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#46
08-06-2020, 03:45 AM
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https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/tea...ur-de-pologne/ Last edited by ddtn; 08-06-2020 at 03:51 AM. Reason: wrong link 
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#47
08-06-2020, 04:39 AM
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I have watched the DG-FJ crash a few more times and while DG does hook FJ, the majority of the outcome and the reason most are outraged is surely due to what happened next - the barriers giving way when they ordinarily wouldn't. I have seen a lot of finish line skirmishes between sprinters turn into crashes and I can't recall ever seeing the finish line barriers giving way like that. It was the barriers giving way that made the outcome so horrific for FJ. If the barrier line remained intact, FJ would surely have come down and come away with some bad scrapes and perhaps a broken collarbone, but it's unlikely his helmet would have come off, with the resultant injuries that he has after this incident. I still think DG should get a ban of some kind since we want to discourage actions that cause the crash of a fellow competitor but I no longer think he should be banned for a season or for life as has been suggested by some.
__________________
"Progress is made by lazy men looking for easier ways to do things." - Robert Heinlein
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#48
08-06-2020, 04:49 AM
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The barriers didn't help, but the kid was reckless.
The standard crowd control barrier is inadequate for the final 300m of a sprint finish. The bars need to be both horizontal and curving away from the course. I would call them 'banana barriers'. After Gernot Reinstadler was killed ski racing catch fencing was redesigned. "Hello" UCI. The kid needs a long ban. N.B. The finish chute was hemmed in by tram tracks on the crash side and cobbles on the other side. Not a great choice of road for a sprint finish. Last edited by jpw; 08-06-2020 at 05:05 AM.
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#49
08-06-2020, 06:07 AM
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#50
08-06-2020, 07:04 AM
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Groenewegen only did what he did, because he went early and knew he was basically leading Jakobsen out to the line. Jakobsen timed the sprint perfectly, they both knew Groenewegen would be caught before the line.
The few meters before the crash, Groenewegen basically stopped sprinting and was just blocking. His elbow first blocked/hooked Jakbosen, at which point they could've still avoided a big crash as they were just leaning on each other. Groenewegen didn't lose balance, but he then sat on the saddle and aggressively shouldered Jakbosen into the barriers. Watch the overhead shot. Now there's a lot of dirty tactics/moves when it comes to a sprint finish, but you don't put someone in the barriers in a 70+kph downhill finish. You just don't. No amount of adrenaline or competitive instinct can make excuse for this, especially when they all knew it was a dangerous finish. For anyone who's ever raced or done bunch sprinting, you know the rage and all sorts of emotions this evokes. Personally I think it's one of the ugliest aspects of bike racing. There should be a lengthy ban.
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#51
08-06-2020, 07:44 AM
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This was no accident and was a purposeful push into the barriers. Grownewegen did not hold his line, he knew he was toast and thought he could get away with this. As for those commenting that one shouldn’t pass on the left... Please, for anyone who has raced, we all know that in a sprint it is much easier to sneak up the left and capture the podium than it is on the right.
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#52
08-06-2020, 07:48 AM
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This approach had all the ingredients for a major crash. Just like Formula One in the 70’s and 80’s where crashes and death was accepted as occupational hazards, Pro Cycling has a similar attitude. Formula One has made tremendous advances in driver safety but only after drivers organizing and protesting. I believe Robbie McEwen’s take on this is spot on.
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#53
08-06-2020, 08:49 AM
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__________________
Chisholm's Custom Wheels Qui Si Parla Campagnolo
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#54
08-06-2020, 08:58 AM
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The barriers they used are an absolute joke. Will not protect the rider or spectators IMO, basically just there as boundary markers.
Couldn't they take a page from NASCAR's book and do something like the safer barriers? Material that gives and actually absorbs a little of the impact and is softer than metal or hard plastic. Could also have them lock together at installation so they don't fly apart, maybe? With all the design and material technology available today, there's no reason barriers could not be made much safer than what we have currently, which is not safe for anyone.
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#55
08-06-2020, 09:00 AM
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#56
08-06-2020, 10:45 AM
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#57
08-06-2020, 12:35 PM
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Kittel's take...
Kittel interview in German magazine "Der Spiegel" (via Google Translate)
Marcel Kittel, 32, saw the accident video on his cell phone. Before his career ended last summer (read more about Kittel's decision here), the Thuringian was one of the sprint stars in professional cycling for many years. No other German professional cyclist has won so many stages in the Tour de France. Kittel himself has seen many spectacular target earnings. SPIEGEL: You drove the Tour of Poland several times and won the stage on which the accident occurred yesterday in 2011. What makes this arrival so special? Marcel Kittel: The peculiarity of this stage is that it ends in a mountain in Katowice. There is such a small city mountain that you climb up in the finale, no great difficulty, from a sporting point of view, maybe a four percent incline, but then you make a 180-degree turn at the top and drive it down again. In the end, this accelerates the sprint enormously, because everyone has an ultra-fast pace at the end. Having the right timing and positioning yourself cleverly determines the victory in the end. SPIEGEL: What respect do you, as an experienced sprinter, have before such a goal? Kittel: When I opened the map of the tour of Poland and saw that Katowice was there again, I always had a queasy feeling. And others felt the same way. You know that anything can happen. Precisely because you are traveling at more than 80 kilometers per hour, faster than any other sprint. SPIEGEL: When did you find out about the fall? Kittel: We sat with the family yesterday in the garden and had a barbecue. I then briefly wanted to check the results on my cell phone and saw that there was a serious accident. Then I watched the video and was finished. Such a bad fall, I've never seen anything like it in my career. SPIEGEL: Judging from the pictures: Who was to blame? Kittel: There is not much to discuss: clearly Groenewegen. The regulations clearly state that you have to drive considerately and follow your own route. Groenewegen has deviated massively from its route. When Jakobsen went into the sprint, there was still two meters of space to the right of Groenewegen, so I would have started in Jakobsen's place. And then you can see Groenewegen moving across. He is not the first in the history of cycling to do this, but that he then uses his elbow to the right to cause Jacobsen to fall is really the icing on the cake. SPIEGEL: Do you know the two drivers? Kittel: I only know Fabio from saying hello. I've met the Dylan a few times. I am convinced that he did not want to hurt anyone there intentionally, that he is not a bad person, but at that moment he put success above responsibility for others. Especially as an experienced sprinter like him, who has already won the Tour de France on the Champs-Elysées, you have to have it under control. Yes, it is about success, and in the Corona period, when there are only a few moments in which you can present yourself, you may want to make special use of it - but not at all costs. SPIEGEL: Many demand that Groenewegen be severely punished. How do you see that? Kittel: Groenewegen is responsible for what happened there. Such a crude driving style must be sanctioned. I don't want to say that an example has to be made, but the punishment has to do justice to the consequences that result for Jakobsen and the racing official, who was also seriously injured there. SPIEGEL: For years there have been discussions about the safety of sprinters at the finish lines, which are the highlight of almost every race. To what extent are compromises made in terms of driver safety in favor of this show? Kittel: What annoys me is that the racing drivers are only shown as victims. Every sprinter is aware of the danger he exposes himself to and has accepted it for himself. But in the environment, too little happens among those responsible. By that I mean the organizers, but also the people in the UCI, who set the rules. If you say that it is a dangerous sport in itself, why is driver safety not the top priority? Why sloping destinations like Katowice? What about the track design? Yes, we move around in public spaces while cycling, the possibilities are limited, but in terms of safety, there is still a lot to be done.
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#58
08-06-2020, 12:54 PM
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A two year suspension at the very least...maybe more!
__________________
Bike lives matter!
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#59
08-06-2020, 12:56 PM
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Groenewegen should be banned as long as Jakobsen is out of racing.
Proper safe barriers must be mandated for any promoter/organization that intends to hold a race. All professional racers are semi responsible for not pressuring the UCI for position their safety as top priority.
__________________
Marc Sasso A part of the resin revolution!
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#60
08-06-2020, 01:41 PM
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https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/mce...pologne-crash/
McEwen: UCI need to take responsibility after Jakobsen's horrific Pologne crash By Daniel Benson 8 hours ago 'They need to start listening to riders' says former sprinter who designed a safety barrier but never received a response from the UCI. Former sprinter Robbie McEwen has called on race organisers and the UCI to take greater responsibility for rider safety and ensure that riders’ concerns are given more attention. The Australian was reacting after Wednesday’s horrific crash on stage 1 of the Tour de Pologne that left Fabio Jakobsen in an induced coma, a race official unconscious, and several riders needing immediate medical treatment. Jumbo Visma’s Dylan Groenewegen was held responsible for the incident, with the UCI laying the blame for the crash on the Dutchman’s shoulders. He was disqualified from the race and fined, while the win was awarded to Jakobsen. "The UCI, which considers the behaviour unacceptable, immediately referred the matter to the Disciplinary Commission to request the imposition of sanctions commensurate with the seriousness of the facts," a press release stated. While Groenewegen’s team later apologized for the crash in which their rider deviated from his line and forced Jakobsen into the barriers, McEwen told Cyclingnews that the crash should be examined by those in charge of the sport. “The most important thing is that everyone is thinking about Fabio Jakobsen and hoping that he pulls through and recovers,” McEwen said. “My point is that in sprints, that’s the type of incident we’ve seen a lot of times. I’ve been on the side of both ends, with moves like that. I’ve been in a situation where I’ve been disqualified, and I’ve been in situations where I’ve been caught against the barriers and gone down.” McEwen, who retired in 2012 after a career that spanned three decades and included three green jerseys and 12 Tour de France stages, also criticized Groenewegen for his sprint but the 48-year-old also stated that he had approached the UCI with ideas on how to improve rider safety in sprints but had never even received a response. “In no way am I condoning the move from Groenewegen,” McEwen said. “He came across too much, and it’s a fine line in pro cycling. The idea is that you keep the door closed just enough without riding someone into the barriers. He started from too far out and he had too far to get across. It’s a miscalculation but in no way would his intention have been to make another rider fall off, but the horrific crash is a direct result of that. “What was most disturbing to me was that when Fabio Jakobsen hit the barriers, he didn’t deflect back into the road. He went straight through them. That’s really poor planning, not just from the organisers themselves but the UCI, and they have to take responsibility for that. This is something that has been going on for years. I lobbied for it when I was racing, and I’ve been retired for eight years. "I put forward a barrier design to both the UCI and the ASO at the same time, for exactly the circumstances like this. While things have improved at some races, a good barrier set-up has to be solid, it can’t come apart, and it’s got to be heavy. The board on the front of the barrier also has to come down at an angle and meet the road. Everything has to deflect the rider back onto the road. "The barriers in Poland flew every which way, and it looked to me like they were made of plastic. One of them broke into pieces and that doesn’t happen with the metal ones. There’s a lot to be done in regard to safety in the last few hundred meters.” The stage 1 sprint in Poland has been used for a decade and its downhill nature has been criticized in the past. McEwen called downhill sprints ‘not ideal’ and while he acknowledged that organizing racing was not an easy task, the results of yesterday’s crash, or at least the severity of the injuries, could have been avoided if the powers at the top of the sport had listened more to riders’ voices and concerns. “There’s a lot involved in organizing races with sponsors, locations, and towns paying for finishes but tram tracks shouldn’t be anywhere near a bunch of riders, especially with bunch finishes, but things could have ended so much better. Badly, but still better than what we have now. We could be just talking about a DQ, a nasty crash, and a guy covered in bandages but being able to start riding in a week or two. Instead, we’re talking about a guy in a critical condition fighting for his life. It’s horrific," McEwen said. “They [ed. the UCI] should finally start listening to the riders and the CPA. There needs to be a certain set of guidelines for every race, no matter what level of racing or location.” McEwen’s heart went out to all of those involved, including Groenewegen, who is now facing possible, disciplinary measures, but mostly Jakobsen who remains in intensive care. “I’m also sure that Dylan Groenewegen feels absolutely terrible, and I’m sure that he is getting the support he needs. Although the crash was his fault he must be beside himself. That’s nothing compared to the family or friends of Fabio Jakobsen.”
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