Originally Posted by Maelochs

A bit of idiocy but mostly sensible thoughts here.

there is definitely a line which can be drawn---it is a moving line, different in every situation but it is still a clear line.

In motor racing, a car has to have position---generally and driver needs to be about two-thirds ahead of another car---before s/he can squeeze This gives the other driver the option of slowing or crashing. Otherwise a driver has to leave a car's width on the outside for the other car---if the other driver is good enough to get by on the outside (or squeeze up the inside) without contact, great. Drivers are also allowed one move, and it cannot be reactive. That is, if a car is leading another towards a corner or down a straight, the driver has to pick a line and hold it. Weaving is not allowed. Also the driver in front cannot wait until the trailing driver makes a move and then move in response to block.

It is no different with cycling. We have all watched numerous replays of various sprint crashes, and we can usually tell---and agree---about which rider went too far. There is a line between defending a position and endangering another rider. Here Groenenwegen obviously squeezed over too late---Jakobsen was almost level and accelerating---and further threw an elbow (thought that might have been in part to balance.)

The answer is simple---ban riders for serious infractions. Fines mean nothing to professional athletes. If the UCI doesn't show that it is serious about safety, riders will take excessive risks. it is in their nature as competitors---but that nature can be curbed. Riders need to know that they will lose a couple seasons or a whole career if they cross the line from hard competition to dangerous aggression.

Regarding the barriers----UCI and ASO could spend some of the enormous money they earn on some sort of better barriers. Barriers could be made of heavy plastic, filled with water for weight, and linked the way concrete K-barriers are linked, with rebar loops, or with some sort of peg and loop system. What I have seen are that the older barriers, with the feet that stick out into the roadway, are being replaced, but the new barriers are mostly only good to help keep fans out of the road.

Having finishes on excessively wide roads wouldn't help unless the roads were pan flat and dead straight for the last kilometer at least. otherwise riders would enter on one side of the road or other, and the short route would be along the barriers---and riders will still try to block other riders even on a very wide road.Even if they were finishing on a filed half a kilometer wide, there could still be high-speed collisions and crashes. And very few cities---nowhere except airports---have roads that wide and straight.

The simplest solution is making sure riders ride appropriately for the conditions, and protect fellow riders. Heavily penalizing offenders might help that.