Road furniture is unavoidable in France but at some points in the
Tour de France, it is not properly marked. This is the consensus that the peloton has reached once again after stage 12 saw a mass crash within the final 10 kilometers which has led to massive consequences in the withdraw of
Primoz Roglic.
"That was at that narrowing. We were there as a team, at about the same height. I saw it, hopefully everyone is okay. I don't understand how things like that are still possible, so late in the race,"
Marijn van den Berg of EF Education-EasyPost told NOS. "There is often someone who points it out, but not this time. Maybe because he was a bit lower".
A small road island with 10 kilometers to go triggered disaster. Not all riders were able to see the threat that was right besides their wheels and it took one rider to fall to cause a domino effect that took down, among others, Primoz Roglic who has had to abandon the race. With the narrow road at the time, it was impossible for several to avoid going down, and this has been without a doubt the most consequential fall of all in this race.
"We were all in that crash, except Bini [Girmay]. That was chaotic," Intermarché - Wanty's
Mike Teunissen told NOS. "I know in advance that people are going to say 'why don't the riders complain?' But I don't know what we can do about this," he laments.
"As far as I'm concerned, it's scandalous. We can stand on our heads with 176 riders, but it won't change anything. It goes well 99 times, but now it's gone wrong again. It's no coincidence, the organization brings it on itself. You're not going to tell me that it's the only way (clarification: the only road, ed.) to get to the village."