Tour de France cobbles relief

Rider safety fears proved to be a false dawn after the peloton survived the treacherous Tour de France cobbled fourth stage without losing any more bodies.

Seven riders failed to report to the start of Tuesday's 223.5km fourth stage from Seraing in Belgium to Cambrai, with it's seven cobbled sectors totalling 13.3km, after crashing on Monday's third stage.

Fabian Cancellara, who had started Monday's stage in yellow, fractured two vertebrae in his back, South African Daryl Impey broke his collarbone and Tom Dumoulin of the Netherlands dislocated his shoulder.

But of those who did start Tuesday's stage, some including Australia's Michael Matthews were barely sure they would make it to the finish.

"It was really hard (Monday). I went into the ambulance and they said I might have broken ribs," said Matthews before Tuesday's stage start.

"Only after the X-ray did we find what the damage actually is. I have some contusions to my ribs."

That did not mean Matthews could rest easy, though.

"Through the night (Monday) night, I was really struggling to breathe. That wasn't great. I had little panic attacks, I could not breathe, it was quite scary," he said.

The debate had raged from the end of Monday's stage, which took in part of the course of the Fleche Wallonne one-day classic, about whether or not the Tour route had become too difficult.

The spectacular crash on Monday's third stage happened on a straight bit of road and was probably caused by simple fatigue and a lack of concentration on the part of William Bonnet, the Frenchman whose fall took down around 20 riders -- he was one of the seven to leave the race.

Amongst those to complain about the Tour's difficulty was the stage three winner Joaquim Rodriguez, who said he didn't like seeing parts of the one-day classics mimmicked in Grand Tours -- Tuesday's fourth stage borrowed cobbles from Paris-Roubaix.

"I'm a lover of the Classics and I also like them to be different to the Grand Tours," said Rodriguez.

"Grand Tours can't be the same, which is why we have the Fleche Wallonne, Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix.

"I don't like it that we make similar races to the Classics on the Tour with an arrival on the Mur de Huy because it causes more stress and crashes."

Yet some believe that the nature of the Tour de France in providing a complete test of a rider's abilities should cover every challenge -- and that includes the cobbles, as in Paris-Roubaix, and short, sharp finishes, like the Fleche Wallonne's Mur de Huy.

"What we want in sport is suspense, variation, for riders to be challenged in different ways," said Team Sky manager Dave Brailsford.

"So different types of stages with a lot of variety is a good thing. Some represent more risks than others but it's the same for everybody and I think it's quite healthy.

"The way the race has been designed this year is very interesting, it's made for a great race."

Tuesday's stage was not free of crashes.

Ireland's Daniel Martin went down on a tight corner while Britain's Alex Dowsett, who briefly held the world hour record, came home 26 minutes behind the winner Tony Martin after he crashed badly.

But with no-one withdrawing from the race, that was in some ways a success and the furore over Monday's stage died down, for the time-being at least.
Source: AFP