Bicycle Racing Direct Action
Professional cyclists racing the Giro D’Italia decided to make their displeasure known over an unsafe course. The protest followed a horrible crash resulting in serous injury to a Spanish rider named Pedro Horrillo.
This from VeloNews:
The riders certainly had reason to beef. Cars were parked on the course, marked only by police tape. The circuit passed over numerous rail lines part of Milan’s famous tram system, had 25 turns and funneled from wide, two-lane segments into narrow corners.
The peloton was also rattled by Horrillo’s crash. The Spanish rider somersaulted 150 feet down into a ravine after crashing over a guardrail in Saturday’s stage, and it took organizers nearly 30 minutes to locate him.
“The fall yesterday of Horrillo really affected a lot of the riders,” said Ivan Basso (Liquigas). “It was Di Luca who was speaking to the race directors. This was our way to express our need to watch out for our safety.”
I agree with the riders that the best way to deal with unsafe working conditions is to demand improvements right away by using the only potent threat any worker ever really has: to withdraw your labor in a concerted manner. But instead of picket signs and folded arms come a leisurely group ride nullifying a stage in one of the largest bicycle races in the world. All of the riders that showed solidarity with one another should be commended, they protested not only for their injured brother, but for the racers that will follow them.