"We should be able to sanction the organizers" - Cyrille Guimard heavily critical of rider safety at the Vuelta a Espana

Rarely has a Grand Tour had such a chaotic opening week as the one seen by the 2023 Vuelta a Espana. Whilst there has been plenty of on-bike drama, it's the questionable organisation of the race that has caught Cyrille Guimard's attention.

"Is it bad luck? No, luck does not exist, we provoke it, and here we did not provoke luck, but bad luck," the Frenchman says in his rest day column for Cyclism'Actu. "First of all, what is a team time trial doing on a circuit which is even more tortuous than the World Championship circuit, and what's more you finish in the night. It's ridiculous, unacceptable."

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In Guimard's opinion, the worst part of the poor race organisation is the seeming lack of punishment to those involved. Javier Guillen recently apologised to Remco Evenepoel after the Belgian crashed into a crowd following his stage win on stage 3.

"Who is going to take a sanction?" Guimard questions. "The rider who throws a bottle or pees on the side of the road has a sanction, but does the organizer who sends the guys into the barriers have a sanction? No! What sanction will be taken? Well, wolves don't eat each other, we know that well. We should be able to sanction the organizers. Security is like everything: when we talk about it a lot, it’s because it doesn’t exist."

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