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Out of curiosity, it would seem that James isn’t planning on riding again due to trucks and traffic (not CP4…). Does it get that much worse in Eastern Europe?
cheekysnaker-
It's not that it gets worse in Eastern Europe as such, it's the types of roads that you have to ride on to get round in time: narrow A roads with little or no hard shoulder, lanes not wide enough for a truck to overtake if there is something coming, heavy traffic - not necessarily all the time but at certain times of the day.
I avoid this type of road in the UK. They are no better in Romania or Serbia.
When you get into Eastern Europe there are far fewer alternative roads so it is much harder to avoid going on these ones than in France or Germany, where there are loads of roads. The driving culture is probably a bit worse as well, but that is not the main issue IMHO, the roads are just not safe. A lot of these roads seem to be toll roads for motor vehicles and you get the sense that drivers who have paid a toll particularly resent being held up by a bike.
Some of the roads are wider which makes a big difference. For example the main road across Bulgaria that was a feature of the 2019 TCR is wide and has mostly good sight lines. It felt safe. The main roads in northern Italy are generally a bit wider too.
I agree that traffic danger is a far bigger problem than the crazy parcours. However I see them as being related in that they both show a disregard for rider safety.
frank9755
My fear is that safety is so low a priority in the current setup that nothing will change until there is an incident to make people realise how unsafe the race is. Riding it this year was a massive eye-opener for me.