Originally Posted by CarlJStoneham

These guys are good enough that the odds of killing themselves from a head injury at a wreck sustained at 10mph is negligible. Heck, just about anyone can fall off a bike and have enough time to react to not hit their head. Since there are no cars on the course other than team cars and the peoloton is usually WAY spread out, it's not a partcularly dangrous environment if you're on the last climb of the day. Personally, I'm OK with it. If I could ride on those conditions, I'd check my helmet too. There's a difference between being safe and being paranoid. The latter is what causes some people to wear knee and elbow pads when they ride their bike around the neighborhood...