Pro road racing is a nearly year-round sport these days. That means there’s always a steady stream of racing, crashing, team news and more to keep everyone entertained. But some weeks stand out. While some level of crash happens every other day in the pro peloton, rarely do three of the sports biggest stars all get caught u pin, and injured in the same crash. Let alone twice in the span of a week.
The last eight days had not only the biggest crashes, taking out Wout van Aert and Jonas Vingegaard out of Visma Lease-A-Bike’s roster, but significant moves in riders pushing back to improve safety at races and actually getting listened to.
A week of high-profile crashes
The action started last week at Dwars door Vlaanderen, the final lead-up to Tour of Flanders. Wout Van Aert was caught up in a crash as the peloton dealt with cross-winds and mid-race accelerations. Jasper Stuyven and Biniam Girmay were also stopped in the high-speed tumble. Van Aert suffered a broken collarbone and several broken ribs, ending his Classics campaign before it really started and putting a question mark on his Grand Tour ambitions.
Then, A week and a day later at Itzulia Basque Country, another crash involved a dozen riders including Jonas Vingegaard, Remco Evenepoel and Primoz Roglic. All three were injured to some extent, with Vigegaard and Evenepoel both breaking collarbones as well. The next day, Soudal Quick-Step suffered another blow at Itzulia when Mikel Landa crashed out and also broke his collarbone.
Separately, Bora-Hansgrohe’s Lennard Kämma was involved in a serious training crash in Tenerife, being struck by a car the crossed into his path during a team training ride. Kämma remains in hospital in stable but serious condition.
All of that before Paris-Roubaix even starts rolling towards its infamous cobblestones.
Rider’s union making inroads to safety, even if it involves a few U-turns
It’s not all doom and gloom this week. There are positive signs that riders are having some success pushing organizers to make racing safer. The ASO, one of cycling’s most powerful organizations, heeded riders requests to slow racing down as this weekend’s Paris-Roubaix approached the infamous Arenburg Forrest cobble section. The organizer did also publicly insult riders and the somewhat-bizzare resulting fix has divided the peloton. But ASO has also said they’re already looking at a better solution for the future.
Adam Hansen…
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