Australian Michael Rogers has said that he is concerned about safety at the 2016 Tour De France in the wake of the attacks in Paris on Friday night.
Paris always hosts the final stage of the race with a finish on the Champs-Élysées and Rogers told the Sydney Morning Herald that safety was at the back of his mind.
“It’s been in the back of my mind,” Rogers, who is expected to ride for Tinkoff Saxo for one more season before retiring, said. “Events such as the Tour [de France], a big international event where the whole world is watching.”
“A lot of riders do think about it because we pass a lot of people by the side of the road and it’s quite easy for a potential attack.
“I hope the authorities are doing work in the background making sure the course is clear, but it’s certainly becoming an issue especially [after] this year in May one of the races in Germany was cancelled because authorities picked up on a potential attack.
“We have quite a beautiful view from the peloton where we see so many smiling faces and that’s a huge motivating factor for the riders as well.”
One way of clearing the course would be to barrier it all, but Rogers said: “You could only imagine the expense for the organisers to barrier the whole circuit for hundreds of kilometres, I don’t think that’s a feasible thing to do.
“I think we have to take it step by step and we all have to understand that those possibilities are very difficult in cycling and it would absolutely kill the sport.”