Thierry Gouvenou (director of Paris-Roubaix, in L’Equipe du soir): “We have been alerting everyone for months. Race organizers set up tons of things. But we see that the falls are only increasing. So you have to realize that falls are not just due to the route. They are due to my sense, and as a former runner, of speed. (Car) drivers at races, who are very experienced people, tell me that they no longer have any safety margin when they go down in front of the riders. The descents in the passes are done at more than 100 km/h. »
The gears used are staggering.
Thierry Gouvenou, former professional runner from 1991 to 2002
“Stop, stop, stop, let’s stop the massacre. Let’s start thinking about speed issues. We have made enormous progress in aerodynamics and braking. This is going way too fast. Unfortunately, as soon as you go off the road, you are not protected because cycling is on the road of Mr. Everyman. We can be facing a tree, facing a post, a large stone. And every time you go out, you have to rely on luck to do well. I hope that the riders who fell in the Basque Country will do well. But it’s really time to set limits. We hear completely staggering gears used. On the last Tour de France, in false flats descending at 3 or 4%, the riders managed to escape from the peloton with gears of 58-11, at 85 km/h. Stop, we need limits. »