"They could have easily put something over that concrete gutter" - Steff Cras criticizes inclusion of descent that led to Itzulia mass crash

Stage 4 of Itzulia Basque Country this year has marked the season for the worst possible reasons. A mass crash caused serious injuries to several riders including Steff Cras, who openly criticizes the lack of safety measures implemented in the site of the crash.

The Belgian broke several vertebrae, ribs and a punctured lung. But he is back home in Belgium, and “it's also been much better since I got back from Spain. I can do everything myself again and since last week I can cycle on rollers again. Training outside is not yet an option," Cras said in an interview with Sporza. “If I had flown into the concrete block nearby, I might not be here anymore. For the first half minute I couldn't breathe and I felt like I was suffocating. It's over, I thought. But after 30 seconds or so, the lung opened a little and I got just enough air to breathe.”

The terrifying crash saw the TotalEnergies rider as one of worst affected. For three weeks he slept in a special designed chair as he could not do so on a bed due to his injuries. He comments on the right-hand corner where over a dozen riders went down: “I'm thinking of a combination of the bad road surface and the very high speed. In any case, the descent was poorly marked. They could have easily put something over that concrete gutter. Actually, nothing was indicated and nothing was stated in the communiqué the day before."

"In the past, the stages in the Basque Country were super difficult and you therefore automatically entered such a descent with a smaller group. There was less fighting to be in position. Now the run-up is often too easy and you get a sprint to be the first to go down the descent.”

He says that he is also not a fan of the extremely high speed reached in some descents found throughout the year, however he was mostly disappointed because of another big crash. Last year he already suffered several, including the Tour de France where he abandoned.

“It haunts me, yes. I actually had the hope that this year would be the year of the breakthrough. After a good winter, I had set my sights on the Basque Country and certainly the Ardennes classics. Unfortunately, that didn't work out, so I now hope that my breakthrough will come in the Tour," he hopes.