“Cycling is wonderful, but it is a very fragile sport”: Controversial organiser says the Tour des Pyrénées “is over”, after stage race marred by safety “chaos”

The organiser of the Tour Féminin des Pyrénées, the French stage race which attracted controversy last weekend after a range of safety issues prompted the peloton to refuse to start the third and final stage, has said that this year’s edition will be the last and claimed that it is “impossible” to completely close the roads in France.

Race director Pascal Baudron – who also came under fire for his comments in the wake of the event’s abrupt cancellation, in which he criticised the decision as the “whims of spoiled children” – apologised for his remarks, which he now says were “disproportionate” and made at a time when he was disappointed and frustrated.

Last Sunday, road.cc reported that the UCI decided to call off the final stage of the CIC-Tour Féminin International des Pyrénées – only the second edition of the three-day race – following two days of protests from a peloton concerned for its safety.

> Tour Féminin des Pyrénées stopped amidst rider safety issues

On the first stage into Lourdes, won in a sprint by Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio, members of the public were seen driving on the course, metres away from the riders at times, and parked cars and trucks littered the final kilometres while spectators wandered onto the roads.

A day later, the second stage to the Hautacam was then neutralised to the foot of the iconic summit finish after the peloton complained of race motorbike riders creating hazardous conditions.

“Considering the safety risks involved, we firmly believe that a bike race is not worth endangering the lives of the female cyclists,” Adam Hansen, the head of the riders’ union the CPA, said in a statement announcing that last Sunday’s third and final stage had been cancelled.

If your finale looks like this, with random vehicles everywhere, you're not worth organizing a race. What were they even thinking? The attitude of the organizers makes it clear: no single rider will participate if there comes a new edition without drastic changes. pic.twitter.com/VUvJOhXjdt

— BramDesmet (@BramDesmetKoers) June 11, 2023

However, the UCI’s decision to put a stop to the final stage did not go down well with race organiser Pascal Baudron, who created further furore by claiming that the women’s peloton was “sawing off the branch on which they are sitting” by calling for improved safety measures at elite races.

“What is happening is that the girls have requirements that are not in line with their level,” he told La Nouvelle République following the race’s cancellation. “They imagine that they are on the Tour de France and that all the roads must be closed. But in France you cannot do that.

“Quite honestly, I tell myself that it is not worth organising a race to see all those months of effort ruined for the whims of spoiled children.”

> “They think they’re on the Tour de France”: Backlash against “sexist” race organiser who called pro riders “girls” and “spoiled children” over cancellation due to safety fears

Speaking almost a week later to Sporza, Baudron apologised for his use of language – deemed by many onlookers to be offensive and patronising towards the women’s pro peloton – but remained adamant that full road closures are not possible for smaller races like the Tour des Pyrénées, which he now says is unlikely to go ahead next year following the protests.

“My statements were disproportionate. I would like to apologise to all the riders I have hurt,” he told the Belgian broadcaster.

“I misexpressed myself at a time when I was disappointed, frustrated, and in a cold mood at the same time.”

“It was a mess and it keeps haunting my head all the time,” he admitted. “The finish in Lourdes was very poorly organised and that was our fault. It was pure chaos. If the stage race had been definitively stopped that day, I would not have had any problems with that.”

However, he says he is still upset that the UCI decided to cancel the stage on Sunday, “especially because the president of the race jury himself first said that the race conditions were perfect. The UCI commissaire was also of the opinion that safety was assured.”

He continued: “The riders want a course that is completely closed. But that is impossible in France. French law states that we can temporarily privatise the course, meaning we can block the route from the race director’s car to the broom wagon.

“The riders want the course to be 100 percent theirs. But only races such as the Tour and Paris-Roubaix are allowed to do so in France.”

On what was the finishing circuit for Fridays stage of the tour of the Pyrenees (where there where parked and moving cars in the last 3km) the road is currently totally closed (large police presence at junctions) with all cars cleared for a sportive. I am totally speechless pic.twitter.com/saRIpKSAKc

— Connie Hayes (@connie_hayes123) June 11, 2023

Despite the organiser’s claims, 22-year-old British pro Connie Hayes, who was riding the Tour des Pyrénées for AWOL O’Shea, posted photos of Lourdes on Sunday, just two days after the traffic bedlam during stage one’s finale, which showed the town’s streets devoid of parked cars and completely closed – in order to accommodate an amateur cycle sportive.

Nevertheless, Baudron also claimed to Sporza that marshals are required at every junction, otherwise motorists encroaching on the course are “inevitable”.

“But we don’t have the financial and especially the human resources for that,” he says. “On a route of 125 kilometres you need 500 marshals at all junctions altogether. Just find those people.”

However, at a time when safety issues in cycling are tragically, devastatingly pertinent, Baudron says that the increasing demand for safer courses means that the Tour des Pyrénées, and other major races, will struggle to continue in the future.

“There will be no more Tour des Pyrénées,” he concedes. “If you organise something, you want to enjoy it. But now it was all misery. A major catastrophe. And moreover, we cannot make the race any safer than it is now.

“Our race will disappear. The Lotto Belgium Tour and the Women’s Tour have been cancelled before. It is also not certain that the Giro Donne will be able to continue at the end of this month. In the long run there will be no more races left.

“Cycling is wonderful, but it is a very fragile sport.”