Rider safety, particularly on downhill finishes, was one of the topics du jour in the build-up to this year’s Tour de France. Three stages feature major descents in the run in to the finish, with stage 14’s run-in to Morzine, and stage 17 to Courchevel likely to be raced at speed.
All of this is happening after 26-year-old Gino Mäder died last month after crashing at high-speed on a descent at the Tour de Suisse, an event which brought safety issues to the forefront of everyone’s mind
Speaking at a press conference in Bilbao ahead of the race, the Tour’s director, Christian Prudhomme, said that Mäder’s death was a “drama that we absolutely don’t want to be repeated”.
Insightful piece
great article