too many crashes?

[levitator]

I don't know much about the sport but I've been following some of the day's highlights on TV.  Which come complete with the usual crop of 'chutes' - including a big one near the finish today and a rider going down in the final sprint.

I know racing is aggressive, but is there anything that could be done to reduce these 'incidents'?  I sincerely hope they're not happening to boost viewing figures!  It's a relief that the injuries are not generally life or even career-threatening.  God forbid we should ever have another Casartelli - or Weylandt.

[Dibdib]

I sincerely hope they're not happening to boost viewing figures!

Yes. They're deliberately making riders crash just for TV. 

I didn't see in enough detail what happened to Van Garderen a few kms out, but Talansky crashed because he wasn't looking where he was going. Not sure what the organisers can be expected to do about that.

[De Sisti]

I didn't see in enough detail what happened to Van Garderen a few kms out,,,

A Movistar rider rode into the back wheel of Van Garderen.


High speed racing; F1, rallying, horse racing have their crashes too. It's an unfortunate part of the sport.
Enforcing a speed limit  , say, 20 mph would reduce the crashes. What does the OP think to that?

[ferret]

although interesting to watch I did think the cobbled sections yesterday were a bit unnecessary after all the race is hard enough as it is without adding "fun" sections, as far as calming/slowing the race down that would make it about as interesting as f1 racing driving   

[woollypigs]

I don't know the answer. But it comes in waves some years worse than others. The last years that Armstrong was in it, he and others crashed many times. I think he managed to crash 5 times on one stage.

[giropaul]

I think that there are several factors. However, the main one in my view is the lack of a real "patron" in the peloton - in the mould of Hinault or Merckx, who would settle things down when the roads were dodgy. Now every rider has to take their chance to be seen and to get an advantage. There is an over-supply of good, would -be, pros - and a year without results can equal an end to a career.

[levitator]

Yes. They're deliberately making riders crash just for TV. 

I was being sarcastic!  But we all know about the 'ghoul' factior the rubberbnecking.

[TheLurker]

Of course it is possible that there have always been lots of crashes in the first week, it's just that prior to near continuous televison coverage they weren't reported quite so avidly.

BTW today's Telegraph (on-line) has a moderately interesting article about the organisation of TV. coverage for the Tour.

[levitator]

speed limit  , say, 20 mph would reduce the crashes. What does the OP think to that?

HO ho! Not a lot!!!

The best I can think of is, keep spectators away from the VERY sharp corners in cities and take away the barriers, I watched the big crash in Nancy yesterday and am only guessing here, the riders, already under stress going round these corners in a very tight peloton, being brought under additional stress of having to avoid hitting barrier with spectators.  Of course that's exactly where spectators will WANT to stand.

I know, I'd be stressed, going round one of those bends on my own, at only one third the speed.

Crashes on cobble and bad surfaces, and in the rain: well I suppose more training in these conditions.  The tyres used have probably already been well researched.

[marcusjb]

Of course it is possible that there have always been lots of crashes in the first week, it's just that prior to near continuous televison coverage they weren't reported quite so avidly.

I think that is it. We never used to have so much live coverage of entire stages on TV.  It is like 24 hour rolling news makes mountains out of molehills and will focus on relatively trivial things to fill the airtime.

It is clearly not great when riders have to abandon due to crashes, but Henri Desgranges himself always said the ideal Tour where only one rider finished.

It is part of racing, always has been, always will be. Even the most skilled bike riders will be caught out occasionally, but keeping out of trouble is an important part of being a complete rider.

The pave was a fascinating piece of tour stage design and led to some amazing racing. Those who benefited were those who had trained extensively on them through the spring. Beyond being a very competent bike handler, I believe nibbers spent considerable time training on the cobbles in March April.

Sharp corners are always going to be present towards the end of stages in towns/cities. Not much that can be done about that.  Navigating them is again a skill.  Sure the speeds in the run into the end are very high these days, but the riders know what is coming, and again, many of them will have trained on the run in during the preceding months.

[mattc]

Desgranges said a few 'king stupid things.

But yeah, on public roads, and especially town centre finishes, riders will crash - either cos they are desperate to gain positions, or lack of recceing, or both.

We need more city-centre velodromes :-P

[marcusjb]

Desgranges said a few 'king stupid things.

Oh I will accept that (his views on derailleurs were particularly interesting!) and yes, weeding out everyone over the 3 weeks is a bit extreme, but some won't make it for a whole variety of reasons, crashing being just one.

[Karla]

I think we've had more rain than usual this week.

[ferret]

Mr Bunbury has a point, the first few days in France were more like a Welsh summer,
still it's not the first time the race would have encountered adverse weather conditions, no snow this year (yet)

[T42]

First week of TdF is usually peppered with chutes. Slightly unusual to see figures such as Cav & Froome go west, but otherwise not all that remarkable. Things usually settle down after the first weekend.