New UCI calendar

N0bodyOfTheGoat

As someone who doesn't watch many pro race sprints, two things spring to mind and have probably been dismissed many times before...

Low pressure inflated barriers in the sprint zone, with something like gel/foam on their base to give a bit of weight and help absorb rider impact.

Painted lanes across the width of the road from just before the sprint zone to the finish line, like they use at athletic tracks for the sprint events, you pick a lane and you must not cross the lane boundary.

ddraver

On a more positive note the Mont Ventoux Pro-Fondo...thing is looking rather nice today.

Not the most interest race but an assured performance by Aleksander Vlasov...

TheBigBean

N0bodyOfTheGoat said:

As someone who doesn't watch many pro race sprints, two things spring to mind and have probably been dismissed many times before...

Low pressure inflated barriers in the sprint zone, with something like gel/foam on their base to give a bit of weight and help absorb rider impact.

Painted lanes across the width of the road from just before the sprint zone to the finish line, like they use at athletic tracks for the sprint events, you pick a lane and you must not cross the lane boundary.

The barriers don't usually collapse, instead the rider bounces off it and falls the other way and takes out loads of other riders in the process, who all flip over and break their collar bones. Bouncy barriers would make it worse.

Picking a lane would change the whole thing - the entire point of a sprint is to come off the wheel of the rider in front who provides a slipstream. Accidents often happen when the rider does this and catches an unseen rider further behind, but that seems hard to avoid to me without changing the whole thing.

Pross

N0bodyOfTheGoat said:

As someone who doesn't watch many pro race sprints, two things spring to mind and have probably been dismissed many times before...

Low pressure inflated barriers in the sprint zone, with something like gel/foam on their base to give a bit of weight and help absorb rider impact.

Painted lanes across the width of the road from just before the sprint zone to the finish line, like they use at athletic tracks for the sprint events, you pick a lane and you must not cross the lane boundary.

You have to remember that in most cases these are public roads so any additional markings would need to be easily removed as soon as the race was finished before the road was reopened to traffic. Barriers are arguably more to protect the spectators than riders in most situations and to prevent the spectators pushing out into the road. In general they do the job without making things more dangerous for riders. Over the years they have been amended so that the toe doesn't stick out into the road and create a hazard for the cyclists.

It seems there are some countries that take a lax view with Health & Safety generally though and this reflects in their attitude to course safety. I'm not sure how it works with a UCI pro event but in the UK at least the commissaire is supposed to check a course and sign it off for safety (ensuring it complies with the course risk assessment submitted by the organiser) prior to the race being allowed to start. You would think that at the top level, with paid officials, this should be even more robust.

blazing_saddles

In an interview with Het Laatste Nieuws, Lefevere did not backtrack on his comments and instead reiterated his view, insisting that he will lodge a complaint to police in Poland.

On Wednesday night he underwent facial surgery with Lefevere saying that “all the bones in his face are broken. It’s really bad.”

https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/racing/patrick-lefevere-confirms-deceuninck-quick-step-will-report-dylan-groenewegen-to-polish-police-461768

rick_chasey

Given how everyone complains about flat stages anyway and the infrastructure required for them you can see why they want to just go for steep uphill finishes every time.

blazing_saddles

rick_chasey said:

Given how everyone complains about flat stages anyway and the infrastructure required for them you can see why they want to just go for steep uphill finishes every time.

It's rather ironic that next up we have the descent off the Poggio.
Imagine the hindsight induced kerfuffle over rider safety, should there be a serious accident there.

rick_chasey

Yup.

https://twitter.com/conordunnealot/status/1291320791083159552?s=20

Another take that I tend to agree with.

salsiccia1

delete

orraloon

Do the UCI really still check sock heights? I thought was all a bit of nonsense from years back when Lance A wound them up about how his socks made him faster? Or am I misremembering something from one of his TheMove podcasts?

blazing_saddles

PCA pointing the accusatory finger at the barriers and call for an investigation.

https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/cpa-calls-for-uci-investigation-into-tour-de-pologne-crash/

Pross

blazing_saddles said:

In an interview with Het Laatste Nieuws, Lefevere did not backtrack on his comments and instead reiterated his view, insisting that he will lodge a complaint to police in Poland.

On Wednesday night he underwent facial surgery with Lefevere saying that “all the bones in his face are broken. It’s really bad.”

https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/racing/patrick-lefevere-confirms-deceuninck-quick-step-will-report-dylan-groenewegen-to-polish-police-461768

Not quite sure what the crime would be. It was a terrible piece of riding but I'm not seeing a criminal offence (albeit with no knowledge of Polish law). If he wants to report anyone it should be the organisers to whatever is the Polish equivalent to the HSE.

gsk82

Patrick Lefevre in mouthing off shocker!

gweeds

orraloon said:

Do the UCI really still check sock heights? I thought was all a bit of nonsense from years back when Lance A wound them up about how his socks made him faster? Or am I misremembering something from one of his TheMove podcasts?

They do - there was a photo of them doing it at the Worlds last year, amidst that comedy rain

rick_chasey

My unpopular opinion here is that the rule is a good rule as it stops riders looking ridiculous, and I would even be in favour of making it shorter.

rick_chasey

https://twitter.com/nossport/status/1291767768891764737?s=21

gweeds

I’m struggling to find the words for this. He did wrong. He knows it. The outcome was horrific. He knows it.

But does it serve anyone to ruin another life? I cannot imagine what these two lads families are going through.

kingstongraham

Am I the only one seeing parallels with the way driving offences are dealt with?

blazing_saddles

gweeds said:

I’m struggling to find the words for this. He did wrong. He knows it. The outcome was horrific. He knows it.

But does it serve anyone to ruin another life? I cannot imagine what these two lads families are going through.

It seems that Caleb Ewan is also thinking upon the same family line:

https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/racing/i-hope-all-sprinters-took-something-from-what-happened-at-the-tour-of-poland-says-caleb-ewan-462128

dabber

I think Caleb says it right.... especially..

“But there’s a point where you can try to prop a rider a little bit…but you know there’s a point where if I keep going this rider is going to end up in the barrier."

And if the rider hits the barrier (regardless of what type of barrier) they know it will end in injury.

orraloon

Do you think Jakobsen will ever make it back to the Pro peloton? I've read, ok this is journalism so treating with a degree of doubt, of the extent of his injuries, and if accurate that has to be life changing.

m.r.m.

Think nowdays there is at least hope. Look at Froome. His recovery will likely benefit from him trying.

Pross

orraloon said:

Do you think Jakobsen will ever make it back to the Pro peloton? I've read, ok this is journalism so treating with a degree of doubt, of the extent of his injuries, and if accurate that has to be life changing.

Thing is, with a sprinter, even if they make it back they sometimes lose that tiny bit of confidence that makes the difference to winning.

N0bodyOfTheGoat

orraloon said:

Do you think Jakobsen will ever make it back to the Pro peloton? I've read, ok this is journalism so treating with a degree of doubt, of the extent of his injuries, and if accurate that has to be life changing.

If surgery goes well, sure he could return.

While I'm nothing like a pro, it took me 3.5+ years after my RTA involving palate reconstruction with titanium plates to see the fitness black hole I had fallen into, while going from ~83Kg to ~95Kg. Initially, I simply tried to tackle the weight and make my stomach expect less food, then in Jan 2017 I started regularly cycling for fitness benefits instead of it simply being a means of transport for 17+ years. While I wish I had discovered the rural edge of the South Downs was less than 10 miles north east of Southampton back in the 90s, which would have got me doing what I've done over the last three years over the last ~18 years, I shouldn't complain too much.

Even if Jakobsen needs 4+ months of recovery (I don't know what his list of injuries is, my ~5 months off the bike was mainly due to complications with my hand and wrist fractures), as a pro and with all the support team behind him, he could be in good shape to hit the races in early 2021.

orraloon

N0bodyOfTheGoat said:

orraloon said:

Do you think Jakobsen will ever make it back to the Pro peloton? I've read, ok this is journalism so treating with a degree of doubt, of the extent of his injuries, and if accurate that has to be life changing.

If surgery goes well, sure he could return.

While I'm nothing like a pro, it took me 3.5+ years after my RTA involving palate reconstruction with titanium plates to see the fitness black hole I had fallen into, while going from ~83Kg to ~95Kg. Initially, I simply tried to tackle the weight and make my stomach expect less food, then in Jan 2017 I started regularly cycling for fitness benefits instead of it simply being a means of transport for 17+ years. While I wish I had discovered the rural edge of the South Downs was less than 10 miles north east of Southampton back in the 90s, which would have got me doing what I've done over the last three years over the last ~18 years, I shouldn't complain too much.

Even if Jakobsen needs 4+ months of recovery (I don't know what his list of injuries is, my ~5 months off the bike was mainly due to complications with my hand and wrist fractures), as a pro and with all the support team behind him, he could be in good shape to hit the races in early 2021.

Ai, not good to read of your experience. Good that you did recover.

Without wishing to go into the details too much, I read that FJ had all facial bones smashed inc all teeth lost. Helluva hit on a 23yo, to go from living the pro life to serious reconstruction with I'd expect consequences on his confidence, as Pross says above. Such a shame.

rick_chasey

https://twitter.com/o1jasper/status/1292160585556271107?s=21

RichN95.

wrong thread

TheBigBean

At least two riders have nearly died and gone on to win the tour (Lemond and Armstrong). Pantani had a bad crash too.

Pross

TheBigBean said:

At least two riders have nearly died and gone on to win the tour (Lemond and Armstrong). Pantani had a bad crash too.

It's a huge difference with a sprinter though. They need to take some risk to win and even the slightest doubt puts them in the also rans. Look at Degenkolb for a recent example or Farrar.

RichN95.

Pross said:

TheBigBean said:

At least two riders have nearly died and gone on to win the tour (Lemond and Armstrong). Pantani had a bad crash too.

It's a huge difference with a sprinter though. They need to take some risk to win and even the slightest doubt puts them in the also rans. Look at Degenkolb for a recent example or Farrar.

The saying goes that when a rider has a child, the sprinters decline and the GC riders get better. Sprinting is a young man's game these days.