As Irish native Sam Bennett said this week, the first game of the season is always dangerous. The players are nervous and anxious to get a result after being away from the peloton for months. So when the organizers of the Mallorca Challenge opted to set up the finish line 50 meters after the corner at Thursday's Trofeo Arcadia, only winner Marline van den Berg (EF Education - Easy Post) was pleased with the decision.

The 23-year-old said that using the corners was part of her team's strategy and that she had to be first through the corner to win. However, due to the unusually wet conditions, "it was a bit slippery, so I had to stay on the bike.

Other riders interviewed by CyclingPro.net's Antoine Plouvin were not as excited about the finale. There had already been several crashes on the rain-slicked hills in the previous stage, and the descent into Arcadia was equally treacherous, so most riders were clearly paying close attention.

Last year's champion Biniam Girmay, whose Intermarché Circus Wanty teammate Rui Costa won on Wednesday, said he did not sprint before taking third place.

"For the future, I don't need to look at this corner (right-left, especially on this wet surface). I didn't sprint."

Ethan Vernon (Sourdal-Quickstep), who finished second, was more emphatic about the inappropriate corner. He said, "I think it's a little dangerous to have these corners in wet conditions. It's not a sprint with 50 meters to go. If the line had been a bit further, there was definitely a line to win the sprint. The race was won by the rider with the most grip on the last corner.

The problem is not new; in the 2003 Giro d'Italia, Mario Cipollini crashed on a similar corner on stage 11, trying to break the record for most wins.

At the 2015 Tour of the Basque Country, a rider was seriously injured when his peloton ran into a waist-high bollard marking a parking space in the last 500 meters of the first stage.

The riders formed a union and petitioned the UCI for safety measures and asked for an inspection of the last 3 km. However, after Antoine Demoitier was killed in a collision with a racing bike in the 2016 Gent-Wevelgem, the UCI made updates focusing on the convoy rules, but omitted the required course inspection.

The UCI has since updated its guidelines and introduced a "safety manager" who is responsible for finding problems with the course, but this has no immediate consequences. However, riders were disqualified for taking the aero position, which was deemed illegal and now prohibited, in the name of safety.

Fabio Jacobsen's horrific crash in the Tour de Pollogne drew attention to the design of the last kilometer, especially the last 200 meters. In his case, the impact caused a barrier to collapse, aggravating his injuries, sending debris flying into the path of the sprint and causing several more riders to crash.

The UCI subsequently established stricter requirements for the types of barriers that could be used and how they were secured against wind and rider crashes. However, poor surfaces, unsafe run-ins, and unprotected finishes are still used in UCI sanctioned races.

On Monday, Jacobsen noted that on the opening stage of the Vuelta a San Juan, the peloton had to avoid parked cars and also had to navigate several surface tears inside the last kilometer, and said that he had had discussions with the race organizers to correct these problems. He said he had discussions with the race organizers to correct these problems.

The racers want a safer course. Is anyone listening?