The 2025 Itzulia Basque Country will start unusually at Vitoria's Buesa Arena, reflecting ongoing concerns over race safety following a significant crash in 2024. Notably, Jonas Vingegaard expressed his reluctance to allow his children to become professional cyclists, attributing some crashes to reckless racing behavior and inadequate safety measures by race organizers. The aftermath of the April crash, which led to multiple high-profile injuries and rider exits, has left a lasting impact on the sport, prompting discussions on improving safety protocols and race conditions.
As recently as February in an interview during the Volta ao Algarve, Vingegaard spoke about how he would not let his children be professional bike riders. He laid the blame for crashes jointly on riders - "Too many race as if there are no brakes on a bike" - and in the case of the Itzulia, partly on organisers "for sending us down a road with tree roots underneath it."
The immediate consequences of the crash, on a fast downhill, were shocking, even for experienced sports directors. "I don't recollect having seen something like this on such a scale and with such good riders," Patxi Vila said, highlighting the unprecedented nature of the situation.
A situation almost all the favourites of the race end up going home is very unusual. You look around and you realise how bad the crash had been. Although I have to say it happened on a bend that wasn't that fast or that dangerous.”
The fallout for the biggest-name riders is almost too well-known to be worth revisiting and logically dominated many of the headlines.
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