"The Tour has always been tough, but this year it's brutal," said the 29-year-old from Cofidis in an interview with the "Süddeutsche Zeitung". This is not the first time there have been problems in cycling. "We've often had dangerous sections of the route that were only changed when something actually happened," said Walscheid, for whom the 109th Tour ended prematurely after he had to drop out on 19 July due to a positive corona test.
Walscheid criticises spectacle
It was too much of a spectacle for him. "Take a stage like the one to Roubaix. It's good for me personally because I can show myself as a classics specialist, but it's just total stress for 75 per cent of the peloton. I don't understand why everything has to be faster and better. As it is now, it's more than enough, there's no need to push it any further," said Walscheid.
Crashes on the cobbled stage of the Tour de France
On the fifth stage, eleven of the legendary cobblestone sectors with a total length of 19.4 kilometres had to be tackled. There were several crashes. Among others, Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma), he is no longer with us.
"Just as everything is being optimised in every area of life, the spectacle is also being optimised. Of course, the riders do the racing, but the parcours provides the platform for it," said Walscheid. "If the Tour is as sprinter-unfriendly as it is this year, it makes no sense to start as a sprinter."
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