Bernhard Eisel has called on professional riders to show greater unity when faced with the cases of extreme weather in races.
The experienced Team Sky rider was speaking at the start of the Driedaagse De Panne-Koksijde, race that saw the first twelve kilometres neutralized, as high winds again buffeted the peloton. The riders faced a similar scenario in Sunday’s Gent-Wevelgem and despite a brief respite, as Eisel led a collective neutralization, the race went ahead, but was littered with crashes, abandonment, broken bones and further debate about rider safety and racing extreme weather conditions.
“I just don’t know why we have to risk our lives. It’s not the sponsors or the race organisers putting us under pressure, it’s just us, the riders. It’s always us,” Eisel told Cyclingnews.
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“We’re riding the bikes and we’re making the decisions and it’s not the pressure from team cars or sponsors, it’s us. Today we found the solution and we’re going to start the race a bit later and you have to make that call beforehand.”
The peloton underwent a similar scenario in last month Tour of Oman, although instead of winds and rain they were racing in extreme heat and in 2010 the Tour de France was famously neutralized on the stage to Spa. The stage finish in the snow at Tirreno-Adriatico also sparked a huge debate. Eisel, who has been part of several UCI committees in his long career, acknowledged that the sport needed to protect its own investments and that while races needed security, the safety of the peloton still appears to be a secondary concern.
“There are millions of Euros out on the road when we race and that’s the capital of the teams and you can’t keep putting that in danger,” he told Cyclingnews.
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