Cycling: "Today, we are safer in a Formula 1 at more than 300 km/h than on a bicycle on a Tour de France road"says Marc Madiot
“Today, we are safer in a Formula 1 at more than 300 km/h than on a bicycle on a road in the Basque Country or the Tour de France,” launches, Friday April 5, on franceinfo Marc Madiot, general manager of the Groupama-FDJ training as the Paris-Roubaix approaches. The race begins this Sunday and raises questions about the safety of runners and the risk of falls, while since the start of the year dozens of runners have fallen, sometimes violently, notably resulting in fractures.
For Marc Madiot, we arrive at this type of fall because of several factors: “Because it’s going faster and faster with more efficient bikes and with more and more competitive riders.” He estimates that the average level of the peloton is “extremely high” and that he does not have “never been so efficient”. The gaps between the riders and the different teams”tighten“, the pack “is therefore in a ball for longer, as we say in cycling jargon” therefore “we increase the risk”analyzes the manager, twice winner of Paris-Roubaix.
For him, when you have “cyclists who go faster and faster on roads that are more and more developed to go less and less quickly” at some point “It’s not happening anymore.” Faced with this situation, Marc Madiot believes that it is necessary to have “real action among cycle manufacturers to say that we are going back”. He thus draws a parallel with motorsport: “When things go too fast on a circuit, we do what is necessary in terms of aerodynamics to slow down the cars, we reduce the power of the engines, we find solutions to ensure safety.” He therefore expects the same for cycling.
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