ITT world champion Tony Martin (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) didn’t start in the last stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné on Sunday as he felt a sore throat and didn’t want to compromise his preparations for the German ITT championships and the Tour de France.

Martin wasn’t idle though, inspecting the parcours of the Tour’s second ITT, stage 17 from Embrun to Chorges in the car – and he didn’t like what he saw: “I’m somewhat disappointed as the route is more suited to climbers. There are two climbs that are simply too long to be able to power over them. One is 5 km, the other is even 10 km I would estimate,” the rider wrote on his Facebook page. “And the descents are so technical that I’m in doubt whether I should even use my TT bike.”

The German also criticized the descent from L’Alpe d’Huez and the Col de Sarenne that will be used on the 18th stage of the Tour. He saw it first-hand on the Critérium du Dauphiné stage on Saturday: “I’m negatively surprised. The road is old, narrow and in bad shape. There are no guardrails – if you misjudge your lane you immediately drop 30 m. It’s irresponsible to send us down there. And I can’t imagine they’ll improve the road before the Tour. Even if you have a mechanical it gets dangerous.”

It’s not the first time that organizers have come under criticism for including what riders perceive as unnecessarily dangerous descents. Two years ago, Andy Schleck was highly critical of some of the descents in the Tour de France, and on the 17th stage of the 2011 Giro d’Italia, the Monte Crostis, with its descent partly on gravel roads, was cut by UCI commissaires following protests from the riders – a move strongly opposed by Giro race director Angelo Zomegnan.

Lately organizers have started to listen, though: Earlier this year Michele Acquarone, current director of the RCS organizing a.o. the Giro d’Italia, publicly apologized to the peloton for choosing too steep a climb in the Tirreno-Adriatico, another RCS race.

The riders’ safety and well-being should be the highest priority for any race organizer; however, the riders themselves should also remember that while everybody is aware of dangerous descents and rides accordingly, some of the worst accidents happen when riders take risks on stretches they deem less dangerous.