couldn't ride a straight line if they were on rails...check out Graeme Browne, the Rabobank. He switches right to get on Boonen's (who was moving left anyway) wheel, takes out Steels then ends up further left than he was to begin with. Yes, he was relegated and rightfully so.

http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/photos/races07/qatar07/qatar07st02-thesprint.jpg

Idiot. He should be stuck in a cage with Tammy Thomas.

Idiot. He should be stuck in a cage with Tammy Thomas.


You never know...he might like that.

******* ow.

robbie must have taught brown well.

Yes, he was relegated and rightfully so.

Apologies for a noob question, but I don't read my Cycle Sport as diligently I should. "Relegated" means...? He was sent to the "minors"?

"Relegated" means he was relegated to the last position of the bunch.

He was probably castigated, also.

I would give anything to hear what they yell at him during the next sprint.

i was going to say in the "can't beat me" thread that i'm shocked every time i see a sprint like that & there isn't a crash. those guys weave in & out all over the place like it's total anarchy & how it doesn't happen more often blows me away.

Idiot. He should be stuck in a cage with Tammy Thomas.

oh yeah, the track dude with the bad haircut.

Yeah, that guy.

I noticed in those pics that Boonen is the only guy sprinting with his mouth closed!

And it looks like Petacchi might have had the win if he had thrown his bike rather than looking over at Boonen.

IAnd it looks like Petacchi might have had the win if he had thrown his bike rather than looking over at Boonen.


he knew he was beat thats why he looked.

robbie must have taught brown well. McEwen and Brown don't appear to get on very well after Brown nearly ran half a peloton into a parked car during a criterium in Melbourne a couple of years ago. McEwen was on the wheel in the sprint when it happened. Brown had a couple of green jersey winners, two Olympic champions and a few world champs wanting to pound him. Made for some interesting interviews on TV.

Having said that, Brown is a very classy rider, has and excellent sprint and is a dual Olympic gold medallist. He may step up a level this year, just as long as he keeps a straight line.

Having said that, Brown is a very classy rider, has and excellent sprint and is a dual Olympic gold medallist. He may step up a level this year, just as long as he keeps a straight line.
He might even win a few if he does....as they say, shortest distance between two points.

And it looks like Petacchi might have had the win if he had thrown his bike rather than looking over at Boonen.

Nope, Petacchi is just making sure Browne isn't headed his way!:rolleyes:

Cutting off a past-his-prime Steels is one thing. You can be sure if he ever does that to Boonen, McEwen or Petacchi you'll never see him cross the finish line near the front again.

....but was relegate :)

http://www.cyclingnews.com/road.php?id=road/2007/jan07/qatar07/qatar072
http://www.cyclingnews.com/photos/2007/jan07/qatar07/qatar072/Nic138146.jpg

[URL="removed, as it linked to this thread"[/URL]

^^ already been posted. that thread has a better pic, too.

McEwen and Brown don't appear to get on very well after Brown nearly ran half a peloton into a parked car during a criterium in Melbourne a couple of years ago. McEwen was on the wheel in the sprint when it happened. Brown had a couple of green jersey winners, two Olympic champions and a few world champs wanting to pound him. Made for some interesting interviews on TV.

Having said that, Brown is a very classy rider, has and excellent sprint and is a dual Olympic gold medallist. He may step up a level this year, just as long as he keeps a straight line.

:lol: The Bay Series Crits were awesome that year...Brownie got "sorted" in a later race IIRC. :D

aussie hooligans :) :)

How is it "cool" that this bull in a China shop made a move that 1. was illegal and 2. left another rider crashed and bloodied?

I'm a fan of Aussie sprinters too, but that was a dumb, dangerous move.

ooops! :p

someone can delete this thread if they want

is it normal for guys like Boonen and Petacchi to race so early in the year?

is it normal for guys like Boonen and Petacchi to race so early in the year?

iirc boonen won it last year.

iirc boonen won it last year.


Yes, and he also won all but one of the stages, as I recall.

I don't suppose there's a video, or longer sequence of pics of this, is there? No, I'm not gawking (I've seen enough), but I'm curious to see the full sequence of events.

I haven't been able to find one

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=264728

^^ already been posted. that thread has a better pic, too.

Is there any reason why you linked back to this thread? Or was this a merge?

merge

Looks like Brownie is getting the reception he so richly deserves.

The finish of stage 2 of the Tour of Qatar was a horrifying picture; Graeme Brown swerved in the sprint finish, taking out Predictor-Lotto's Tom Steels who sprawled full-length on the Doha street in the middle of the whole onrushing peloton. Miraculously all riders were all able to avoid him, but the damage was already done. He was able to get back on his bike and ride to the team bus, with unbelievable quantities of blood streaming down his face.

The Belgian emerged later from the Doha hospital to report a broken collarbone, six stitches in his head and any amount of skin scraped off. At that time, he didn't blame Brown for what happened. "That's the way it is in the sprint, these things happen," he was quoted as saying.

But by the time he got back to the team hotel, things had changed. All of the teams are staying at the same hotel and eating together in the same restaurant. According to Robert Förster of Gerolsteiner, Steels went up to Brown, showed him his broken collarbone and spoke his mind, calling the Australian, among other things "a Kamikaze." According to Sportwereld.be, Steels yelled at him, "You f**king idiot! It's always the same with you!"

"Brown didn't react," Förster wrote on his website, robert-foerster.de. "Steels was shouting as loud as he could, 'Go home!' At the same time another rider stood up, clapped and yelled, too, 'Go home!' Then the room went crazy, everybody stood up and yelled 'Go home!'"

Steels, at least, will be heading home early, to have the broken collarbone operated on. His mechanic reported that the head wound had been caused by the helmet, which broke into eight pieces.

"This is enormously frustrating," Steels summarized. He hopes to be back in the saddle training in five days.

^^ Juicey stuff :)

i imagine Browne is pretty desperate to do something this year as it may well be his last chance. Apparently he was all but scrapped by Rabobank toward the end of '06, but those couple of late season wins got him another year.

He was probably castigated, also.

and castrated.

:lol: The Bay Series Crits were awesome that year...Brownie got "sorted" in a later race IIRC. :D


I wish I had the SBS footage from Sorrento when he was trailing Clarke about 300 out from the finish which had a perpindicular hotdog corner about 200 metres from the finish. He jumped at about 50 coming into the corner, got about 7 bike lengths on Clarke into the corner, lent it on one side, like Rossi 500cc, and took it at about kmph, then straightened it up quicker that Clarke also, won by about 20 lengths. And Hilton Clarke is the best crit racer in the US domestic pro scene, and can get top 10's in sprints in Belgium with ease.

Amazing.

I noticed in those pics that Boonen is the only guy sprinting with his mouth closed!

He looks ice cold, like a robot..

I wanna know where Browney got his tan from? :p Didn't he spend the last month in Euroland?

I don't suppose there's a video, or longer sequence of pics of this, is there? No, I'm not gawking (I've seen enough), but I'm curious to see the full sequence of events.

Cycling.tv has the whole stage on video.

Yes they do...and more carnage tonight 'live', if you feel like getting up at 3:30 a.m. Pacific Time.

Cycling.tv has the whole stage on video.

Wow. What a stupid move. For those who haven't seen it, with about 75m to go (or less), Browne decided to completely and suddenly switch lines from behind Petacchi to behind Boonen, crossing over an _entire lane_ of road (from one dashed white line to another, about 3-4 meters). I cannot possibly imagine what he was thinking -- with so little to go, there is no way he could have overtaken anyone.

Yeah and from the looks of the video he didn't hit Steels on the initial move across the lanes, but seemed to drag him down when swerving back the other direction. It's a really weird sequence of events.

Looks like Brownie is getting the reception he so richly deserves.
But by the time he got back to the team hotel, things had changed. All of the teams are staying at the same hotel and eating together in the same restaurant. According to Robert Förster of Gerolsteiner, Steels went up to Brown, showed him his broken collarbone and spoke his mind, calling the Australian, among other things "a Kamikaze." According to Sportwereld.be, Steels yelled at him, "You f**king idiot! It's always the same with you!"

"Brown didn't react," Förster wrote on his website, robert-foerster.de. "Steels was shouting as loud as he could, 'Go home!'......'"

Then Steels chucked a bidon at Brownie from the inside of his glass house.:rolleyes:

Then Steels chucked a bidon at Brownie from the inside of his glass house.:rolleyes:
LMAO. You remember that too, eh? Even the announcer says "whenever Graeme Browne in involved in the sprint there's sure to be something happening". He must be quite the kamikaze.

Then Steels chucked a bidon at Brownie from the inside of his glass house.:rolleyes:


Good call. Was a great throw at 65kmh, though. Tommy could be a stand-out fielding at deep extra cover for England.

Good call. Was a great throw at 65kmh, though. Tommy could be a stand-out fielding at deep extra cover for England.

Well, I heard Zabel rang Steels with condolences and told him to sharpen his arm in the Lotto bull pen.

He said he was sorting through his grandfather's war memorabilia and could offer Tom some help that he could put in his bidon for the next time Lotto ride against Rabobank

http://www.macw.com/imgs/grenade.jpghttp://www.bikeonline.pl/images/tacx_bidon_lotto_B.jpg

Good call. Was a great throw at 65kmh, though. Tommy could be a stand-out fielding at deep extra cover for England.

A baby would be a stand out fielder for England at the moment.