A fall and a run over in the race: cyclists stand up and demand more security from the UCI

In the last weeks the cycling competition is returning little by little to the normality in spite of the still present risks of the Coronavirus, but it is paradoxical that this has not been the reason that the professional cyclists have had to neutralize 10 km of the fifth day in the Criterium of the Dauphiné as protest to the lack of security in the race.

A imagem assusta, mas as lesões, embora graves, poderiam ter sido piores. Fratura na pélvis e contusão pulmonar. Fora do resto da temporada. Remco Evenepoel é um fenômeno belga, 20 anos, que vem ganhando tudo que disputa. #ciclismonaespn pic.twitter.com/oV90CoIf0Y

— Renan do Couto (@renandocouto) August 15, 2020

Cyclists protest against lack of safety in competition

Ten days ago, Fabio Jakobsen suffered a terrible sprint fall in the Tour of Poland that left him in a coma and yesterday we saw how in the Giro de Lombardia, Remco Evenepoel fell on a bend and fractured his pelvis, miraculously saving his life, while Maximilian Schachmann was run over by a car that had run into the course.

| Bizar. Een auto op het parcours van #ILombardia. Gelukkig zonder gevolgen voor Schachmann pic.twitter.com/IamNOn3tEW

— Eurosport Nederland (@Eurosport_NL) August 15, 2020

That cycling is a risky sport is already known to all professional amateurs who love this sport, but the number of serious accidents we have seen in recent days feels like too much.

#TDP2020 | ESCALOFRIANTE ACCIDENTE en el final de la 1a etapa de la Vuelta a Polonia. Aún no hay parte médico ni resultados oficiales tras el brutal cierre de Groenewegen sobre Jakobsen.

@SenalDeportes pic.twitter.com/44iXyEUHJr

— Mundo Ciclístico (@mundociclistico) August 5, 2020

The cyclists who are competing in the Tour de Dauphiné with the support of the Professional Cyclists Association have decided to neutralize the first 10 kilometers of the fifth stage in protest and demanding greater security measures from both the UCI and the organizers. It seems a fair claim if we take into account that some of the accidents, like Fabio Jakobsen's, could have been mitigated by changing a little bit the route of the stage and avoiding a downhill finish, or at least that is one of the specific claims we have seen many professional cyclists make in social networks.