Paarl de Ville Road Race

[Jbr]

Bottom line is race organisers put on a race with 1 ambulance .

So when the first person hit the deck in cat 1 there was basically no medical backup.

When the second person hit the deck(lady in woman’s race quite bad),no one to help except passers by.

All racers got neutralised(either cruised at low speed or made to stop at side of road) while organisers phoned frantically around for another ambulance.

Profit over rider safety IMO.

I would expect that if you going to put on a race there should be minimum standards that you need to follow.

I hope this just doesn’t get brushed off as it could easily have ended tragically.Hopefully the WP road commissionaire will act.( even the commissars following the race said they been complaining for long time about the limited number of medics and commissars.)

I’m waiting for someone to communicate on the guy who hit the deck hard in the early crash in cat 1 (after 3km), from what I’ve seen the marshall car went next to the bunch on the right side of the road and then seemed to push back into the bunch causing the crash. The crash happened behind me so I’m not entirely sure but I did see the car next to us before I heard that horrible noise behind.

Apparently some guy got hurt on his face really really bad.

 

On the other hand after the restart there was quite a bit of a crosswind and most of the bunch was riding on the other side of the road forcing oncoming cars to drive on the grass...

 

That pissed me off and I decided together with a few other riders that it wasn’t worth it. We just made our way back to the cars and left after lap 2.

 

Organisers aren’t the only ones who ****** up today. I’m not happy with what we showed today.

Edited April 11, 2021 by Jbr

[martinh]

Cat2 bunch was also way too big. They should have split the juniors and Cat2 riders. 

[K20Champ]

Extremely disappointing event, they need to sort it out before the next event.

[J Wakefield]

1 ambulance for day? Impressive.

[DieselnDust]

I'm not sure these races are such a good idea at the moment. There's not enough paramedic staff to go around with the them working with fewer staff on shift to adhere to the numbers requirements. Maybe I'm wrong on this one.

A single ambulance for the day isn't ideal, especially when factoring in the fact that haven't had a decent race since last years CTCT. Everyone's rusty

[babse]

Keen to see actually numbers from today... So much to improve on. Hope fallen riders are okay.

 

Happy to see racing back but organizers need to do better!

 

Having raced yesterday at WP XCO its really chalk and cheese with organization & covid protocol albeit the numbers were completely different.

 

I hope they learn and get it right next time!

[FootballingCyclist]

 

On the other hand after the restart there was quite a bit of a crosswind and most of the bunch was riding on the other side of the road forcing oncoming cars to drive on the grass...

 

That pissed me off and I decided together with a few other riders that it wasn’t worth it. We just made our way back to the cars and left after lap 2.

 

Organisers aren’t the only ones who ****** up today. I’m not happy with what we showed today.

This....

 

There aren't full road closures, we know that from the start, So if you on the right side of the white line you should be DQ'd, End of!!

[babse]

This....

 

There aren't full road closures, we know that from the start, So if you on the right side of the white line you should be DQ'd, End of!!

until they start actually start DQ'n individuals, sadly it will just continue

[FootballingCyclist]

until they start actually start DQ'n individuals, sadly it will just continue

Correct, Our commissaire mentioned it 1000 times before the race and then when the race started not even 2kms in, the guys are all over the road and the commissaire does nothing. Start making an example of a few and the rest will start to tow the line.

[bleedToWin]

Correct, Our commissaire mentioned it 1000 times before the race and then when the race started not even 2kms in, the guys are all over the road and the commissaire does nothing. Start making an example of a few and the rest will start to tow the line.

Probably necessary, but I feel like a more subtle approach could also be used.

Yellow flag the back half of the bunch that is are all in the uncoming lane. They then have to come to a complete stop and are then allowed to resume racing. 

 

[bleedToWin]

... not even 2kms in, the guys are all over the road and the commissaire does nothing...

I thought the commissaire responded by smashing his car into the bunch from the side?   

[Jbr]

My 2 cents. Safety car in the front, marshall bikes at the back (like at the DC), that is easier to police the bunch than with a car, shout at them, etc. 

 

And I agree people should be punished for drafting on the other side of the road. I did overtake once or twice, but on 100km I must have spent in total maybe 45 secs on the on the other side, to overtake, and when there was no oncoming trafic. Now seeing the guys just rolling and not giving a **** that oncoming cars had to clear the road to avoid collisions really pissed me off. Then no wonder why other road users hate us...

Edited April 12, 2021 by Jbr

[DieselnDust]

a rolling road closure is the only real answer. any intervention by the commissaires vehicle places the riders in danger. If you not in the main bunch then its haaarties.

[megs85]

Bottom line is race organisers put on a race with 1 ambulance .

So when the first person hit the deck in cat 1 there was basically no medical backup.

When the second person hit the deck(lady in woman’s race quite bad),no one to help except passers by.

All racers got neutralised(either cruised at low speed or made to stop at side of road) while organisers phoned frantically around for another ambulance.

Profit over rider safety IMO.

I would expect that if you going to put on a race there should be minimum standards that you need to follow.

I hope this just doesn’t get brushed off as it could easily have ended tragically.Hopefully the WP road commissionaire will act.( even the commissars following the race said they been complaining for long time about the limited number of medics and commissars.)

[megs85]

 

Bottom line is race organisers put on a race with 1 ambulance .

So when the first person hit the deck in cat 1 there was basically no medical backup.

When the second person hit the deck(lady in woman’s race quite bad),no one to help except passers by.

All racers got neutralised(either cruised at low speed or made to stop at side of road) while organisers phoned frantically around for another ambulance.

Profit over rider safety IMO.

I would expect that if you going to put on a race there should be minimum standards that you need to follow.

I hope this just doesn’t get brushed off as it could easily have ended tragically.Hopefully the WP road commissionaire will act.( even the commissars following the race said they been complaining for long time about the limited number of medics and commissars.)

 

There were 4 woman who hit the deck. 1 so bad her dad eventually picked her up and rushed her to hospital as they couldn't wait any more. They needed at least 3 ambulances alone for that crash

[mecheng89]

*grabs popcorn*