"I really can't understand it," lamented Jonathan Milan after yesterday's sixth stage of the Giro d'Italia stage. He was referring to the decision by organisers to place a 180-degree cobbled bend in sight of the line, on what was a bunch sprint stage.
They had prioritised drama, he suggested, over rider safety. And with a readily predictable crash on the bend in question, drama they certainly got.
We live in a cosseted world that is gradually designing out every physical challenge and every last risk. But there are a handful of sports still remaining that require participants to lay it all on the line – risk their wellbeing in the pursuit of glory. Bike racing is one of them. The risk-taking involved undoubtedly adds to the drama, with fans' hearts in mouths on a tricky descent that is raced hard, or a bunch sprint.
At yesterday's Giro d'Italia stage, one such bunch sprint went wrong – although thankfully not as wrong as it could have done. Several of the leading riders slid out on the bend, placed within 400m of the finish line. With a fine rain falling, it seemed almost inevitable.
As fortune had it, there were no major injuries, although it could easily have gone the other way. But some of the world's best sprinters missed out on their chance of victory – on one of perhaps four sprint days this Giro. Among those were Paul Magnier (Soudal Quick-Step), who salvaged third place, and former Giro points classification winner Jonathan Milan of Lidl-Trek.
His words, though delivered thoughtfully, were clearly born of frustration and disappointment. But he made a good point. On what was set up as a bunch sprint day, asking the riders to do a U-turn on pavé within sight of the line feels gratuitous.
If this had been a day in the hills or mountains, where riders could have reasonably been expected to finish in dribs and drabs, it would have been different. But anyone predicting that yesterday's ultra-flat stage between Paestum and Naples would have finished in anything but a full bunch charging towards the line could not have read the script.
This particular turn jeopardised not only the sprinters' chances to win in a race already light on opportunities for them, but also everybody's safety.
Jasper Stuyven (Soudal Quick-Step), who negotiated the melee to take second place behind winning rider Davide Ballerini (XDS-Astana), questioned the Unibet Rose Rockets leading pair for getting on the power too early in the bend. Perhaps he has a point – half the battle as a pro rider is having the skill to negotiate tricky situations, after all.
But they weren't the only riders to fall and, in any case, asking riders not to pedal when the finish line is only 300m up the road seems a bit... unreasonable.
Everyone will have their opinion on this. For me, 'entertainment' for fans should not be placed above rider safety. Bike racing is already risky enough and will remain so – huge crashes can happen on straight, wide roads with just a touch of wheels. The last thing the riders need is route designers spicing things up even more. Let's keep a couple of things sacred: leave bunch sprint finish straights and tricky descents well alone.
