saxo and argos in katousha out...

[thom]

Like there isn't anyway! It can get hectic in any stage race during an early flat stage, whether there are 100 or 200 makes not a lot of odds when teams are fighting to get position for their sprint trains. There are usually only half dozen to ten teams seriously going at it, and after that it's simply a length of peloton matter, with more people available to fall off if it all goes wrong when they are hanging on chewing the bars.

It isn't just the sprinters at the start though - nearly every team has a couple of GC candidates who they are paranoid about being held up by a crash outside the final 3 km.
Last year's TdF route invited crazy racing at times in the first week, picking narrow, windy, rolling roads that didn't cause a significant selection before the end. Every team was fresh and keen for a result - I remember a lot of complaints. Ryder Hesjedaal, supposedly in better shape after the Giro, was one who was forced out after a crash caused by one of Petacchi's team mates losing control at 70 kph while Petacchi gave him his overshoes in a closely bunched peloton. So the sprinters teams contribute to the melee too and we lost Hesjedaal from contributing to the contest.
Point is, you might have thought organisers would be prioritising rider safety in general after Wouter Weylandt's death showed how bad accidents can be.

 

[oldroadman]

It isn't just the sprinters at the start though - nearly every team has a couple of GC candidates who they are paranoid about being held up by a crash outside the final 3 km.
Last year's TdF route invited crazy racing at times in the first week, picking narrow, windy, rolling roads that didn't cause a significant selection before the end. Every team was fresh and keen for a result - I remember a lot of complaints. Ryder Hesjedaal, supposedly in better shape after the Giro, was one who was forced out after a crash caused by one of Petacchi's team mates losing control at 70 kph while Petacchi gave him his overshoes in a closely bunched peloton. So the sprinters teams contribute to the melee too and we lost Hesjedaal from contributing to the contest.
Point is, you might have thought organisers would be prioritising rider safety in general after Wouter Weylandt's death showed how bad accidents can be.

I take your point about safe routes. But organisers are sometimes obliged to take routes they might not prefer, because even in the "cycling" countries there is pressure to keep clear of main routes where they can, or to divert off using smaller roads. In any case, be assured that rolling along a big main road can be just as tricky, simply because you get a wide front to the peloton which fills the road.
Wouter's accident was initially a crash that could have happened to anyone, anywhere, in any race, but ended in tragedy, as sadly happens now and again. Racing has it's dangers, and we are sharply reminded of it every now and then, losing one of our own.
The back roads can be difficult, and as you correctly say, the GC players like to be kept in the front third, to minimise crash possibilities, and more importantly chances of being delayed. A chase back almost always works, but all those extra bits of energy used add up over a long stage race, and time lost on a flat stage is hard to get back until the climbs or TTs come along.
All that said, for dodgy finishes in small towns, Italy and Spain have got the edge!

 

[Flying_Monkey]

Great piece from Inner Ring which reveals that there is much more to this, and that the 'ethical' issues weren't the half of it. Reading this, I think the UCI licensing panel were right to question Katusha's application - the massive expenses remain completely unexplained, leading one to suspect that the team might have been used for some kind of money laudering purposes... but who knows?

 

[smutchin]

Very interesting. UCI caught out doing the right thing for once!

 

[VamP]

Is it shallow of me to be glad that Katyusha are still in, on the basis they have the best looking TT bike?