'Absolute carnage' - Should gravel 'lottery' have been included on Stage 4 of Tour de France Femmes?
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Updated 27/07/2022 at 15:23 GMT
Stage 4 of Tour de Frances Femmes featured four gravel sections and produced plenty of incidents as riders suffered mechanical issues and punctures. Former Dutch professional Iris Slappendel was travelling the course on the back of a motorbike and said she felt "really sorry" for the riders due to the "crazy" conditions. Mavi Garcia (UAE Team ADQ) also fell after colliding with a team car.
'It is hard to explain how big the chaos is' - Slappendel on gravel havoc at TDFF
Iris Slappendel questioned whether gravel sections should have been included on Tour de France Femmes after “absolute carnage” on Stage 4 of the race.
The 127km Stage 4 route featured four separate sections of gravel track, testing the handling skills, and fortune, of all the riders.
While there were no major incidents involving the General Classification favourites, Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar) and Elisa Balasmo (Trek–Segafredo) both suffered mechanical issues and yellow jersey Marianne Vos (Jumbo-Visma) had to recover after veering from the gravel.
Mavi Garcia (UAE Team ADQ), who fell heavily on a tarmac section after colliding with a team car, also had a mechanical issue.
“It’s hard to explain how big the chaos is behind the peloton especially on the gravel section,” said former Dutch professional Slappendel, who was travelling the course on the back of a motorbike in her role as a Eurosport analyst.
“It’s absolute carnage between the team cars, the riders have mechanicals, bike changes, etc. It’s really crazy and I am seriously wondering if these gravel sectors should be in a big race like this.
“It feels like being in the middle of a lottery and it doesn’t feel right.
“We have been lucky so far that the GC favourites are still in the front group, but it’s really crazy.”
Marlen Reusser (Team SD Worx) won the stage while Vos retained the yellow jersey after coming home in fifth place.
"It was crazy," added a dust-caked Slappendel after the race.
"I felt really sorry for the riders, the gravel was so bad. I saw riders crashing, mechanicals, flat tyres, very stressed sporting directors in the car. It was another level from anything I have seen before."
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‘Disastrous!’ – Team car wipes out Garcia at Tour de France Femmes
The debate over the inclusion of gravel sections at Tour de France Femmes comes just a few weeks after Bradley Wiggins raised concerns over a cobbled stage early in the men’s Tour de France.
The fifth stage of the race saw green jersey Wout van Aert crash and one of the pre-race favourites Primoz Roglic lose considerable time to rival Tadej Pogacar.
“As much of a spectacle as the cobbled stages are to the viewers and to us we see the carnage it causes and we see the damage it does to people who prepare for this race all year long,” said former Tour champion Wiggins on the Bradley Wiggins Podcast.
“And I ask the question: is it a necessity to have one stage like this in the first week with everything else that we have that is so specific and so much for a specialist that, I mean yes we could argue that Tadej comes through it and the best all-around riders come through it, but there is a lot of luck involved isn’t there?”
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