Óscar Freire criticizes peloton behaviour: "Many crashes can be avoided"

Óscar Freire doesn't mince words. The three-time world champion surprises every time he gives an opinion. In statements to Ibon Zugasti's Youtube channel, he speaks on this occasion about crashes in cycling today.

"Many crashes can be avoided, but I see that everything is very related to stress, the earpiece, now they ride more in a group, the speeds and roads are better... but there are moments that one can take as relaxation and they don't," he said.

The former Rabobank rider, with whom he won the Milan-San Remo three times, went so far as to call some riders in today's peloton "useless":

"We see crashes where one rider is in front, falls and another who is 40 meters away also falls on top of them. Those are useless riders, it can happen once, but every time there is a crash we see in the last part of the peloton some rider who falls on top of them. Many of them still don't know the most important thing, which is how to ride a bike.

Freire is clear that the radio is to blame for many of the crashes in today's peloton:

"You don't have to be very smart to see that since there is radio there are many more crashes no matter how much people say, but nobody is interested in removing the radio. It's taking away the spectacle of cycling. Knowing that there are 400 meters to go and that you have to enter the corner in front generates a stress that increases the percentage of crashes that didn't exist before".