Enlarge image
Peter Sagan and Caleb Ewan crash in the final sprint of the third stage
Photo:
Christophe Ena / AP
The former professional cyclist and today's TV expert Jens Voigt has criticized the route after the many falls at the beginning of the Tour de France.
“You could definitely have avoided one or two falls if you had chosen the route differently,” said the 49-year-old in the “Eurosport” interview on the third stage: “Everyone wants to be in front, and that can't go well with 180 drivers.
That could have been solved more intelligently and harmoniously. "
Especially on the first real sprint stage, the drivers need to be given more space, says Voigt. There, the winding final on Monday in Pontivy and the previous descent led to a hectic peloton - with sometimes dramatic consequences. Among others, Primoz Roglic (Slovenia / Jumbo-Visma), who was second in the previous year, had a crash, which meant he lost a lot of time in the overall standings. The Australian top sprinter Caleb Ewan went down in the final sprint and suffered a broken collarbone. Previously, the British ex-winner Geraint Thomas had dislocated his shoulder.
»You should have looked at the route planning: First sprint stage, all sprinters still in full control - they need a lot of space.
The final should be made as boring as possible and straight ahead for a long time, "said Voigt:" You can blame the Tour de France as a medium. "Due to the many crash-related cancellations, the tour itself is also less attractive.
"The tour steals the show from itself," said the 17-time tour participant.
2300 dangerous points
Race director Thierry Gouvenou rejected the criticism.
"It is always easy to say that it is dangerous, but you have to recognize that it is becoming more and more difficult to find destinations," Gouvenou told the sports newspaper "L'Equipe".
“For this stage we had to cross Lorient, Lanester, Hennebont and Plouay from the list, which seemed too dangerous to us.
We no longer have a medium-sized city without a traffic island, roundabout or narrowing, ”says Gouvenou.
Ten years ago there were 1,100 dangerous points in the Tour de France.
"This year we're at 2300."
As the Cologne cyclist Nils Politt explained, the riders presented to the race management before the stage and asked for the three-kilometer rule to be applied eight kilometers before the finish.
This means that within this range all drivers are rated with the same time, even if they are stopped by a fall.
This was rejected by the jury.
“You can see the result.
It's just criminal.
It's a shame to see so many drivers lying on the ground, "Politt told ZDF.
sak / sid / dpa