With the Giro d’Italia rolling out for its 100th edition this weekend, there has been some mixed reaction to the new descending competition. It has been called both ‘stupid’ and ‘life –threatening’ by both riders and cycling officials. Alex Howes who rides with Cannondale Drapac tweeted, “Maybe they should just pay us to crash.”
A total of 10 downhill segments, including the Stelvio will be timed with the fastest rider winning €500. Points will also be awarded so that the rider with the most will get a prize of €5000 at the end of the race.
There has been little positive reaction to the idea from any of the riders or their teams. Bora Hansgrohe’s Marcus Burghardt said, “Its not long ago that we lost our friend and college (sic) Wouter Weylandt in a descent crash. Should this happen again?! No!!!”
Joe Dombrowski joked that Band Aid would be “sponsoring the new ‘most spectacular crash’ classification. Seriously who came up with this shit?”
