More and more accidents during training, riders are taking matters into their own hands: "Then I can steer off the road in time"

In conversation with the newspaper, Oliver Naesen and Tim Merlier elaborated on their training sessions, which they experience as increasingly unsafe. "I unfortunately experience things like that every day. Sometimes more than once. During the same training today, I also jumped on the sidewalk. As a precaution, I have become 'limit paranoia' in traffic: everyone in the peloton has already had to bury acquaintances, friends, and colleagues," Naesen indicates vehemently.

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On Wednesday, it almost went wrong for Naesen. "I was training with Dries De Bondt; we stopped before a blind T-junction. We waited, and a car just steered into the road on our side. He only just managed to stop." He also adds: "It's getting more and more dangerous. I get hit at least once every year. At best, it's a car that hits you with its mirror for a second. But you just can't have a cycling career without an accident," said the Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale veteran.

Tim Merlier has implemented measures. "I often think: jeez, that was close again." And that's not because of the cars he encounters. Usually, he has to take care of the safety situation himself. "Often, it has to do with lack of attention, so I try to avoid the busiest places: big cities like Ghent and Kortrijk, where many people want to park or quickly get in and out of a store. I prefer to ride along country roads or a canal. Or I bike towards Wallonia, where it's a little calmer anyway. I also avoid rush hours."

So, the sprinter and teammate of Evenepoel at Soudal Quick-Step consciously pays attention to the terrain where he trains. It seems like the world upside down. "I even have signals on my bike computer. That allows me to steer off the road in time if a vehicle turns in at high speed." Naesen and Merlier do agree that there will always be risk. "A mailman has to get in and out constantly; that's part of the job. Nobody does something like that on purpose."