We have stopped counting them: the falls on the Tour de France are far too numerous.
Since the start from Brest, dozens of runners have already taken to the ground.
Some did not get up and gave up.
Even the favorites are not spared: Tadej Pogacar and Primoz Roglic lost time because of them.
They are part of the game, but this year, perhaps more than in previous editions, they are disrupting the order of the Big Loop.
"Cycling is a dangerous sport," insists the yellow jersey Mathieu van der Poel.
But these accidents raise questions.
Why such a large number of falls?
The unconsciousness of some spectators like Saturday June 26 is not the only reason. Usually, the first or second stage is a sprint. From the start, the sprinters have been gnawing at their brakes and are like hungry beasts ready to take all the risks. “These first steps are really stressful. I hope it will calm down, ”wishes Pogacar, the outgoing winner. Impatience, added to the increasingly impressive speed of the peloton and its nervousness in the first week, explain part of the bowls.
The road improvements do not help either: “The infrastructures are not made for a cycling race, regrets Cédric Vasseur, the general manager of Cofidis.
There are speed bumps, roundabouts.
"Michael Schär, Swiss AG2R Citroën adds:" Roundabouts, pylons: cities change every year.
It is not the Tour's fault ”.
The runners who rush headlong at more than 80 km / h in the final are not exempt from all reproach either.
Is the course too hard?
In Pontivy (Morbihan), none of them wanted to smile.
“The course was dangerous for a third stage,” regrets Guillaume Martin.
Jaws tightened by pain or anger, they branded a course too winding for a first explanation in the sprint.
“The roads are too narrow,” complains Pogacar.
Many were pointing the last turn 150m from the line Caleb Ewan fell into.
To read also Tour de France 2021: "We are going to have deaths", emotion in the peloton after an end of the third stage marked by falls
So poorly conceived the end?
Thierry Gouvenou, the technical director, refutes it.
“It was a curve, not a turn, he defends himself.
The first took it without worry.
The fall is impressive, but it is Ewan who brings down Sagan.
In the first week, there is no ideal route.
Once in two, it goes to the heap.
We would have had a straight line of 10 km, we would perhaps have had the same results.
It is the classic nervousness of a start to the Tour.
“Between fatalism and anger, the peloton hesitates.
Following his fall on the finish of the 3rd stage of # Tourdefrance2021, Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal) was forced to quit the race due to a fractured right clavicle.
❌ # TDF2021 # TDF21 #TDF #Tourdefrance #lesrp pic.twitter.com/1vQs9SLwM0
- The Kings of the Peloton (@LRoisDuPeloton) June 28, 2021
Are there any solutions?
However, it is not because a peloton is nervous that it is necessary to count abandonments and injuries without taking action.
There are tracks.
Remove the headset?
She pulls the pack together when there is danger, but she has the merit of warning everyone when it is imminent.
Slimming down the peloton which left Brest with 184 riders and 23 teams?
Everyone thinks it's too much: “Why not go down to seven riders per team,” some ask.
Yes, but nobody wants to give up their place.
Tom Steels, the sporting director of Deceuninck-Quick Step, suggests “stopping the clock 8 km before the finish in order to reduce the nervousness of those who fear falls and let the sprinters express themselves without risk”. On Monday, this request was refused by the organizers. As it had been a year earlier, in the Nice rain, before a collective fall sent Thibaut Pinot and his dreams of victory to the ground. The falls have decidedly too much influence on the Tour.