Paris-Roubaix might turn into much less terrifying and considerably safer for riders if the organisers ASO can persuade native authorities so as to add chicanes to the highway on the entrance of the Forest of Arenberg sector.
The peloton usually hurtles into this five-star sector of cobbles at 60 kilometres per hour, with riders sprinting down the quick and straight method highway to the cobbled sector.
The latest crash at Dwars door Vlaanderen, involving Wout Van Aert and lots of others have highlighted the risks of high-speed crashes.
The Forest of Arenberg, also referred to as the trouée d’Arenberg, is the roughest and most treacherous stretch of cobbles in Paris-Roubaix. It’s 2.3km lengthy and infrequently the location of crashes as a result of riders come into the Arenberg forest with a lot pace that any contact of the brakes on the slick pavé typically results in a fall. Kasper Asgreen and different riders have been concerned in a crash within the Forest of Arenberg within the 2023 Paris-Roubaix.
But every part might change this yr and maybe for ever.
In response to L’Equipe, the Cyclistes Professionnels Associés (CPA) riders affiliation has requested race director Thierry Gouvenou to discover a technique to gradual the peloton earlier than coming into the Forest of Arenberg.
“I’ve raced right here twelve occasions, and twelve occasions I’ve arrived in entrance of the trouée d’Arenberg questioning how I used to be going to make it out,” Gouvenou stated, highlighting the risks of this sector.
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Gouvenou has some concepts on tips on how to cut back the tempo by including a number of turns or chicanes earlier than the Porte du Hainaut that marks the doorway to the Arenberg forest.
“The concept is so as to add some turns to decelerate the peloton and stretch it out, a bit just like the chicane system on vehicle circuits,” Gouvenou stated on Tuesday through the official recon of the race route by race organiser ASO.
“At present, they hit the Forest of Arenberg at about 60 km/h. If we might decelerate to 30-35 km/h, it might be much less dangerous. And that may spotlight the issue of the Trouée too as a result of the riders would arrive with out momentum.”
Any change should be accredited by the native authorities, nevertheless, as a result of any additional turns or chicanes might additionally end in crashes earlier than the pavé and native authorities are chargeable for highway design and finally sign-off race permits.
“I wrote to the riders, warning them that there could be better braking earlier than the Trouée,” Gouvenou defined.
“They informed me that they most well-liked to brake laborious and threat falling on the tarmac slightly than coming into the Trouée at 60 km/h.”
Speeds of Paris-Roubaix have risen sharply in recent times with the advance of aerodynamic tools with the common pace document damaged 3 times up to now six editions. The 2023 race ran at 46.84kph. greater than a kilometre per hour faster than the earlier yr’s document.
Quick race are anticipated in each the ladies’s and males’s races on Saturday and Sunday with potential tail winds and dry and heat situations.
“The riders are just a little on edge and are asking us for just a little extra safety to enter the trouée, that does not appear illogical to us,” Gouvenou stated.
“However it could be essential to assume in the long term, specifically concerning the bikes and tools, that are the explanations for sure falls.”
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