Pro Cycling Deaths

 Cyclists Get Killed

The recent tragic death of Finlay Tarling made ol' Zio wonder if someone proposed professional bicycle roadracing today, as if it was a new sport, what would happen? 

"OK boys, here's what I am proposing: We dress athletes up in spandex dancing costumes with styrofoam (like in your beer cooler) hats on their heads in-case they crash. We put 'em on super-light, super rigid plastic bicycles with rigid plastic slab-sided wheels. We get 200 of 'em to race in a huge pack over public roads. It will be an awesome spectacle! On public roads you ask? Sure, think of the scenery, the crowds at the roadside, the challenge of going up and down, across flat fields into the wind. It'll be great!"

Would someone then point out that years ago this was done using racing cars and motorcycles, but the danger to participants and spectators proved too great, so they moved racing to closed circuits? Would they ask how do you propose to keep private vehicles off these public roads during the racing?

My guess is that in 2026 nobody would grant approval for such a thing, yet it's widely popular despite the risks. Now and then a spectator gets hit and killed by a vehicle officially on the course, but you don't read much about that. Now and then a competitor gets killed, most often when he or she crashes, either from their own mistake or one made by another competitor.

But now and then a competitor gets killed because the control of the race course failed in some way. In the Tarling case they say a driver thought the race had passed-by, but failed to consider the dropped riders along with the "broom wagon" that usually has a big sign indicating that's the end of the race caravan - so the road can then be re-opened. They say he even asked spectators, but they seemed not to know any more about bike racing than the driver so nobody said "Wait for the broom wagon!" and the driver entered the course, going the wrong way.

This happened to Marco Pantani in 1995. A 4X4 vehicle came out of the woods and onto the course, eventually with a head-on collision that put Pantani and others into the hospital. Amazingly nobody was killed. Cycling resolved to do better with course control though in that case one wonders what could have prevented it?

And what does the head of the pro riders union have to say? Sadly, THIS but don't forget this guy seems only to get wound-up about "safety" when it's the Giro d'Italia and cold/wet weather so Zio won't hold his breath waiting for concrete actions from this clown. There are a few pros retiring after this season, can we hope one of them wants this job?

But we continue to see motorists somehow getting onto the course despite the efforts of the organizers, police, volunteers, etc. And now this.

A lot of hand-wringing and condolences. That'll fix it! At least the author did point-out that the UCI is trying to do something with SAFER and noted the opposition to it from a certain cycling components company.

Are they the only ones who seem to put profits/sales before safety? When so little seems to be getting done trying to make cycling safer Zio has to wonder. Perhaps it's time for a kind-of "put up or shut up" question to see how much the bicycle industry actually cares about the safety of those they employ to promote their products by racing with them?

Perhaps it's time for some boycotts of bicycle industry companies who stand in the way of efforts to make cycling safer? Would that get their attention? Would it result in improvements? Zio thinks it's worth a try!