PARIS: The president of French professional cyclists’ union (UNCP) on Thursday called on the UCI, the world governing body, to take “responsibility” for making the sport a safer place.

Pascal Chanteur said he was “angry” about the recent spate of high-speed crashes which have seen three of the world’s top riders land in hospital in the last week.

“Do we have to wait for the umpteenth death? For a rider to have both legs cut off and lose his life, so that people become aware? If that’s the idea, we’re not far off,” Chanteur told AFP.

After Wout van Aert broke his collarbone and several ribs in a high-speed mass fall during last week’s Around Flanders one-day race, there was further carnage on the Tour of the Basque Country on Thursday.

Two-time Tour de France champion Jonas Vingegaard was taken to hospital after suffering broken bones and lung damage during a crash which also took out Remco Evenepoel, who also suffered a broken collarbone.

With the race still reeling from the horrific mass crash, Mikel Landa broke his collarbone in Friday’s stage five, where Soudal Quick-Step riders Landa and Gil Gelders were forced out.

Spaniard Landa, who finished second in the race last year and in 2018, was pictured on a stretcher being put in an ambulance.

“I’m not saying that the UCI is responsible but they do have a responsibility to take the full measure of our recommendations to make progress on safety,” said Chanteur.

“For example, we’re perfectly capable of reducing speeds by changing tyres. Why can Formula 1 do it and we can’t? We’re the only sport that doesn’t know how to adapt, and we’re still killing people.”

Chanteur said the increased number of crashes was in part due to an increasing amount of “street furniture” but was caused principally by the “increasingly avant-garde” materials used in making the bikes.

“Carbon is light and very rigid, so there’s no room for error,” he said. “Wheels and tyres are nothing like those used in the past. Drama can happen at any moment. Disc brakes in racing are too dangerous. The same applies to the gear ratios used. Today, we use 56x10. They’re going 80 km/h downhill, even though they’re almost naked. When there’s a fall, you have no way of escaping.”

UCI president David Lappartient told AFP that the question of disc brakes was one that deserved discussion.

“It’s a subject we want to put back on the table,” he said. “There’s no such thing as a taboo subject. Equipment is obviously an issue. Bikes have made an extraordinary leap forward.”

Lappartient, however, also intimated the riders were themselves partly to blame for the crashes.

“Fifty percent of the falls are due to their attitude,” he said. “I’m not here to say it’s their fault. It could be a moment of inattention. But that’s also why we want to introduce a principle of yellow and red cards this year, like in soccer, so that dangerous attitudes are better punished.”

Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel, aiming to retain his Paris Roubaix title this weekend, also feels that riders are the main danger when it comes to race safety.

“I think the most dangerous part of cycling is the riders themselves,” Van der Poel told a press conference before Sunday’s race. “We take the risks and that’s the main problem, everyone wants to be at the front in the same place and it’s not possible. We can change a lot of things to make it better, but it’s never going to be completely secure.”

World champion Van der Poel won his third Tour of Flanders last Sunday, and this Sunday he is favourite to successfully defend his Paris Roubaix title.

Race organisers have implemented a chicane in an effort to slow the riders down as they head into the notorious cobbled Trouee d’Arenberg, one of the most dangerous sections of the Hell of the North.

Chanteur, meanwhile, said the peloton has been “angry” at the current situation since Fabio Jakobsen’s life-threatening accident at the 2020 Tour of Poland but the cyclists were powerless to speak out.

“It’s not easy for a rider to say what I say,” said the 56-year-old former journeyman professional cyclist. “They’re salaried employees and the main financial backers of cycling are still the cycle brands.

“I’m pointing the finger at these people [the cycle manufacturers]. It’s up to them to decide whether they want to continue having accidents on their conscience, or even deaths.”

Published in Dawn, April 6th, 2024