I read your post and immediately thought of NASCAR. Could it be that there are cycling fans who love to see the accidents? I guess the protest on stage 9 over dangerous conditions had little impact. We must sadly remember the professional cycling is primarily entertainment, and a danerous slippery finish adds drama.
Late response here: I aggree it can add to the dramma, but in this case 90% of the really fast guys decided to play it safe and went slow which took a lot of the dramma out of the race. I live 20 minutes from Talladega and 90% of the fans there show up for the big wreck, not the race.