Zonneveld and Bruyneel furious after yet another Giro crash: 'Hope teams will hold organisation liable'

It was supposed to be a beautiful sprint finish — but even before stage six of the Giro d'Italia was over, the final kilometre was already being viewed with dread. That fear proved entirely justified. The U-turn on the cobblestones caused carnage, with several serious crashes. Among those who went down in the perfect position was Dylan Groenewegen. On the In De Waaier podcast, cycling journalist Thijs Zonneveld has made his fury abundantly clear.

He opens with dripping sarcasm. "They should have ridden harder. Then they'd have been inside before the rain. So it's the riders' fault again, isn't it. The Giro organisation should maybe be filing charges against the riders. They didn't get that one photo of a sprinting peloton crossing the finish line. And now what?"

The tone says everything. "You genuinely couldn't have predicted this. That it would be slippery in exactly that spot, that you'd go down there. It couldn't have been foreseen. It's all very strange. The organisation is zero percent to blame."

Safety and who is responsible for course approval also dominated THE MOVE podcast after stage 6. Johan Bruyneel was very clear about who should be held responsible. "Small organizers sometimes get punished for a lack of safety. I’ve never seen a big organizer [get punished], never RCS, never ASO, not Flanders Classics, the powerful organizations. But at the ultimately it should it should be somebody from the UCI who is responsible for approving that course," an animated Bruyneel said.

"It's easy to always push it away." continued the Belgian. "You know what's going to happen? Whoever, whether it's RCS or the UCI, they're going to say 'well you know it's the rider's fault, they went too fast through the corner'. But this could have been avoided guys. This could have been avoided. just make it safer because if there's a race to be won, they're going to take risks."

He then turns serious. "How do you explain this to people who don't watch cycling regularly? That you know in advance they're all going to crash here — and then they do? And the UCI keeps pulling Jan-Willem van Schip out of races and handing out fines left and right when someone's socks are too high."

"These are the f***ing basics. How can it possibly be true that this finish wasn't changed?" In Zonneveld's view, the riders cannot be held responsible. "It's too easy to say: just don't race. Suppose the Rockets and Groenewegen say: we're not doing it. This is one of their best chances — they've come all the way to Italy for this. Should you give up one of your four opportunities?"

The podcaster then makes a damning summary of the first week of the Giro. "Stage one: a massive narrowing 500 metres from the finish, with barriers. A huge crash. Stage three: eight kilometres straight, but a bend and cobblestones right before the line. And now stage six. That's three finishes where you knew in advance: this is going to be an absolute mess."

Just talking about it is not enough, he says. Action is needed. And he is hoping the teams take the initiative — because the UCI will not. "They place the responsibility entirely with the riders and the teams. What I would most like to see is teams holding the organisation legally responsible. If the UCI won't do it, then they should."

Jonathan Milan had already spoken out after the stage. But Zonneveld wants to see genuine accountability now. "As an athlete, you contribute through your licence to the right to practise your sport safely. As a footballer, you can expect to play on a pitch where there are no nails sticking up from the turf. So how is it that in cycling, there is never a liability discussion?"