The paradox? That all this happened while the UCI was concluding the virtual press conference to illustrate the activities and measures of SafeR, topic "safety".

There were 17 kilometers left to the end of the second stage of Etoile de Besseges with the peloton chasing the breakaway group (you can find the article with the chronicle here) with a gap of 51 seconds. Suddenly the peloton finds a gendarme making the cyclists slow down because an automobile is coming in the opposite direction - on a typical country road in southern France.

The gendarme makes the driver reverse until the first free space and then lets the riders pass, who however, between surprise and slowing down, are not all able to stay upright, with some ending up on the ground right in front of the car in question.

Unfortunately, this is not an isolated case because yesterday's stage already saw cars stopped in the middle of the road, even in dangerous spots. We know that organizing is becoming increasingly difficult: but doing it this way is simply unacceptable.