"That's how crashes occur" - Sep Vanmarcke bashes ASO for lack of safety staff at 2025 Tour de France

It came as no surprise but the first days of the Tour de France have been heavily marked by crashed. Big stars such as Jasper Philipsen and Filippo Ganna have already abandoned the race as a result; Whilst many others have gone down. However not all have been due to natural race situations former pro Sep Vanmarcke argues, with the race organizers being to blame for a few.

"For four stages in this Tour de France, I haven't seen any mobile signalers, like those we have in Belgium. Apparently, ASO doesn't think they're necessary," Vanmarcke said in the Café Koers podcast. The Belgian specifically and heavily criticizes the lack of staff at dangerous points of the course signaling for the danger ahead. The presence of road furniture, dangerous corners or road narrowing is where they are required the most.

"As a rider in the peloton, you're only concerned with the rear wheel of the rider in front of you, and that's it. Road markings with a highlighter are absolutely not safe enough". Vanmarcke has singled out the incident of stage 4 in which several riders gone down in a road narrowing.

This crash led to a split in the peloton and took several riders down including Remco Evenepoel's key domestique Valentin Paret-Peintre. This is also that could've been avoided with a longer narrowing section, instead of a dramatic pinch point in which the peloton simply could not go through safely at that point in the race.

"Mobile signalers are an absolute must. With a road narrowing like today, it has to be done gradually. Cyclists need at least fifty meters to safely move from two lanes to one. That's simply not possible in five meters. Then you end up in a much too sharp funnel, and that's how crashes occur".