Taking a moment to gather himself beyond the finish line in Andora, Tim Merlier cut an irritated figure after stage 4 of the Giro d’Italia. Asked by teammate Mauri Vansevenant whether it had been him who was talking over the radio on the descent to the finish, the Belgian could do nothing but breathe a sigh of relief for having made it to the line at all.

In a high-speed sprint off a downhill that had raised question marks over its safety on the morning of the race, the wearer of the ciclamino points jersey managed to sprint to fifth place in the wake of the day’s winner, Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek). But rather than pondering his performance against the Italian, Merlier was left somewhat lost for words by the run-in.

“I am just happy I am still alive. I saw two riders shoulder to shoulder and one was boxed out, and we were almost over the barriers,” he revealed to GCN and Eurosport.

In between answers, the 31-year-old shook his head, sighed and looked vacantly into the distance, clearly frustrated with what he had just had to endure. He was not the only rider to make note of the perils of such a high-speed sprint.

Read more: Giro d'Italia stage 4: Jonathan Milan takes memorable sprint win

“It was a really hectic sprint there today, it was such a hard pace. With all the teams racing for position, it makes it quite scary at times and it just increases the speed,” Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) told GCN and Eurosport.

The Australian finished in second-place behind Milan on the day but, as with Merlier, offered up a face of relief at his safety rather than disappointment at having missed out on the win.

The Capo Mele preceded the big bunch sprint in Andora, a climb made famous by its inclusion in Milan-San Remo but in danger of becoming infamous for its role in the final kilometres of Tuesday’s stage.

Groves’ Strava file after the stage revealed that the Alpecin-Deceuninck sprinter had hit an eye-watering top speed of 84kph on the descent, just minutes before opening his sprint for the line. Owing to its classification as hazardous to riders, the descent itself is a hidden segment on the platform.

The peloton averaged over 70kph over the 1.5km sector and suffice it to say, the sprint that followed was one of the fastest that cycling will see all year.

Bottoming out with just 700m to ride, the proximity of the Capo Mele descent to the finish line had already raised question marks ahead of the stage.

Jayco AlUla’s director of high performance and racing Matt White had offered his thoughts on the planned stage finish at the beginning of the day in Acqui Terme.

“It does look a bit sketchy, it looks a bit narrow,” said the Australian as he inspected the final kilometre on VeloViewer alongside GCN.

“The key is always how they barricade it. It will look different to that with the barriers up but it will definitely close up the sprint a little bit.”

High speeds not aided by a late roundabout workaround

The crux of concerns ahead of the stage centred on a roundabout with 400m to go that looked set to split the peloton in two. As predicted by White, race organisers RCS Sport had barriered off one half of the roundabout by the time the race had reached Andora on Tuesday afternoon, but this presented another problem in the form of slight chicane, around which the riders had to swing over to the left at the same moment they opened up their sprints for the line.

Read more: Giro d’Italia: Analysing the sprinters – more exciting than the GC?

Visma-Lease a Bike were left satisfied with their sixth place through Olav Kooij, but they too expressed their concern when speaking to GCN a short while after the dust had settled on stage 4.

“With the roundabout at 400m, it was not a straight line, but there was a chicane in it which also made it even more dangerous. In the end we also knew what was coming but the situation was not perfect. You prefer just to have a straight line,” said their sports director Marc Reef.

“For sure it is not good when you also have a descent like that just before their sprint, it creates another issue and adds something to calculation of the sprint. When the speeds are already that high, risks are going to be taken by sprinters and by riders.”

It has long been the case in cycling that bunch sprints produce the most dangerous scenarios for all involved, as is only natural when a large group of riders are all vying for the same target in close proximity. But as has been made clear since the disastrous crash suffered by Fabio Jakobsen and Dylan Groenewegen at the Tour of Poland just a few years ago, the risks can become all too great when riders are expected to sprint either on a descent or straight after a high-speed downhill.

It is worth noting that other teams were satisfied with the safety of the sprint on stage 4, not least of which Lidl-Trek who will spend the evening celebrating another Giro d’Italia success for last year’s points jersey winner, Milan. But for Merlier amongst others, Tuesday was another warning of the dangerous line of work within which they operate.

“I am a little bit disappointed of course, it was possible to win but it was really really hectic and a bit too dangerous definitely,” the Belgian added. “But ok, that is sport and it is part of my job.”

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