That’s how I’d describe the rider reaction to today’s stage in Milan. Granted, the the 25 corners over 15k weren’t exactly easy, but it’s nothing pro riders can’t handle. I’ll agree the parked cars are a problem, but there are parked cars all over the Spring Classics, too. Would you rather see them on a lap race, or popping up at random between cobbles and bergs?
“Too dangerous” is riding the ECCC Men’s D field on the Beanpot Criterium in the rain. Riders at the pro level come up racing in far crazier courses without the aid of race radios. As the actual racing of the final two laps demonstrated, the Milan course was just fine, even with essentially fresh sprinters shoving, bumping, and taking all the usual risks.
Even if the course weren’t ok, I fail to see how the Heads of State couldn’t have tamed it a bit pre-race, as was done on the ’05 World Championships course in Madrid. Maybe in permit- and lawsuit-crazed America, a day-of-race course change would be out of the question. But if my limited interactions with local Mediterranean governments are any indication, the course could have been “officially” changed as quickly as marshals moved the barriers.
There’s no question in my mind that the primary logic for this protest was the terrifying descents of the past few days. And that’s a legitimate thing to protest, don’t get me wrong—especially after Pedro Horillo’s 60-meter plunge. And coming on the heels of Astana’s little caper yesterday, in which both Horner and Leipheimer went up the road over the final climb, I can imagine there were some tired legs.
After all, LPR had to drive the the chase over the climb, and other than Columbia-Highroad, every other team was cranking unsucessfully to bring Siutsou back. Combine that a few hundred meters of particularly gnarly cobblestones on my tired-ass legs, and yeah, I can see not wanting to cling onto the tail end of a 60kph crit for 3 hours, either.
So I’m not especially peeved at the riders—if the leaders of the three strongest teams in the race are on-board with a protest, you’d be insane to ride against it. I don’t really blame the organizers, either—their job is to put together an interesting race, and part of that is pushing, and sometimes exceeding, what the riders can handle. At any rate, protests are nothing new for the sport, especially at the Giro.
So for those who think we’ll need to cart out a life support machine to keep cycling alive in Italy, I say this: Milan sees a great finish every stinkin’ year, and can handle the occasional protest. I think Steven DeJongh approaches today’s stage with the right attitude—you simply can’t separate the Giro d’Italia from the soap opera that invariably surrounds it.
I’d argue there’s a different standard for a dangerous stage in a Grand Tour and a dangerous one-day race (e.g. Flanders or Tufts). The threshold for a dangerous stage in the Giro is lower than, say, a Spring Classic.
The Milan Crit course looked pretty dicey. The cars parked on the course were less of a concern than the trolley tracks that ran along and across the course.
These guys put their lives on the line nearly every time they start a race. Bicycle racing is a very dangerous sport. So if they want to take a day off from the risks I can’t blame them. They are more courageous than athletes in almost any other major sport.
soft.
The guy doing the talking was in pink too!
gay.
I agree with Josh B re differing dtandards of safety in grand tours vs classics.
Too often the peloton is asked to ride through narrow lanes, crappy pot-holed roads and crazy finishing circuits. And more often than not, they ride it and get on with their job. Are we being too hard on them when a combination of safety issues brought them to this decision?
Michael Rogers alleges via twitter that there were tram tracks running in almost the same direction as the race! I remember watching a criterium stage of a Tour Down Under a few years back that took the riders over tram tracks numerous times. The organisers arranged with the local council to lay bitumen in the tracks the day before which was then dug it out not even 10mins after the race.
It doesn’t seem that long ago that Marco Pantani smashed his leg to pieces by descending head on into an oncoming car that had inadvertently driven onto the parcours (Milan-Torino maybe???).
I don’t think they are being soft at all.
Look, we all know that the Milan SuperCrit was a bloodbath in the making. Even before the race started.
I think it was just a collective need to just chill after all the action and big crashes. If you read Horner’s blog on the stage, you can appreciate the thousand moments of fear on the previous day’s stage.
I’m all for a challenging course, but exposed rail tracks is just too much. And it’s the frickin’ Giro, you’d think they could close the course and get rid of the cars. Maybe there’s more to the story than we know. Poor planning? Uncooperative locals?
Uncooperative locals may be a bit of it. Not on purpose, but word is that the previous night lots of celebrating was going on for Inter Milan capturing the Serie A title. Which might explain a few cars left on the street, and/or people not getting up early in the morning to clear them.
Haha!
The beanpot classic course is insane. I remember a few years ago going into the last lap in 25th and on the first corner at the bottom of the hill riders 4-24 went down and I cruised to my season best finish in 4th.
What a crazy course that was, 10 turns over 900m, good times
keep up the great post!