Belgian potholes

[Grandad]

[
Makes UK lanes look like billiard tables.

This picture was taken by a rider in the Tour de Wallonie.. No wonder they had so many crashes.

[reohn2]

Been watching it on TV,gravel roads(Strada Bianca) and cobbles(Belgium and France) are one thing and a known entity at the strat of a race,but those potholes were bl@@dy ridiculous on a road race even for Belgium.
Crashing is part of racing but making crashes most certainly ain't

[eileithyia]

I hadn't seen this but that is horrendous.
In genral the amount of crashes is a bit puzzling.... The early season classics are run on some of the same roads as the Wallonie and no one seems to have these crashes along with those on descents on other races that have gone ahead recently.

Thinking back to previous years Le Tour often has crashes in the first week due to rider nervousness. This year many pros are not road experienced as much of their training has been on turbos or in smaller groups... their experience on the road and in large groups is lacking and they are chasing into situations possibly in their eagerness to ensure they are picking up results in a very reduced season.

[De Sisti]

[
Makes UK lanes look like billiard tables.

This picture was taken by a rider in the Tour de Wallonie.. No wonder they had so many crashes.

Was the rider off the front of the bunch (usually there are motorbike out-riders), or way off the back,
(making his own way back to the team hotel)?:)

[Cyril Haearn]

Perfectly possible to negotiate slowly on a suitable machine with fat tyres

[mjr]

I hadn't seen this but that is horrendous.
In genral the amount of crashes is a bit puzzling.... The early season classics are run on some of the same roads as the Wallonie and no one seems to have these crashes along with those on descents on other races that have gone ahead recently.

The classics are usually on similar routes every year, which means segments are more familiar to the riders, as well as to the race organiser who know what usually needs repairing or preparing, and I suspect local government is a bit more cautious about installing signs, bollards, islands and so on along that route. Even the classics that vary their routes don't usually vary ever so much.

By contrast, the Tour de Wallonie (and the Benelux Tour and other stage races around there) use very different routes every year, which are less familiar to the riders and less familiar to the organisers. They only have to miss one hazard and people are taking pictures for online media, at best.