Sven Erik Bystrøm

Thanks for the story. I will say this very nicely. My job is to represent the riders, not convince them, change their options, and definitely not side with the organisers, UCI, or fans. I'm not here to make friends with organisers, UCI, teams, or even fans. It is not my voice. It's the riders voice. But I allow them to hide behind me, and I say what they want to be said. I was a rider. You, as a fan, might read that a rider goes home cause of crash a few days before or a flu. But I know if a rider goes home because of a flu, and being at the great race of the Giro, he would have raced with that flu for days and been struggling and suffering which you can not see on TV for those days before deciding to stop. There is so much more happening than fans see. Stopping is the end point of the rider, a complete meltdown, and before that point, they have been well over their limit for sometimes as long as weeks. I know the illnesses going through the teams, and the riders' health is my priority. Rain, not a problem. Add 4 degrees, add a decent where you can not pedal, and body temp gets colder over time. And a stage where it's all uphill from the start, which creates peleton stretched long and many different groups where cars can not service their own riders, giving riders proper clothing is the difference. What is this difference? More than 10 riders went home due to illness. The next day, 10 more riders go home with illness and today?? Let's see. Now, these riders with it, have had it for days. Fans don't know that. Fans dont know if in the last 24 hours, 20 guys go home, which means another 40 are still racing while being ill. I do. Is it healthy to race such a demanding stage while being sick, pressure from teams, fans, contracts and like you said, every party/stakeholder against the riders opinion they ask for a stage to be shorter for their own health? No doctor worth his salt would agree someone ill should spend 5 hours wet in the cold with heart rates going above 170 multiple times while the body is already fatigued. You are right. They can be replaced if they dont want to do it, and truth be told, some teams and organisers see that they are just race horses, Push them! We can replace them. so who cares!!! I care. If you, organisers, sponsors, UCI, or fans rather risk a humans health for your own entertainment, then it proves the point that they need someone on their side, like me