'Absolute carnage' - Should gravel 'lottery' have been included on Stage 4 of Tour de France Femmes?

Iris Slappendel questioned whether gravel sections should have been included on Tour de France Femmes after “absolute carnage” on Stage 4 of the race. The 127km Stage 4 route featured four separate sections of gravel track, testing the handling skills, and fortune, of all the riders. Ad/> While there were no major incidents involving the General Classification favourites, Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar) and Elisa Balasmo (Trek–Segafredo) both suffered mechanical issues and yellow jersey Marianne Vos (Jumbo-Visma) had to recover after veering from the gravel.

Tour de France Femmes'Going to go on a rampage' — Van Vleuten's Tour chances assessed after slow startYESTERDAY AT 20:37 Mavi Garcia (UAE Team ADQ), who fell heavily on a tarmac section after colliding with a team car, also had a mechanical issue. “It’s hard to explain how big the chaos is behind the peloton especially on the gravel section,” said former Dutch professional Slappendel, who was travelling the course on the back of a motorbike in her role as a Eurosport analyst. “It’s absolute carnage between the team cars, the riders have mechanicals, bike changes, etc.

It’s really crazy and I am seriously wondering if these gravel sectors should be in a big race like this. Reusser wins Stage 4 as Vos stays in yellow Laporte frustrated by doping questions “It feels like being in the middle of a lottery and it doesn’t feel right. “We have been lucky so far that the GC favourites are still in the front group, but it’s really crazy.” Marlen Reusser (Team SD Worx) won the stage while Vos retained the yellow jersey after coming home in fifth place.

«It was crazy,» added a dust-caked Slappendel after the race. «I felt really sorry for the riders, the gravel was so bad. I saw