Race courses are closed to vehicular traffic during bike races. The only cars and motorcycles allowed on the course belong to the teams, neutral technical support, race officials, and the media, and those vehicles are always traveling in the same direction of the peloton.
At least, that’s what’s supposed to happen.
So when a random public car suddenly appeared on the course about 60K from the finish of Sunday’s final stage of Paris-Nice traveling towards the riders who were descending the first-category Côte de Peille at high speeds, everyone’s collective heart stopped.
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“Now how on earth has that happened?”
Cycling commentator Rob Hatch kept it relatively civil (he is British, after all) as he was commenting on what was happening in real time as he was calling the race. “Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear,” he said. “Now how on earth has that happened? I’m angry seeing things like that in a pro race.”
After the stage ended, racers were not quite as reserved in expressing their feelings about what could have very easily become a deadly situation. The fact that no one crashed almost seems miraculous.
“Another day in the death race.”
Florian Sénéchal, who races for Soudal-Quick Step, was much for direct, taking to Twitter to call out race organizers for “another day in the death race.” It wasn’t just the car that could have potentially caused grave injuries, according to Sénéchal.
Not the first times there were vehicle on the course during Paris-Nice this year
The French athlete also posted multiple photos of hard-to-see speedbumps that littered the same descent and were hard to see, especially when traveling at high speeds, that created seriously dangerous conditions.
Sénéchal had condemned race organizers on Twitter following Stage 5 as well after there were public vehicles using a roundabout at the same time as the peloton was passing through it. Again, how are these drivers even ending up on what is supposed to be a closed course?
“That could have been an absolute nightmare,” Hatch commented. “Organizers really need to get a grip.” We couldn’t agree more.
Natascha Grief got her first bike shop job before she was old enough to drink. After a six-year stint as a mechanic, earning a couple pro-mechanic certifications and her USA Cycling Race Mechanics license, she became obsessed with framebuilding and decided she wanted to do that next. After Albert Eistentraut literally shooed her off his doorstep, admonishing that if she pursued framebuilding she will be poor forever, she landed an apprenticeship with framebuilder Brent Steelman in her hometown of Redwood City, CA. After that, she spent several years working for both large and not-so-large cycling brands. Somewhere in there she also became a certified bike fitter. Natascha then became a certified personal trainer and spent nine years honing her skills as a trainer and coach, while also teaching Spin. During the dumpster fire that was the year 2020, she opened a fitness studio and began contributing regularly to Runner’s World and Bicycling as a freelance writer. In 2022, she joined the staff of Bicycling as News Editor.
