Ever watch the first stages of the men’s TDF? Both this year and even more those narrow Brittany roads in 2021 saw nasty crashes.
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@Oblewis not trying to disrespect the ladies riding. Is it on the leadership of the race or teams trying to create something of the first year of its return pushing riders up levels of racing before they have the experience and skills to be efficient and proficient in a big peloton?
They’re all way more skilled and faster than I ever was or ever will be.
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Yes I have seen the other races, but that doesn’t take away from what happened to the TdF Femme, does it?
Here’s the video showing at 2:30 how the one rider went high speed into the crash, makes it more understandable.
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I feel awful for judging a rider on a split second decision made when adrenaline is pumping but it was a big mistake.
Not just her but her team-mate too.
When guys do something stupid in a bike race, we call them idiots. When girls do something stupid in bike races we call them girls.
That’s a problem.
Frain isn’t the first racer to stupidly plow into something they should have seen or otherwise ride like an idiot and she won’t be the last, man or woman.
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Is that what you were thinking after seeing the crashes at the men’s TDF?
C’mon, when you have a big group on a flattish fast stage with narrow roads, you’ll get crashes. In the mountains the peloton splinters and riders string out and you don’t see such a dramatic domino effect when there is a crash.
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Here’s a video of Mark Cavendish, someone who’s probably in the upper .001% in terms of fast pack riding experience and skills, riding headlong into a traffic barrier … Stuff happens in bike races.
Full version without slow mo - at about :35
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I was honestly expecting to wake up to news today that Frain had been DQed. That just looked sooooo incredibly irresponsible and dangerous…
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I’ve been racing triathlon for 20+ years (started at 18). I’m a decent cyclist in triathlon terms and can generally ride a 56 mile course in 2:10ish +/-, for reference.
I’d like for you to imagine being in Wilmington NC in October 2019, about 2 miles from the end of the 56 mile ride on a completely straight road. Imagine there is a sign in the cycling lane telling riders to stay to the left and traffic to the right. Then imagine @pvolb coming down the road at around 43 kph having a very good ride with nobody around and plowing straight into said sign, breaking collar bone, elbow, kneecap, and having a nice full back worth of road rash.
Unfortunately, I don’t have to imagine bc I remember it pretty damn well. I had my head buried so deep in the “turtle position” and was on straight road so it apparently never once dawned on me that Ironman would stick a sign in the middle of the road.
Basically, it happens. And I’m certainly not comparing myself to these women, as they are all far superior cyclists to me.
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In this interview she states the situation as it also looked like in the video. She comes from the back, actively decides to try to get through a gap between crashed riders, and thereby misjudged the situation.
“I sort of thought I’d make it through the gap but didn’t. I was going in pretty fast.”
At the same time many other riders had stopped already and take it easy by the sides, instead of trying to get through.
Yeah there is probably Adrenalin involved, it’s only a few seconds, and she may be a competent rider, still this is a major misjudgment. I feel so bad for the other riders that got hit, it hurts to see the crash.
Today’s pileup in the peloton was not minor either… must have been 50 riders in there.
Yeah that was a huge pile of bikes and bodies. the highlights showed at least one Moviestar rider out with a broken collarbone 
Really sucky way to have an event like this end.
Didn’t someone also get clipped by their team car yesterday? That was just DUMB driving that close.
Said rider “clipped” the team car after a bike exchange and sticky bottle. This was both rider and team car fault, the car should have faded back a long time before the accident and Mavi Garcia was on the limiter from the puncture and then the bike exchange she didn’t realize the car was still next to her.
I will not lie when I saw it live I thought for sure she was going to get ran over.
I have to hand it to these women, they are absolute troopers. They literally are bouncing off the ground and still racing and I saw (cant remember team or rider) change their own rear wheel with another rider after a puncture.
I dont think they are crashing any more than the men/males - I do however think that they have a lot of pressure and do not get near the experience that the men get for these race situations. I also imagine that special attention to gear is thrown out the window… I.E proper tire pressure for a women/light rider and positioning/fit on bike etc.
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There’s a lot of nervousness in the pack - including that sprint leader taking a wrong turn 500m before the finish (and at least 3 riders who almost followed her).
Also lack of signallying. There should have been something to block that exit, and a route marshall pointing the direction.
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Yeah, I just watched the summary video, but at one point the lead rider in the break was calling the turns for the rest of the riders…
Wha…? I would bet they ALL pay attention to tire pressure and bike fit. I’m a 50 year old female cyclist on a 14 year old Specialized Ruby, rocking a 105 groupset from 4 years back. My competitive experience extends to a few cyclosportives and short triathlons. Nevertheless, I got a bike fit when I started to do triathlons, and I always pay attention to tire pressure!
But I do agree that some women, at least at the back of the pack, lack the experience The womens prize purse is 10% of the mens - I think Paris Roubaix is the only race with prize parity. So women in the conti teams have to hold down day jobs.
Vos, by contrast, could have more pro racing (in all disciplines) under her belt than Pog or Vin.
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I think that may have came across a little off. What I meant is I don’t think there is as much women driven data to prove whatever they’re doing is most efficient for women.
I could be completely wrong but I imagine that all the data is driven from research done with men and then just translated over to what they think his best for women and they don’t actually put all the time money and resources into it
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Oh I see what you mean about lack of data - great point. Given that gendered data often doesn’t exist or is little known in medicine (heart attack symptoms come to mind), I’m sure that’s the case for bike physics!