Carnage in TDF

[PurpleMoonlight]

What a day in the TDF yesterday.

It was awfull to see two of the leading riders of the day wiped out by a stupid car driver. I hope he/she can be prosecuted under French law as well as thrown off the tour.

[Stu R]

Just seen what happened on the BBC, bloody hell That's ridiculous.

[ewenm]

And yet the worst crash of the day was the one that included Vinokourov (broken femur) and was due to damp patches on the narrow road. Both the riders in the car-crash finished the stage and one of them will be wearing the Polka-Dot jersey tomorrow. These are hard, hard men.

Everyone seems very nervous this tour and the narrow roads aren't helping.

[dubbs]

THIRTY stitches!!! HE'd been patched up.... to finish the stage... THEN, go to hospital to get stitches...

For flyweight weenies these guys are, as mentioned previously, hard has nails.

[ewenm]

Not only patched up, but patched up on the move. The medic was on the back of a motorbike, the racer holding onto the motorbike rider's shoulder and the medic working on the racer at 20-30mph

[porka944s]

Truely shocking i though, i can't believe the driver was that stupid!

[tr7v8]

ewenm said:

Not only patched up, but patched up on the move. The medic was on the back of a motorbike, the racer holding onto the motorbike rider's shoulder and the medic working on the racer at 20-30mph

That was the bit tha shocked me, how far was the medic leaning off the bike!
A pic here of Hoogerlands arse after the barb wire shredded it!
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/cycli...

[curlie467]

tr7v8 said:

That was the bit tha shocked me, how far was the medic leaning off the bike!
A pic here of Hoogerlands arse after the barb wire shredded it!
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/cycli...

When he went into the fence, that was horrible and you did fear for him, cut to ribbons but fair play to him carrying on, i would be crying like a baby!

[Soovy]

curlie467 said:

tr7v8 said:

That was the bit tha shocked me, how far was the medic leaning off the bike!
A pic here of Hoogerlands arse after the barb wire shredded it!
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/cycli...

When he went into the fence, that was horrible and you did fear for him, cut to ribbons but fair play to him carrying on, i would be crying like a baby!

Jesus T ittyfking Christ

[groomi]

Just watched it on YouTube. Unbelievably poor judgement from the driver.

This has no place in a high profile event.

[Kermit power]

PurpleMoonlight said:

What a day in the TDF yesterday.

It was awfull to see two of the leading riders of the day wiped out by a stupid car driver. I hope he/she can be prosecuted under French law as well as thrown off the tour.

The driver has been rightly thrown off the tour, but what exactly would you like them to be prosecuted for?

Yes, the cars and bikes get very, very close to the riders, so there is a risk of this sort of thing happening, but if the alternative is that the stills and video coverage isn't quite as dramatic, then I'd bet the teams would be at the front of the line demanding that things be changed to deliver those shots again.

This doesn't compare with coming up behind cyclists on the road where you can say "the motorist just needs to be patient for a few seconds". The drivers on the tour are doing this sort of driving close to the cyclists for 4+ hours per day for 3 weeks. If anything, it speaks well for the drivers that you don't see more of this sort of incident, given the sort of pressure that I am sure is placed on them to get all the right shots.

In my view, the riders have the right attitude. They might be royally pissed off at the time, but they seem to recognise afterwards that this sort of thing happens, and there was no malice intended on the part of the driver.

[IroningMan]

Kermit power said:

PurpleMoonlight said:

What a day in the TDF yesterday.

It was awfull to see two of the leading riders of the day wiped out by a stupid car driver. I hope he/she can be prosecuted under French law as well as thrown off the tour.

The driver has been rightly thrown off the tour, but what exactly would you like them to be prosecuted for?

Yes, the cars and bikes get very, very close to the riders, so there is a risk of this sort of thing happening, but if the alternative is that the stills and video coverage isn't quite as dramatic, then I'd bet the teams would be at the front of the line demanding that things be changed to deliver those shots again.

This doesn't compare with coming up behind cyclists on the road where you can say "the motorist just needs to be patient for a few seconds". The drivers on the tour are doing this sort of driving close to the cyclists for 4+ hours per day for 3 weeks. If anything, it speaks well for the drivers that you don't see more of this sort of incident, given the sort of pressure that I am sure is placed on them to get all the right shots.

In my view, the riders have the right attitude. They might be royally pissed off at the time, but they seem to recognise afterwards that this sort of thing happens, and there was no malice intended on the part of the driver.

KP - your point is well made regarding the motorcycle-borne photographer who knocked a rider off and dragged him down the verge on Tuesday or Wednesday, but I think the TV car was just carrying a commentator or ferring people about - certainly no sign of a camera.

[DrMekon]

Elsewhere it's being said that "media car" isn't what it says on the tin, and is really used to give sponsors somewhere to watch the action at close quarters.

[Kermit power]

DrMekon said:

Elsewhere it's being said that "media car" isn't what it says on the tin, and is really used to give sponsors somewhere to watch the action at close quarters.

I think my point would probably still hold true even then. Most of the pro teams' budgets come from sponsorship, and most sponsors will want two things out of their sponsorship - their logo all over positive coverage of the event, and the ability to get their key customers or other favoured guests close to the action.

This is going to be all the more important for something like road cycling where the lack of a stadium means the teams can't charge admissions.

[XitUp]

As bad as that crash was, it could have been so much worse if Hoogerland had landed face/neck down on the wire.

Its good that the idiot driver has been chucked off the tour.

Massive (if grazed/lacerated) balls on these guys for soldiering on to finish the stage.

[a11y_m]

I watched the clip on youtube yesterday but then saw it on the ITV4 coverage last night - ouch...

I know it's perhaps seen as part of cycling, but to my eyes there's far too many vehicles floating around in amongst the cyclists. Yes we all love the coverage we get but surely there's got to be limits when it interferes with the actual action? And if it was a sponsor's car then even worse IMO.

[okgo]

Wasn't a sponsor car, the guys driving the cars from the teams clearly know what they're doing unlike that other moron.

[The Walrus]

okgo said:

Wasn't a sponsor car, the guys driving the cars from the teams clearly know what they're doing unlike that other moron.

You say that but the volvo support car that came up afterwards was all over the plac, watch it and you will see what I mean it must have been right hand drive as well as the guy is hanging out of the left hand window.