would anybody need to watch a race the place all of the riders have arrived recent from 1985? Do you need to see professionals racing bikes that aren’t nearly as good as these in your membership’s over-60s cafe experience?
We might strive a turbo-trainer fashion electromagnetic brake within the rear hub to only gradual all the pieces down, however then Tadej Pogačar would seemingly set hearth to his personal arse.
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What would possibly work? Truthfully, I’ve nothing useful to supply. It’s a sport that’s all about going quick and I’ve no thought the way you flip that spherical. The perfect I’ve provide you with is neutralising descents, however whereas nobody desires to look at a crash, everybody desires to look at Tom Pidcock slicing down an Alp. My over-60s WorldTour doesn’t work both, as a result of if something, outdated bike riders are even larger maniacs than younger ones and so they’re as topic to gravity as the following rider.
The reality is that safer racing most likely requires a number of issues. Cautious course design, perhaps utilizing extra multi-lap programs in order that riders have fewer surprises to cope with. Extra scrutiny of highway surfaces within the design course of. And whereas getting riders to decelerate could be very onerous, getting them to experience extra safely is perhaps simpler, however wants clever commissairing.
The one factor I do know is that telling riders they’re going too quick will solely encourage them to go quicker. They’re racing cyclists. They’re like that.
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