Cyclists have voiced mixed feelings about a chicane designed to reduce speed ahead of a treacherous cobblestone section at Sunday's Paris-Roubaix race, at a time when crashes have made more headlines than race results.
Instead of heading into the feared Arenberg Forest at a high pace, the new section features a sharp right turn, followed by a full u-turn and another right turn to slow the riders down.
"Is this a joke?" last year's winner Mathieu van der Poel said on X, formerly Twitter.
American Matteo Jorgensen had a different view, posting a video of Australian Mitchell Docker crashing heavily at the Arenberg in 2016 and asking: "Is this what fans want to see?
"Riders completely covered in blood after sliding face-first at 50mph/80kph on sharp rocks in a forest? I’ll take a couple of turns and some guys sliding out on pavement any day."
German John Degenkolb, a past Paris-Roubaix winner, told dpa that the chicane "is an option that makes sense if it rains because it reduces the speed."
Dry weather is forecast for Sunday but parts of the cobblestone section remain wet. There are however also fears of crashes in the tight and narrow chicane.
Paris-Roubaix race director Thierry Gouvenou said earlier in the week that high speed was a factor why so many have occured lately, most notably on Thursday at the Basque Country stage race where Tour de France champion Jonas Vingegaard and time trial world champion Remco Evenepoel were among riders sustaining severe injuries.
The chicane was introduced on short notice by request of the riders' union CPA after it consulted with all teams.
Gouveou named the measure "completely logical.
"I rode Paris-Roubaix 12 times as a pro and every time I arrived there I asked myself how I would fare. When we arrive here it is like Russian roulette," he said.