Tour of Oman stage five cancelled due to extreme conditions

Sandstorms, extreme temperatures and high winds combined Saturday to cause difficult conditions for the riders at the Tour of Oman and, after protests from the teams, to the eventual cancellation of what was to be the penultimate stage.

The 151 kilometre leg was due to travel from Al Sawadi Beach to the Ministry of Housing, but was affected at the start by a big sandstorm. That prompted the organisers to shorten the stage, with the modified parcours set to cover three laps of 29.5 kilometres plus the original finishing circuit.

However, after the riders were transported to the new starting point, it became quickly clear that there were still issues. Temperatures were very high and multiple riders punctured. High gusts of winds also added to the danger.

This prompted the peloton to stop racing and after some intense discussion with the organisers, the remainder of the stage was neutralised.

Team Sky directeur sportif explained how things played out.

“It was a particularly strange day,” the Frenchman said on the team website. “There were questions about safety so when that is the case then it is always better to be careful.

“Earlier they had to move the start because of sandstorms. That was a good decision for sure and it was strange to see everything in orange.”

He said that the issues continued after the restart.

“The parcours didn’t help matters today with the descending in the hot weather. We cannot be sure that all the teams are using the highest quality material with wheels and brakes. In the end they cancelled the stage.

“Some riders on other teams were getting punctures in the neutralised section before the stage started. I think what happened was that they went up the climb, and then they went down the descent so slowly behind the commissaire’s car that everyone had to brake.

“Some teams maybe weren’t using the best wheels and the temperature was too high which caused punctures.”

He said that his own riders were not affected, putting this down to the team’s suppliers and mechanics.

Lampre-Merida’s Rafael Valls (Lampre-Merida) continues to lead overall, maintaining a nine second lead over Tejay van Garderen, and will be feeling optimistic about his chances.

Sps12321

I appreciate the issue of rider safety and for that reason it makes sense to neutralize. The issue of wind is a very valid one. That of heat is an expected problem and should have been anticipated. Wheel, tube, tire, brake suppliers should have prepared for this issue. It is unfair to riders and race organizers that the bike components were flawed for the anticipated race conditions.

I think it was the right thing to do
In this situation but the issue is this situation shouldn’t have happened. The heat is expected there this time of year therefore either riders should expect it and be prepared to race in it (including the bikes) or the complaint should be made ahead of the race rather than during it.

Obviously there are unknown elements but when signing up for a race in Oman in February, heat isn’t one of those
- A grizzly bear
  
  it’s kind of tough to prepare for temperatures 10 degrees celsius over body temperature.
  - Sps12321
    
    Fair point, it is hard to prepare but the temperatures are no secret and if you sign up you should expect them. If you don’t want to race in them then don’t sign up. The racers may not (at least the younger ones) have a choice of their race program but the teams can decide not to sign up for this race as it isn’t world tour
Larry @CycleItalia

Can someone tell me again about why races are held in places like this? I thought it was supposed to be all about avoiding the harsh weather in Europe during this period? And tires blew out due to extreme heat? Really? Who is approving this equipment? Are the team sponsors/suppliers selling this same stuff to the punters? Are modern bicycles becoming like F1 cars - pretty much useless except in controlled conditions?
- bc
  
  Movistar was the team, which according to the CT TdU bikes article would imply that the equipment described as shoddy by SKY and Tejay vG was Campagnolo and Continental.
  - Larry @CycleItalia
    
    Do you have anything to back up this claim? I read elsewhere most of the problems were with Bardiani-CSF who use neither of the equipment suppliers you named.
    - bc
      
      http://www.cyclingquotes.com/news/movistar_in_oman_we_had_11_punctures_in_the_neutral_section/
  - gaz
    
    GCN video at 0:51 shows it as the Bardiani-CSF team with most issues - can’t work out the wheels https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSv9WKOyHCA
    - Robert Merkel
      
      Not sure about the wheels, but Bardiani-CSF is sponsored by Cheng Shin Tyres:
      
      http://www.csttires.com/cst-sponsors-bardiani-csf-pro-team/
      
      Though who knows what the actual tyres they’re using are given that CST doesn’t appear to do tubulars (or even high-end race clinchers, by the looks).
      - Larry @CycleItalia
        
        Their wheel sponsor is Deda. I’m wondering if carbon wheels fail to radiate the braking heat away as well as “old time” aluminum under these conditions, resulting in melted tubular glue and exploding tires? Scary stuff, but reports like these have been around since the debut of the carbon clincher wheel, but punters still buy them. I guess it’s “buyer beware”?
Berend

I think the best way to tackle this is to have actual equipment safety rules in place.

Test wheel and tyres and brakes for specific temperatures. Test forks, stems and handlebars for pothole damage, and frames for other impact damage. There are already some international standards that must be applied before selling frames to the public.

It would then also be useful to apply the safety tests to the proposed safe weather protocol. If a significant percentage of equipment is known to fail above 20 Celsius (I deliberately picked a low limit); cancel all races above this limit.

Use those rules instead of the arbitrary 6.8kg rule.

I’m aware that there are UCI rules for wheels since the Spinergy problems, but clearly they are inadequate. I believe they only specify limits wheels with less than a certain number of spokes.

Tour of Oman stage five cancelled due to extreme conditions

By Shane Stokes - February 21, 2015