"We have bikes so perfected that as soon as there are some weather problems or worse roads, we see crashes" - ASO director on Dauphine crash

Thierry Gouvenou, the technical director of the ASO races, delivered a few words after this 5th stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné. A tough day for the peloton which suffered a big fall around 20 kilometers from the finish. Around fifty riders were involved in this fall. The race direction made the decision to neutralize the race so that the riders could reach the finish in complete safety. 

Thierry Gouvenou began by taking stock of this fall. "There were around fifty riders involved in this fall. The doctor told me that there were six evacuations (Dylan Van Baarle and Steven Kruijswijk, Laurens Huys, Alex Mariault and Milan Menten). Now we are waiting for the news and medical advice to be able to decide. There will be a lot of scratches and injuries to treat this evening," lamented the former professional rider at interview with Cyclism'Actu.

The race was immediately neutralized after the fall to allow the riders involved to take their time to heal and assess the extent of the injuries of those who were hardest hit. "Despite the five ambulances that we had on the race, this was not enough. We had to call other ambulances from outside to evacuate the last injured riders and then hope to resume the race. It was going to take a long time, with the riders waiting in the rain."

"After a while, the decision was taken with the jury of commissioners to neutralize the stage and go to the finish at a controlled pace," explained Gouvenou. "In these moments, everyone has an opinion and everyone shares it. We listened to the riders but the real listening was at the level of the medical service which made us understand that it was going to take time to be able to collect the necessary ambulances and restart the race," admitted the technical director.

"With the president of the jury, we are in the car just behind the peloton and it is true that we have this spectacle right before our eyes live, it was enough to look at each other with the president to understand that we had to neutralize the race. It was obvious that the fall had a huge impact on the race and the riders and therefore we had to make a quick decision."

"We can clearly see that the riders were taking a lot of care when going down. Some even took their feet out, so yes, it's true that the road was slippery. I think we're reaching a critical moment where we have bikes so perfected that as soon as there are some weather problems or roads that are a little less in good condition, we see crashes or dangerous moments. It's a real problem today," he concluded.