"Unfortunately, there are some mentally ill people in the peloton" - Geschke suggests that a lot of crashes could be avoided
CyclingFriday, 11 September 2026 at 09:00
In the sport of cycling, there's never really a shortage for crashes - and to that related injuries - yet the most recent crash of Tadej Pogacar at the Vuelta, or Finlay Tarling's fatal car collision in Portugal have reignited the discussions on the topic of rider safety.
Simon Geschke himself has had his fair share of crashes and injuries over the 16 years as a professional. Just the "classic" broken collarbone is something he encountered four times during his career. Now that's one of the injuries Tadej Pogacar has to deal with too.
The Slovenian phenomenon has been able to successfully evade any serious injuries for a vast part of his career, only encountering a broken wrist in the spring of 2023. That's quite rare for a professional cyclist who is always in the center of action.
Pogacar run out of luck
Geschke then states that the world champion's luck simply run out during the Vuelta's stage 8 after seven seasons at the top without any major setbacks. "As a professional cyclist, you know one thing for sure: you're going to crash – the only question is when," the 40-year-old told Sport Bild.
Now the most important thing for the Slovenian is to heal up properly for the sake of his future career. While a collarbone fracture should not pose any long-term drawbacks, there can never be too much caution around vertebra fractures and concussion consequences. "The risk is always there. At least I haven't suffered any lasting damage," Geschke adds.
Some take things too far
And while Pogacar's crash was more of an unfortunate accident caused by a loose rock on the road, a lot of in-race accidents can be accredited to human factor. More precisely, to reckless behaviour of certain individuals.
"Unfortunately, there are also some mentally ill people in the peloton who fight for the stage win without regard for losses, especially in big races like the Tour de France," said Geschke.
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At the same time, he sees a certain willingness to take risks as a prerequisite for a career in cycling: "As a professional cyclist, you simply have to be a little bit crazy."
Despite the risks, professionals have to block out these thoughts during the race, says Geschke. "As a professional cyclist, you block out the dangers. If you couldn't do that, you wouldn't get back in the saddle," said the former Tour de France stage winner.
Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
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- He only did what Pog did to him. Thomas got his the easy way, Prim lost his the hard way. Mas had plenty of chances to get his, he probably finally will but if he doesn’t it’s unlikely to be through Prim as there are no more TTs, if Mas loses now, it most likely will be due to his own management and why should Prim take that into consideration?Mistermaumau11-09-2026
- If you ride a bike and consider the behaviour of some in cars you can quite easily stretch your imagination a bit to see some part of their brain isn’t functioning properly. In fact, you also notice it quite often in amateur racing. It may be attitude towards risk and respect have changed over the generations so different generations may have problems agreeing what is normal today. Taking huge risks when it concerns only your life is poor judgement when it goes wrong, doing it when it affects others signals something went permanently wrong with judgement along the way, it’s less poor judgement than a complete inability or disregard for judgement or understanding of consequences. Shall we take Groenewegen as a case study?Mistermaumau11-09-2026
- Hope he’s not going to be one of those early peakers or constantly ill guys, we seem to be having enough trouble with improving lately. Mads, Ayuso, Healy, Onley, Lipowitz, Hindley, somehow, none have managed to break through to a higher level whilst De Lie & co. hardly made it to base camp.Mistermaumau11-09-2026
- Let's hope it's been mangled in translationwrsty11-09-2026
- Puzzled what mental illness has to be going for stage win. Crashes in the peleton have no link to mental illness just poor judgement riding or not paying attention. Please do not link mental illness to crashes .paultryan200211-09-2026
- I swear to god if Roglič does the same thing to Mas as he did to Thomas at the Giro, I'll fkn laugh my head off. LET HIM HAVE IT, ROGLA... crush him like your compatriot, Pogi The Great, would crush him. Baby Hulk would say "SMASH !!!"PogiSloFans11-09-2026
- I swear to god if Roglic does the same thing to Mas as he did to Thomas at the Giro, I'll fkn cry. LET HIM HAVE ONE, ROGLAwrsty11-09-2026
- It's called "supply and demand". People tend to be paid what they're worth (their discounted marginal value product). Just because he's the greatest cyclist, doesn't mean he would ever get paid what the greatest tennis player would be paid. There is more to the calculation than talent and hard work.acem8211-09-2026
- You’re going to have to come to correct often, CHF is dropping like a Tête de Moine rolling down from Bellelay.Mistermaumau10-09-2026
- So, I see despite my request that not only haven’t you reviewed your figures or commented since someone here did some better maths than you (thanks) but you made zero effort to think about the costs involved in collecting the fines. The original expression stems from written statements and promises that can’t be trusted but in the era of automation it received a second life when people started complaining about receiving bills (in the days when everything was done by post) to pay that didn’t cover the price of the stamp on the envelope let alone the costs of sending the bill, e.g rectification bills or utility bills for unoccupied lodgings. The minimum monthly salary in the poorest part of Switzerland is over 4000€ which sets employers back close to 6000€. UCI employees are unlikely to be on minimum salary, being sent abroad is likely to be associated with higher wages but also expenses to pay (travel & lodgings (different location every day), food & drink & a stipend) plus unseen expenses like insurance, min 4000km worth of fuel, etc. Then you forget office, admin & personnel costs, costs of enforcement and collection, accounting, bank fees, etc. run a company a while and see how money leaks out invisibly non-stop. Once there, a commissaire needs a vehicle, and a driver (can’t drive and officiate or write notes simultaneously) Up to stage 18 they fined 12400CHF, 3 stages left. EVEN if they sent only ONE commissaire, they’re not breaking even at this rate. With just 2, they’re losing. Of course by your calculation of raking in over 60k, yeah you could call it that way but you could also just write a fiction in your snazzy UCI office about a golden egg laying goose and earn far more from selling that than doing this, if it didn’t infringe copyright. Now, there is a possibility that these people aren’t even UCi employees but just officials paid fir missions. The going rate for that is 250CHF/day. Add 100 for hotel and 100 for expenses and you’re billing 450 a day for 30 days almost without the other necessary costs, same result.Mistermaumau10-09-2026
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