The consequences and responsibilities behind the cancellation of the chaos-filled finale of stage 1 of the Volta ao Algarve will likely ripple through the peloton and cycling in general for days and weeks to come. But even in the immediate aftermath, the division of opinions was already becoming clear.
Some riders at the forefront of the bunch as it bore through and out – in two directions – from a roundabout on the ill-fated final kilometre of the stage from Portimao to Lagos laid the blame fair and square on the organisers and the lack of signalling.
Others simply said they were, logically enough, following wheels and yet others argued a lack of recons had their effect as well.
Lotto lead-out rider Jarrad Drizners has insisted that the lack of correct signalling in the finale of the Volta ao Algarve stage 1 was responsible for the chaos that left numerous riders off course and out of the running for what should have been a bunch sprint and which ultimately culminated in a race cancellation.
But although the organisers have blamed themselves in an official statement for “not doing enough” to avoid what happened, Drizners own team leader Arnaud De Lie has said that some of the fault did not entirely lie with the race itself and that riders should have studied the finish more.
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As the Algarve bunch built for a first stage victory and mass dash for the line at Lagos, Drizners was the rider closest to the TV motorbike just ahead of the race.
However, as he told Sporza.be, the wrong turn he took was due to the lack of signage at a crucial roundabout, 800 metres from the line.
“It’s a stupid mistake, but there was no clear signalling,” said Drizners. “If you watch the replay, you’ll see me in the middle of the roundabout already looking around.
“There were no barriers either until we were on the straight [after the roundabout]. It happened so quickly and instinct took over. We did a recon yesterday, but it was very unclear and that cost everyone in the peloton dearly.”
His team leader De Lie added to different media as he warmed down at the side of the Lotto bus after the finish. “Everyone knows it’s to the left. We did a recon yesterday. But the first rider just follows the [motor] bike.
“At the risk of saying what I think, the situation unfolded because of the first rider who followed the motorbike, where the deviation was situated. Everybody knows that that bike never crosses the finish line and it has to leave the route at a given moment.
“The place where the deviation was placed was, I’d say, natural. We came to see this spot twice, in the last two days, and everybody knew that you had to go left at the roundabout.
“But when you’re on the right-hand side of the road [at that point] and everybody goes right, it’s hard to jump over other riders. This isn’t a video game.”
De Lie argued that others wanted to compare the situation with the dangerous events that plagued another early season race, the Etoile de Bessèges, where vehicles invaded the road on two occasions this February, causing a mass withdrawal from the race.
“But the situations are very different, I thought the race here was very well organised all day. When I saw we were on the wrong side of the road, I didn’t sprint, then when I saw others still pursuing their effort, I said to myself ‘Oh, they still think they’re on the route’.”
De Lie added that given the amount of technology now available to check over a finale, that “forms part of our job. Cycling is already dangerous enough as it is.”
Others, though, like Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) also agreed with Drizners that a lack of barriers added to the confusion, telling the VTM tv station that the situation smacked of “amateurism.”
“I realised what had happened, I came out of that last corner and I saw the barriers on the other side of the road. I knew we would sprint on that side, so I thought we’d been sent in the wrong direction. I thought there was a chicane somewhere, but at 400 metres from the finish, I saw lots of people making a sign to slow down,” he said.
“They should have put in more barriers so there wouldn’t have been that kind of confusion.”
The majority of those affected, like veteran Basque racer Ion Izagirre (Cofidis) said there was no way of changing the course of the bunch once they had made the error through no fault of their own. There was also – before the commissaires’ decision to annul the stage was made official – concern that they might be off the race.
“I had no idea what was happening, I just followed the bunch and that’s all I could do,” he told Cycling News, “I’ve never seen anything like that ever in my career, and I just hope nobody was hurt.”
Michael Valgren (EF Education-EasyPost) told Cycling News shortly after the finish. “We were all going in the wrong direction, I don’t have a clue what happened, I just saw people waving their arms. I didn’t know why, I saw the guys on the other side of the road.” Let’s see if I’m in the race tomorrow or not.
“It’s a shame because otherwise, it’s a really well organised race. This is just a big mess-up. It was so hard to see what was happening when it happened, but I would say there was not a clear sign to go left.”
Stage ‘winner’ Filippo Ganna initially was adamant that he had won, saying “If a rider takes the wrong way, it’s not our problem”.
“You do what you do, I won and that’s it.” However, once it became clear that it was no longer possible for him to be declared the winner, he refused to talk to reporters.
Others like Marco Haller (Tudor ProCycling) were simply furious with how the events had unfolded, calling it “a joke” and that there needed to be consequences for the race organisers.
“You could see that on the last kilometre, the deviation wasn’t blocked by the officials, and obviously when the riders are coming, they follow the motorbikes, like they always do,” he said.
“And for me, it’s pretty ridiculous because we suffered 190km to put ourselves in the perfect position and then it is basically everything for nothing.
“It is a joke. Something where there need to be consequences for the officials and the organisers because it cannot always be the riders who are to blame. We are in the heat of the moment, it is a race situation, and it is frustrating.
“It is always the same finish, but this is why we have fences, we have officials, and motorbikes who guide us, that was just poor. It is very frustrating for all of the riders because we want to have the best one to win it – and not by chance.”
