The man who designs the course for every stage of the Tour de France has defended the choice of route for the final of yesterday's stage 3, which ended in a bunch sprint on a twisty road. The finish, which was always very likely to come down to a mass gallop, was not without controversy as Wout van Aert (Jumbo Visma) got squeezed into the barriers.
However, many cycling fans felt the twisty finish, and a slight shift in the crowd control barrier set-ups, was to blame for the incident more than the movement of stage winner Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck).
But now the designer of the course said it is getting harder every year to find straight roads in big cities for sprint finishes, even though UCI rules state the final part of courses should be straight.
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"We have to admit that the finish was indeed not straight, that is obvious," course designer Thierry Gouvenou to Sporza. "The officials in Bayonne had first made two other proposals (for the finish location), both of which I refused because it would be too dangerous. In the end, we landed on their third proposal."
"It's true that the finish wasn't ideal, but I think there are more crashes with a straight finish than with a curve. We shouldn't reason too strictly. Straight finishes are no guarantee for no crashes. They didn't crash at all yesterday, which is quite rare for a first bunch sprint in the Tour."
He added it had not been possible to finish on a straight street in Bayonne, adding people looking on did not realise the other factors that had to be accounted for when choosing a finish location.
"You also have to take into account that we need different technical zones and space for the public at the finish. So you need enough space. People don't think that so fast. We could also have driven to a city further on, where it might have been safer. But the riders might not have taken that after two tough stages in the Basque Country."
