Chris Froome: Racing has become more dangerous

Whilst getting ready to start his season - which has been delayed due to a knee injury - Chris Froome has been vocal on some subjects regarding rider safety in the peloton. He describes how racing has changed since he entered the pro peloton, and how that chance has negatively affected the safety in the peloton.

"There are quite a few different technologies that have played a massive part in shaping the sport in this last 10 to 15 years. First and foremost, the amount of data available through power meters and the collection and correlation of all that data means that performances now are lot more guided," Froome said in an interview with Quad Lock, a smartphone mounting system for cyclists of which Froome is an ambassador.

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"It’s mental. Someone says to you, ‘right guys, you’re going through this really narrow dangerous little village coming up, the road’s really tiny and there’s small bridge with a corner straight after’, and we actually go faster, because you want to be the ones to get there first," he said.

The point through was leading into was the effect that it has on modern racing, where this extensive knowledge leads to constant stress in the peloton, and often to crashes: “I think racing has, as a result of that, become more dangerous. Through having more data it’s basically made the race more dangerous. Previously we wouldn’t have known necessarily that each pinch point was there and there wouldn’t have been this massive scurry for position. We’d have just got there and all been more relaxed and got through it with no issues. But that’s changed quite a bit," he completed.

Froome is no stranger to crashing. In 2014 he abandoned the Tour de France as defending champion in a roundabout after crashing, and at the Vuelta a España 2015 he crashed in the iconic Andorra stage after a pinch point over a bridge. Several more could be named, last year's Tour de France for example saw Froome crash on the opening day hard, having to abandon his ambitions for the race.