'The teams are asking us to do more than we can' - French stage race organiser hits back at safety criticism after car incidents

The organiser of the French stage race Étoile de Bessèges has responded to safety criticism after nine teams withdrew from the event last week.

The race was affected by multiple incidents of cars entering the course, leading almost half of the teams to pull out, citing “unacceptable” conditions. On stage two, a public vehicle drove towards the oncoming peloton, while on stage three, the riders stopped in protest after encountering a car on a roundabout.

The race continued, with only 52 of the original 146 riders completing the event. Those who made it to the finish line, through cold and rainy weather, were labelled “warriors” by the Étoile de Bessèges organiser, Claudine Fangille.

“I really want to thank all the riders who are here today,” Fangille told Cyclism’Actu on Sunday.

“For the moment, I think we'll reflect on what to do next, with a clear head, next week. It's true that on Friday I said to myself, ‘Let’s stop everything’. There's no point in starting again because, if we understand correctly, the teams are asking us to do more than we can,” she said.

Ineos Grenadiers, Soudal Quick-Step and Lidl-Trek were among the nine teams who pulled out of the event, following the encounter with a car on stage three. In a team statement, Lidl-Trek wrote: “The safety of our riders is paramount and we felt not enough was being done.”

This sentiment was echoed by Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, who spoke of “continuing unsafe conditions, especially the vehicles on the course”.

UCI events, like the Étoile de Bessèges, are not required to have full road closures, but should at least have rolling closures for when the peloton passes. Regulations stress that no vehicles should be parked on the race route when the riders come by.

Speaking to DirectVelo over the weekend, Fangille pleaded with the riders to acknowledge the difficulties organisers face. “Besides ASO [the organiser of the Tour de France], who is really capable of totally closing the roads? We’re not able to,” she said.

“This morning at the sports directors’ meeting, the gendarmes told us that the riders didn’t always listen to them, and weren’t letting them easily get ahead of the peloton to secure the upcoming junctions. It’s complicated for everyone, and soon maybe there will only be a few races in France.”

Apart from Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, it was mostly the French teams who chose to continue racing at the Étoile de Bessèges. Jean-René Bernaudeau, general manager of TotalEnergies, said withdrawing from the race was “out of the question” for his team.

“The organisers certainly shouldn’t be blamed. We all know how hard it is to organise events,” Bernaudeau told Cyclism’Actu. “There are WorldTour events that have recurring safety problems and nobody says anything. It’s not good. I have a lot of respect for the organisers here. What would we do without them?”

UCI safety rules stipulate that, if road traffic is not stopped on race route, the organiser could receive a fine of between CHF 10,000 and 50,000 (£8,853-£44,265).

The UCI announced on Friday that it is investigating “two separate incidents” of motor vehicles entering the race route at Étoile de Bessèges.