Philippe Gilbert has said that the UCI stepped in and stopped ASO allowing the final 5km of stage three of the 2021 Tour de France to be neutralised for the general classification.
Gilbert (Lotto-Soudal) and other riders pointed out the dangers of the final few kilometres of the third stage of the Tour and wanted the last 5km neutralised.
Former world champion and yellow jersey wearer, Gilbert voiced his frustration with the UCI, after they did not neutralise the final 5km of stage three despite concerns shown by teams and the Cyclistes Professionnels Associes (CPA).
>>> Tour de France stage four LIVE: Redon to Fougères
In a video posted to his YouTube channel, Gilbert pointed out the dangers of the final few kilometres of the race into Pontivy which saw multiple crashes, including Gilbert's team-mate, Caleb Ewan who broke his collarbone.
The Belgian star voiced his frustration with the UCI and other teams after both had looked at the route and not raised any issues with ASO.
Gilbert said that if more teams had raised the issue with the route design during the recons before the race started then ASO would have changed it. Although, he did say that all but the final two crashes could've been avoided, including the crash which saw Jack Haig (Bahrain Victorious) abandon, as well as the Ewan crash if the route been safer. He said he did not see the crashes of Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) and Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) but described them as racing incidents and not the fault of ASO.
Speaking in his video, Gilbert said: "There were even talks yesterday between the CPA with representatives of each team and Pascal Chanteaur who is the CPA representative in the Tour and the riders had proposed to shift the time recording to 5km from the finish.
"Why 5km from the finish? Well, quite simply because we had analysed the course and we saw that the final was extremely dangerous. And to avoid nervousness, we had proposed the neutralisation of the time at the 5km which would have avoided all the risk-taking in this nervous stretch and on the far from perfect roads.
"So, ASO agreed but the UCI commissioners did not accept the demand. It was rejected this morning at the start. It’s a pity that the commissioners did not take our demand into account."
The CPA later Tweeted a full thread statement about what they thought to the stage after receiving backlash on a previous initial reaction Tweet after stage three.
Stage four should be a much more simple approach to the line into Fourgères for another sprint stage, but Gilbert's Lotto-Soudal won't have a top sprinter to work for.
