Anthony Tan
There is no other Olympic sport where every time you compete, you willingly place yourself in grave danger, and where beauty and brutality are so intertwined. For this reason alone we must celebrate them all as superheroes, writes Anthony Tan.
One day over the next week or so, go out for a ride on the road. Make sure the route includes a climb you know well, followed by a descent of at least 2-3km long so you can get up to 50-60kph – the likely speed at which the peloton was travelling on the fourth stage of the Itzulia Basque Country in Spain, held on April 4 this year, while descending the Olaeta with 36km remaining.
A six-man break was up the road, so the remaining 158 riders including race leader Primož Roglicˇ, defending Tour de France champion Jonas Vingegaard and 2022 road world champ Remco Evenepoel – all planning to race this year’s Tour – were in the main group. The descent of the Olaeta, a 3.2km climb that averages 5.7 percent, was roughly 10km long, so even though there were no GC threats ahead, all things considered, it’s fair to say the peloton was moving rather swiftly.
Now, back to you on the descent of your choice… Unlike most of the riders in the Basque Country peloton that day, you were very familiar with the road and knew how to take the corners at speed. “Ninety per cent of the guys won’t know the roads [in this race],” said Ineos-Grenadiers Geraint Thomas, who, along with Tadej Pogacar, is one of two GC leaders slated to ride both the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France this season. “You’re going down these descents, flying down them. If this was a new sport, there’s no way it would be allowed.”
And unlike most of the riders in the Basque Country peloton that day, unless you went out with five or more of your mates, you enjoyed an unobstructed view of the road ahead.
“If you thought about it, you couldn’t do it”
If you have not raced in a fast-moving peloton before, should you find yourself outside the first 10-15 riders, it’s sometimes (actually, make that often) like riding blindfolded. You’re mildly aware of what’s to the left and right and behind but primarily focused on the wheel in front of you. You’re hoping that wheel is a good wheel, in the sense the rider in front knows what they’re doing and what’s in front of them. But the reality is that, more often than not, they can only see as much as you can, which is not very much at all.
An Element Of Luck
All things considered, it’s not too difficult to see how crashes happen as often as they do, despite the skillset of those involved in the World Tour. Actually, come to think of it, having raced in bunches of 100 or more myself (albeit a long, long time ago) and having watched pro cycling closely for 25 years, I’m surprised there aren’t more serious incidents. Not just broken bones but fatalities, even.
It’s the nature of the big beast that is professional road cycling. Big stakes. Big bunches. High speeds. Within a 150-200 strong peloton, a short-sightedness by the majority. And when falls happen, from those behind, next-to-nil reaction time and zero protection offered.
Reports said somewhere between 10-12 riders were involved. They included Roglic, Vingegaard, Evenepoel and Australian Jay Vine, who was supposed to be one of Pogacar’s climbing lieutenants at the Giro.
“Everyone’s talking about this now because big-name riders have crashed, but it’s been happening for years,” Thomas, champion of the 2018 Tour de France and over his 18-year career victim of numerous crashes, most not of his own doing, told The Guardian in late April, after his billionaire team owner Jim Ratcliffe issued a public plea to increase safety within professional cycling and cc’d the Union Cycliste Internationale on the memo.
“Racing’s got that danger element already, but I feel like [the UCI and race organisers] could do so much more to increase safety. There’s road furniture, traffic calming, kerbs sticking out, all that kind of stuff. That adds an [extra] element of danger as well. When you’re in it, if I thought about it, I’d be at the back [of the peloton]. You wouldn’t be racing, you couldn’t do it.”
“There’s road furniture, traffic calming, kerbs sticking out, all that kind of stuff. That adds an [extra] element of danger”
For Roglic, no broken bones. A fractured collarbone and fractured scapula (shoulder blade) for Evenepoel. Out of the big three, Vingegaard fared worst: a broken collarbone, several cracked ribs, a pulmonary contusion and a punctured lung.
“With all [injuries occurring] at the same time, it wouldn’t be prudent to think he can still line up in Florence for the defence of his [Tour de France] title,” opined respected cycling pundit Philippa York, who, before transitioning from Robert Millar, won the King of the Mountains competition at the 1984 Tour and finished fourth overall. “His being kept in hospital shows the concern for just how seriously he is damaged.”
The Four in Florence
Yet, 31 days after the horror crash at Itzulia Basque Country, all three were riding outdoors again. And yes – even Jonas who – all things considered – is riding exceptionally well at Le Tour.
“I feel good, it’s improving day by day. I still have some things to recover from but it’s going better and better. Of course, I hope to be there at the start of the Tour de France,” Vingegaard, in a video released by his Visma-Lease a Bike team, told us.
“We don’t know exactly how my shape and how my recovery will go but I will do everything I can to get there in my top shape.”
The video was posted on May 9 – exactly seven weeks and two days from the opening stage of the 2024 Tour’s Grand Départ in Florence, Italy. Pogacar has said he wants to race against the best and wants Vingegaard to be there.
That being said, on paper it is one of the hardest opening weeks in years and the pugnacious Slovenian will do everything he can to create an advantage; in the past two years he has been usurped by the Dane’s second – and third-week form and fortitude.
Perhaps crucially, Vingegaard’s team-mate Wout van Aert, who suffered an equally serious crash on March 27 at Dwars door Vlaanderen, where he fractured seven ribs, his collarbone and sternum, also returned to training four weeks later. By the time you read this you’ll know if he’s part the line-up. Jonas will hope he is.
To see the Big Four – Pogacar, Vingegaard, Roglic and Evenepoel – fit and well and standing cheek by jowl at the Grand Départ seems to have been a minor miracle. It’s not just Pog that wants to see a battle royale. We do, too, don’t we?
For the entire peloton at this year’s Tour, let’s celebrate them all, for this is a sport that requires – and rewards – true grit like no other. It really is the most brutal and beautiful sport in the world. Chapeau et bonne chance à tous!
