Team Sunweb riders expressed concern not only about the problems down the Col de Plan Bois, but also about the large number of fans not wearing masks along the Criterium du Dauphiné.

The Dauphiné was an important preparatory race for both the riders and organizer ASO in the run-up to the Tour de France and was held under the strict restrictions of COVID-19, but although the start and finish areas were closed to the public, fans lined up on several key climbs. Fans lined up on some of the key climbs.

Sunweb's Nicolas Roche was one of many riders who protested the descent of the Col de Plan Bois in the previous stage and called for the first 10 km of the final stage to be neutral, while Jumbo-Visma's Tom Dumoulin called it "a disgrace," Andre Greipel (Israel Startup Nation) branded it "disrespectful to the players."

Roche said before this stage that he and his teammates expressed concern about unmasked fans and controversial descents as soon as they returned to the bus at the end of the final stage.

"The first thing we did when we got to the bus was to send messages from the team to the CPA [players' association]. One of them was about the descent and the other was about the masks on the side of the road," said the veteran Irish rider.

"It seemed like not that many people actually had masks. There were a lot of people with masks at the start and at the finish, but on the climbs, most people weren't wearing masks. I filed a complete report with the CPA yesterday."

Roche added that since the Dauphiné is being used as a test event for health-related procedures to be implemented at the Tour de France later this month, he feels it is important to highlight these issues to the race organizer, ASO.

"It is important to raise all the issues today so that we can fix any of them before the Tour," he explained.

The protest, which took place down the Col de Planbois, was fully backed by the CPA, which issued the following statement: "The riders want to send a clear protest signal to both the organizers and the UCI about the serious crashes and accidents that have occurred in recent races.

Roche added: "I knew there wasn't much I could do by yelling and screaming on social media. But this morning I brought up this downhill issue at the start. I don't think this is a disgrace, but it adds unnecessary risk to an already dangerous sport."

The CPA has been widely criticized in recent seasons for being ineffective in many areas, including rider safety, and Roche acknowledged that some riders say the CPA should be doing more.

"This is a never-ending battle. We have an organization that is supposed to be protecting us, but in reality it's been heavily criticized for not protecting us well enough.

"After all, what they can do is also limited by the rules. We are not a revolutionary party, we are trying to change things," Roche said.

He added, "It's also a question of having the right people. I don't want to get too far into the political stuff, but I think they are trying to do what they can do.