Hermes

It seems like the favored racers are crashing out of the TdF more this year than the past. I wonder if it is due to the type of training / racing schedule. My observation is that the UCI pros are training more as a team at team camps and less actual racing. And the stakes for performance are high. That yields higher speeds with less skills.

In the old days, UCI pros trained and then raced themselves into shape in key races leading up to the grand tours. Dunno if there is a paradigm shift or not and maybe my observation is too anecdotal and colored by losses of Schleck, Froome, Cav and others plus the crashes by Van Garderen and Talanski.