"A Formula 1 driver can crash safely today... This can be done in cycling" - 'Angry' Richard Plugge demands race organisers to more to protect riders after crashes of van Aert & Vingegaard
CyclingSaturday, 06 April 2024 at 09:29
After seeing two of the stars of his Team Visma | Lease a Bike roster, Wout van Aert and Jonas Vingegaard, crash out of their respective races in recent weeks an admittedly 'angry' Richard Plugge has demanded race organisers do more to protect riders.
“Yes, I am sad, but I'm also angry. Because we have been talking about safety in the race since 2020," Plugge, who is also the initiator of SafeR - an organization that makes safety recommendations within cycling, tells HLN. "Our plans are ready to go. But it just doesn't happen. We have a responsibility to our riders. All teams. These falls also affect the sport. An organization is ready. We can go. Come on. What on earth is stopping us from getting started?”
Whilst van Aert crashed hard at Dwars Door Vlaanderen, breaking his collarbone and ribs in a mass crash, Vingegaard was taken away from the Itzulia Basque Country in an ambulance after being stretchered into the back of the emergency vehicle whilst on oxygen in a terrifying situation.
“The serious falls happen too often. That is obvious. As crazy as it sounds: the riders must be able to fall safely," Plugge concludes. "Things are getting faster and the professionalism of the teams is increasing. There are organisers, such as ASO and Flanders Classic, who are evolving along with it. But there are also organizers who cannot keep up. We have to help them. A Formula 1 driver can crash safely today. There are certainly ways that this can also be done in cycling. Everyone has to think about how we solve that problem.”
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Why this has not been done earlier?
To be honest, the real reason is probably that we have actually been pretty lucky that nothing worse happened which is usually what it takes for grand action to be taken.
Some people are de facto against change, you can already see it in this discussion, but, they are not the ones paying, losing out or suffering from consequences so, a bit easy to take sides. They also don’t seem to notice the difference between races which do or don’t take rider safety more seriously (even though ASO effed up now with P-R, I think through acting in haste feeling pressured with the increase in crashes this season).
When you consider (just as an example of potential consequences) the pressure exerted by a 2cm tire on the surface area it touches and then imagine such a tire hitting a human obstacle fallon onto the road in an unfortunate way.
Or if that’s too hard for anyone, find a friend, lie down on the road and ask him to speed up to first 20, then 40, then 60 (downhill in this case of course, no need to try 70 or more I think) on a bike and ride over (you choose the order) a shin, an arm, your rib cage, your neck.
3x4=12 combinations so perfect for spreading monthly over a year, let me know (or rather, ask your friend to do so) the results or by which month you realise more protection is a positive :-)
I would reccomment integrating bike head units to display warning of hazard or danger ahead. I think this is just a software upgrade with minimum investment. Software can automatically detect hard bends on map and race organizers can also edit and add spots that the software miss.
Organisers have to be conscious of the dangers to add them, if tree roots under asphalt on a fast curving unrenovated mountain road isn’t an obvious danger to them, they won’t add it, if it is, why didn’t they already have minimum warning and/or protection in place?
Software is only as useful as the will of the person behind to make it efficient. After a good decade of time Google & co still routinely send people into water, unmanageable forest tracks, dead ends, inexistant places, seem to have very little clue about synchronising adresses and postcodes or even the existence of places.
A Formula 1 car is designed to crumple around the driver and keep them alive. It's a giant safety contraption.
A cyclist has a 300 gram bike helmet.
Do the math!
I agree, lousy comparison.
Does not look a lousy one to me, @DareDevil. Just more sarcastically comparing F1 abd cycling
It is not a lousy comparison, the car is only part of the story! And the car wasn’t always a crumple zone, it took accidents for that to come into being, it wasn’t just some crazy persons’ idea.
The track is according to strict specifications, the tarmac is immaculate, races are neutralised during incidents, curves now practically have huge buffers and braking pits, etc. and even if it was just about the vehicle, bikes are not exactly designed with safety in mind, are they! It’s only by aerodynamical advantage that most of the old hooking or catching dangers have gone.
Now, if you find that a poor comparison, why don’t you think about a better one so people can ADVANCE with proposals (yes software will help up to a point, as long as it doesn’t distract the rider much as we’re back to discussing regarding ear-pieces and the rest).
Why is it that in other sports they already use tech (doesn’t have to be anything special) to protect riders THEMSELVES, jeez, even in rugby and not only the big head, also the small one below, why is it tech is even available commercially. Horse-riding, MTB, ski-ing, stunt events, etc, plenty of light discreet tech already exists that mitigate the damage in case of crashes it’s just that in cycling « we » have always been slow to adapt, look how long it took for the helmet that NO-ONE even thinks about today.
Are you guys seriously refusing to accept something can or should be done?