Crash-Marred Sprint Finale | 2021 Etoile de Bessèges

Stage 2 of the 2021 Etoile de Bessèges was a fast and furious sprint into the French town of La Calmette, marred by several crashes inside the final 5 kilometers of the race, with Julien Duval of AG2R Citroen and Ethan Hayter of the Ineos Grenadiers going down hard.



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[franciss]

I don't know what the worst thing is, the roundabout in the last 250 metres, the screams or the photographers 20m from the finish line.

[brentperez]

Rider safety is a joke to the UCI. Sprint roundabouts, photographers blocking the road top speed. This is sad.

[jameswatts]

"We've made the appropriate changes to make sprint finishes I hate to say it but nothing has been done to make finishes safer

[assaultedpeanut]

Those photographers are to fucking close after the finish

[adamsims]

UCI: We made sprinting safer.. no more supertucks!

[fionnmalin]

Should they really have a sprint finish right after a roundabout?

[asdesuk]

There is so much that is scary here including the guy with the phone filming. I remember that mess they made of Jaja and Nelissen at Armentieres in '94 when the policeman was taking a picture.

[dalesargent]

Good thing everyone’s socks were UCI compliant. Think of the carnage if they weren’t!

[hardcheese]

Guy who sits up to the left as they go through the last roundabout should buy a lotto ticket!

[tpadma]

I think riders should have safe space to complete the race. All cameras should be Out of the way on side lines.

[emielsproviewbot]

All those camera people at the finish...
this shouldn't be a thing.
remove them.
nacer almost crashed into them

and oh
why a roundabout in the LAST KM ????

[huntingsynth]

Great course...underpass and roundabout with like 500m to go...honestly...UCI and promoter should go to jail

[nicolasmyhre]

Would it not be more sensible to hang automatic/independent cameras from the overhead arch on the finish line to get the photos and race footage at the end instead of having photographers on the road trying to get the best shot? Like where it says La Marseillaise? I remember watching the Van Vlaanderen behind the scenes videos on youtube a few months ago and they had the same problem of the media being too close to the finish

[polthomaskeeley]

That was some mad spin-off chaos. Hope everyone's alright.
Was that Pedersen flying off sideways? 😳
And to think the UCI wants to wipe out the super tuck. Ok, fair enough. Then what about the actual, perennial issues of barrier safety, motorbikes swarms, and... photographers!!! WTS!!

[aerofitnesstx]

WTF were the race organizers thinking with that roundabout finish ?!

[waltervila]

I said it before and I’ll say it again this is a gladiator sport

[davidsullivan]

Looked like a FDJ rider (or other blue, red, white jersey) slid out on the white line in the roundabout.

[Thierrydaoust]

This is apparently way less dangerous than the supertuck (or just tuck, if you do skj racing) or the elbows on the bars

[ngorkngork]

I think it was wrong placement of finish line. How can you have a roundabout inside 1 km?

[mjv]

I don't see any changes to the barriers. Sad. They need to be safer at the end of a race.