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 street 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 strategy street to the cobbled sector.
The current crash at Dwars door Vlaanderen, involving Wout Van Aert and plenty of others have highlighted the hazards of high-speed crashes.
The Forest of Arenberg, also called the trouée d’Arenberg, is the roughest and most treacherous stretch of cobbles in Paris-Roubaix. It’s 2.3km lengthy and sometimes 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 usually 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 little thing might change this yr and maybe for ever.
In line with L’Equipe, the Cyclistes Professionnels Associés (CPA) riders affiliation has requested race director Thierry Gouvenou to discover a approach 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 mentioned, highlighting the hazards of this sector.
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Gouvenou has some concepts on easy methods 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 thought 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 mentioned on Tuesday in the course of the official recon of the race route by race organiser ASO.
“At the moment, they hit the Forest of Arenberg at about 60 km/h. If we might decelerate to 30-35 km/h, it will be much less dangerous. And that might spotlight the problem of the Trouée too as a result of the riders would arrive with out momentum.”
Any change should be authorized by the native authorities, nonetheless, as a result of any further turns or chicanes might additionally end in crashes earlier than the pavé and native authorities are chargeable for street design and in the end sign-off race permits.
“I wrote to the riders, warning them that there could be higher braking earlier than the Trouée,” Gouvenou defined.
“They advised me that they most well-liked to brake exhausting and danger falling on the tarmac quite than coming into the Trouée at 60 km/h.”
Speeds of Paris-Roubaix have risen sharply lately with the advance of aerodynamic gear with the common pace report damaged thrice up to now six editions. The 2023 race ran at 46.84kph. greater than a kilometre per hour faster than the earlier yr’s report.
Quick race are anticipated in each the ladies’s and males’s races on Saturday and Sunday with doable tail winds and dry and heat situations.
“The riders are a little bit on edge and are asking us for a little bit extra safety to enter the trouée, that does not appear illogical to us,” Gouvenou mentioned.
“However it could be essential to suppose in the long term, particularly concerning the bikes and gear, that are the explanations for sure falls.”
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