“Close your eyes and hope for the best”: Riders’ union president slams cobbled race organisers after pros complain “thick layers of mud” caused crashes

Adam Hansen, the president of the CPA riders’ union, has criticised what he claims were the “extreme” muddy conditions at yesterday’s GP de Denain, following a series of crashes on the race’s cobbled sectors – the last of which brought down the entire chasing group and ultimately decided the race’s outcome – and complaints from riders that they were forced to “close your eyes and hope for the best”.

Thursday’s Grand Prix de Denain, a 198km one-day race held in the north of France and featuring 12 sectors of cobbled roads similar to those used in Paris-Roubaix, was won by a member of the early breakaway, Q36.5 Pro Cycling’s Jannik Steimle, who outsprinted fellow escapee Cerial Desal for a surprise victory, after a late, dramatic crash halted the chase behind from the favourites’ group.

As the chasers entered the final stretch of cobbles, the four-star Avesnes-le-Sec – Hordain sector, with 12km to go, Groupama-FDJ’s Stefan Küng, who finished fifth and third at the last two editions of Paris-Roubaix, slid out, creating a domino effect behind him and causing almost all of the nine-strong group to crash.

Vu de plus près😅
Impressionnant à voir ! pic.twitter.com/YvdmvruZ7D

— LB (@louis_bn_19) March 14, 2024

That final crash proved instrumental in swinging what was at that point a finely poised race in the early break’s favour – Dries van Gestel and Arnaud de Lie ultimately finished 11 seconds down on the cat-and-mousing front pair – and was one of many falls that characterised a chaotic ‘mini Paris-Roubaix’, after heavy rain in the build-up left some of the cobbled sectors caked in mud.

And it was those seemingly treacherous conditions that prompted former Lotto Soudal pro Hansen, in his role as CPA president, to publicly criticise the GP de Denain organisers’ apparent failure to ensure the safety of the riders racing over the cobbles on Thursday.

Im a little confused @GPDenainPDH, I thought your race is register as a road race or am I wrong and it was a CycloCross race? Please tell me this image is not from your race and the riders were racing on thick much over the road? pic.twitter.com/V6DlsATXLd

— Adam Hansen (@HansenAdam) March 14, 2024

Posting an image of a crash on a particularly muddy sector, involving UAE Team Emirates’ Álvaro Hodeg and Q36.5’s Xabier Azparren, Hansen sarcastically wrote on X/Twitter: “I’m a little confused, GP de Denain.

“I thought your race is registered as a road race or am I wrong and it was a cyclocross race? Please tell me this image is not from your race and the riders were racing on thick much over the road?”

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Hansen’s public complaint was supported by some of the riders themselves on the social media app, including 25-year-old Spaniard Azparren, who replied: “I was feeling really bad for being the first rider going on the floor and creating that big mess, but yeah, seeing the pics it was not easy to save that one. Downhill + cobbles + mud = shitty situation.”

Azparren’s Australian teammate Cyrus Monk also wrote: “There were 12 sectors and this happened at least once on every one of them. Close the eyes and hope for the best.”

Soudal Quick-Step, meanwhile, in their report on the race claimed that “many” of the 12 sectors were “caked in mud” and were “quite treacherous”, making for a “tense race”.

💥 The chasing group came down on some slippery cobbles today at the @GPDenainPDH
🏁 Full results 👉 https://t.co/PJrBqbYNTk#GPDenain pic.twitter.com/bjsxige2BL

— GCN Racing (@GcnRacing) March 14, 2024

However, despite the views of the teams and riders taking part, several fans criticised Hansen’s apparent singling out of the GP de Denain, a second-tier UCI ProSeries event, and questioned whether the Australian would take Paris-Roubaix’s organisers to task after a similarly wet and muddy edition of the Hell of the North.

“For the people who commented that I wrote this because it was a small race or because it is ‘normal’. That was not the reason,” Hansen wrote in response to such criticism last night.

“The reason why we will look into this is because riders reached out to me regarding this situation, and I am following their request.

“Cobbles are not a problem. If it rains on cobbles, that also is not a problem. Cobbles [are] part of cycling, which I love. The riders informed me there were thick layers of mud over the cobbles. It does not matter what category a race is or who is the organiser is. I am sorry for the people not happy I follow up the riders’ request. Just be prepared, I will always do so.”

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The GP de Denain’s organisers also replied to Hansen’s initial criticism, posting a series of photos showing the extent of the mud just hours before the race took place (above), and their efforts to ensure the cobbled sectors were passable.

“Rider safety is a major issue for the Grand Prix de Denain,” the organisers said. “A lot of rain has fallen in the last few hours before the race. Our organisation has worked hard to make the cobbled sectors as clean as possible.”

“I’m pleased to hear the extra efforts you put in place. I only heard that two sectors were extreme. But the rest looked great,” the CPA president replied.

Hi Adam,
Rider safety is a major issue for the Grand Prix de Denain. A lot of rain has fallen in the last few hours before the race. Our organisation has worked hard to make the cobbled sectors as clean as possible (this photo was taken yesterday). pic.twitter.com/nk52Luq4aV

— Grand Prix Denain (@GPDenainPDH) March 14, 2024

Former Lotto and HTC-Columbia pro Hansen hasn’t proved shy in his role as CPA president when it comes to speaking out about perceived safety failures in the peloton.

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Last month, he said that the CPA “is not happy with riders racing on hookless system”, after his former teammate Thomas De Gendt’s heavy crash at the UAE Tour was seemingly caused by a freak tyre blowout.

“When you look at the images of Thomas De Gendt’s bike, his tyre came off, the safety foam inside got caught in the fork, and that locks up the front wheel,” Hansen said.

“Some teams are racing with hookless rims. This crash is why the CPA are 100 per cent against hookless rims.

“Tyres should not come off a rim. The maximum psi these hookless tyres can have put in them is 73, and if you hit something for sure it goes above the maximum 73psi rating on impact. That is why tyres are coming off.”

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However, Hansen – who was also criticised recently by retired pro Chloe Hosking for his apparent reticence to speak out about Soudal Quick-Step boss Patrick Lefevere’s controversial comments concerning Julian Alaphilippe’s lifestyle and the influence of his wife, Tour de France Femmes organiser Marion Rousse – conceded in October last year that cycling will “never be safe”.

“[The riders] have to be educated better to know it’s a dangerous sport, and take this chance and risk,” the 42-year-old said.

“The future’s going to get a lot safer I believe, but at the moment we definitely need public awareness and the pressure on the organisers to make it more safe. In my opinion it’s getting safer, that’s for sure.”