just seen a interview with the giant/shimnao team, who have been riding the 2nd stage over the moss today.
the roads are too twisty/narrow/dangerous, with stone walls on both sides.......made me chuckle..... 😆
Ask Chris Boardman after the first stage in Ireland in 98 what he thinks about narrow roads with stone walls either side.
To be fair, stage 2 is likely to be highly stressful for the riders. Although we all love a spectacle (including the odd falling off), rider safety is important. The first few days of the tdf are anxious and a narroow, twisty course could wreak havoc.
in summary, i think they have a point, considering its so early in the race.
I wouldn't ride those narrow roads for the pitance they pay road pros.
Shocking i say.
I would be more worried about the camera crews and team cars and motorbikes, and barbed wire fence's, been a few accidents with them over the years.
Where was the interview?
stone walls on both sides.......made me chuckle
Only seems a couple of days ago we were all shocked by the death of a young woman who crashed into a stone wall.
[I]the roads are too twisty/narrow/dangerous, with stone walls on both sides.......[/I]
Well It's hardly the Isle of Man TT circuit is it? Theyr'e on pedal bikes FFS!
May be wrong but would say the potential for carnage on the strines road descending Eden bank is very high. Time will tell.
How about I put you in the middle of a pack of 170 riders going down there at nearly 50mph, and then come back and tell me that it's nothing to worry about?
Or, is this the reverse of the Audi S3 thread?
Do they do the TT in a group of 220 people now? Does it hurt less if you hit a wall at 40mph if you're on a pedal bike?
thye have a point. the roads on the first stage are very very narrow for a bike race the size of the tour. they are much steeper and twistier too. i wouldn't be surprised if a few favourites have crashed out before london 😕
I think I'd rather hit a wall at 40mph rather than 140.
Anyway, why is anyone questioning this at this stage of the game, surely It's been thought about already!
Ye, plus it's their jobs, career and livelihoods remember. A dangerous parcours is a dangerous parcours.
I'd be interested to hear what the riders actually said.
the roads on the first stage are very very narrow for a bike race the size of the tour.
This looks pretty narrow to me,with high conseqeunces if you get it wrong and I'm sure there are other dangerous bits too.Ride within your limits surely?
Mtfu?
Have you seen the tdf? They are all ****ing mental.
http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2011/may/09/wouter-weylandt-giro-ditalia
First few days are always twitchy - there are always lots of crashes. Can see why they won't be looking forward to it.
I want to see the race won with panache and on talent - not a race of attrition through crashes.
As for 'foreign' riders needing to MTFU I seem to recall our brave Wiggo making a fuss in the rain in the Giro in 2013 and all the Brit team generally wussing out in the rain in the World Championships in Italy when it pissed down.
Nationalities and jingoism aside however, as others have said, in a group, at speed, the consequences are massive and roadies generally have massive falls during a typical career - more nails than me for sure.
I think I'd rather hit a wall at 40mph rather than 140.
I don't think it makes any difference to the outcome!
Anyway Stage 5 will probably account for a few more riders!
This looks pretty narrow to me,with high conseqeunces if you get it wrong and I'm sure there are other dangerous bits too.Ride within your limits surely?
[Col de Sarenne]
I seem to remember a few riders made a big fuss about that one at the time too.
And ride within your limit? I'm not sure that's going to be a successful winning strategy. It's not Audax. The whole point of a bike race is you're always riding on the limit 😉 It's a very fine line before you go over it.
The casualty list from the narrow twisting roads of the Amstel Gold shows that trying to squeeze a big peleton onto narrow roads can be dangerous
they will just send a big break of no hopers up the road to be pulled in with 2 km to go 😉
few years ago the tour started in Brittany with a lot of narrow roads there - plenty of crashes. There were lots of mutterings about it at the time
This bloke abandoned
[img] 
[/img]
[quote=gwaelod ]This bloke abandoned
Those Belgians should mtfu
Belgian...but isn't that the Dutch champs jersey he's wearing??? 😉
No .. Pro riders are the hardest b******ds in any sport !!!
I think respect is due.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_professional_cyclists_who_died_during_a_race
Bring back Lance.
He could ride over anything... 🙂
I think it's more does stw have no idea shocker
Marcel Kittel says...
Giant/Shimano have got a point - compare the average British hill country road, which would have been built on the course of a packhorse track or drove road, winding and meandering all over the place, with a French road built by Napoleonic engineers, beautifully smooth and graded with nice even curves.... there's going to be carnage. I can't wait.
The worlds going mad! People have been cycling these hills for years (without helmets too) and its never been an issue. Now gormless idiots are taking up cycling rather than golf and we need an app to warn us hills are steep.. What's the world coming to!
As to TdF and MTFU. Most definitely, they were wearing full length lycra on what was a barmy Yorkshire summers day, soft foreigners
the roads are too twisty/narrow/dangerous, with stone walls on both sides.......made me chuckle.....
Well It's hardly the Isle of Man TT circuit is it? Theyr'e on pedal bikes FFS!
As aP and others have said, I assume youve ridden these roads elbow-to-elbow and wheel-to-wheel with 180 other riders at 40+mph. You have watched cycle races and seen how often there are crashes? Dead straight roads with grass verges can claim collar bones when there's nerves in the group.
Stone walls offer zero margin for error and limit line-of-sight unlike many alpine descents.
there's going to be carnage. I can't wait.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wouter_Weylandt
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fabio_Casartelli
I'm from Yorkshire and am going up to watch. Call me squeamish but I have no desire to see people crash and get injured, I've got the pins and surgical scars (hence the username) and don't wish that on anyone.
I've done Stage 1, the wrong way, and the climb out of Aysgarth following through Buckden is teeny, then as you pop over the top and head into Buckden down to Grassmere it's a teeny single lane too but a little more open. However they're doing it the other way and it's looks pretty much the same, I can see it being a bit of a squeeze yes, but some of the roads in the Dolomites they use for the Giro have been very similar width and very much poorer surfaces.
My concern would be the fat boys will not have enough room and it'll be strung out all the way from Grassmere through Hawes, gonna be excellent 😆
Certainly a few interesting squeezes in my neck of the woods on stage 1 that I can think of. For some reason instead of going straight up from Buckden up Kidstones they're heading out to Hubberholme, doing a tight turn there into a very narrow lane to rejoin. There are some tight corners on the descent from Kidstones too.
Even the narrow stone roundabout at the bottom of Skipton High Street strikes me as tricky as they could be all together and moving a bit at that stage with crowds and barriers to contend with.
thin roads on mountain stages are less of a concern, as the bunch has tends to thin out when the geography starts getting spiky. Thin roads on flatter stages, especially at the beginning of the tour will have every bugger and his dog trying to jockey his way through to the front of the bunch.
that's the problem right there. what are they doing with dogs in the peloton? Just ask Marcus Burghardt
What about wandering sheep? Plenty of those on the roads.
I've ridden those roads. no way I'd like to do them in 220 riders, all fighting for position. there will be major crashes on some of the descents.
But, it's what the get paid for, it's never going to be a safe sport, and they know that.
Does it hurt less if you hit a wall at 40mph if you're on a pedal bike?
Yes
never mind that, have you seen the prices the grabbing gits are asking for camping and hotels !!!!
Walls a problem ?
Biggest danger surely is riding around Winkobank
I think they have a point, those roads are very narrow for a full TDF bunch in the first week of the race. And I've seen the affects of what hitting a stone wall at 30mph+ with your face looks like and it ain't pretty.
I manage Ok on a ten-inch wide bit of singletrack. Surely these lads can muddle through on a road?
does it ruin the pointing?
