Professional Cycling For the Fans - Vino's "neck slit" motion in stage 5

After crashing in stage 4, Vinokourov finished the stage ...and in the next stage when the camera zoomed in on him in the peloton, Vino made a motion with his hand across his neck. The announcers seemed to intrepret this as a "neck slit" motion that some pro football players made a few years ago.

What did this neck slit mean?

a) His tour was over
b) He wants to kill Kloden

Neither. After seeing this neck slit motion about 6 times on highlights, I think I now see what he is doing with this motion. Correct answer on my blog....

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He is still my #1 pick for GC. If he doesn't win, I still think he will launch an attack or otherwise do something special that we will remember for years.

Nice plug for your blog! :p

Neck slit was stage 6. The crash was stage 5. Today was 7.

the neck slit motion has probably been around for hundreds of years; represents head getting cut off or life ending. Few Americans will need to read your blog to understand what it meant. He was hurt and feared his Tour may be over. If you watched him more often you'd see he actually does cross himself sometimes and it looks nothing like the neck slit. He, like all Christians, touches his head then crosses his chest, not his neck.

He was making that "plus sign" I've seen people doing in churches.

He was making that "plus sign" I've seen people doing in churches.

Just a note: The Plus sign is indigenous to Catholic denominations and called the Sign of the Cross. We Catholics consider ourselves Christians, however, not every Christian is a Catholic, ex. Methodists.

wouldn't a kazack be orthodox?

the way he glared at the camera, i think it meant i didnt like the attention. he was said to be in good spirits that morning, but that could have just been propaganda too.

the neck slit motion has probably been around for hundreds of years; represents head getting cut off or life ending. Few Americans will need to read your blog to understand what it meant. He was hurt and feared his Tour may be over. If you watched him more often you'd see he actually does cross himself sometimes and it looks nothing like the neck slit. He, like all Christians, touches his head then crosses his chest, not his neck.
+1
He does make the sign of the cross and kisses his ring, usually after he crosses the finish line. I don't think he does this much during the ride. I believe he either thought his race was over or he wanted the cameras off him.

Just FYI, I have a big screen TV, and Vino was clearly making the sign of the cross.
Odd I saw it, because I have watched about a half an hour of the TDF so far.

Lutherans also cross themselves, at least in Austria.

i saw Borat running along side the riders at the Tour today

orthobox, clearly not a lutheran

He was making that "plus sign" I've seen people doing in churches.


Plus? :rolleyes:

I have seen him make the neck slit motion before. I believe it was in the world champs a few years ago. He was indicating tht he was done for, and that the cameras could stop watching him at the back of the peloton.

He then went on to put in a BRUTAL attack with about a mile to go, to just barely be caught by the sprinters. I think it is his way of bluffing that he is done for.

Vino is NEVER done. Dismiss him at your own risk. I don't think his opponents buy that for two seconds.

What a great Tour. Anything can happen.

http://temp.corvetteforum.net/bss/nomad/spock_fascinating2.jpg

swedish tourists in austria?

Nope. Most of the swedish student I know where either on the slopes, or resting up with broken legs... There are lots of Lutherans in Austria, especially in the Steiermark, where I lived. It's called the Evangelische Kirche. Lots of Lutherans in Germany too.

Although I would suspect most Kazakhs of Russian descent are Orthodox.

I'm also pretty sure that Vino wasn't making the sign of the cross. Christians who do this (Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and some older Protestant denominations) typically do so over their chest, as mentioned by a previous poster. Presuming Vino is Christian (I've never seen him make the sign of the cross, but apparently others have) he's probably Orthodox.

I interpreted it at the time that Vino was simply saying "I feel like s*** and am probably done for."
Either that or he's just super-pissed about whatever endorsement contract that forced him to wear Greg LeMond's sunglasses from 1989...

I've seen lots of pro cyclists with crosses on chains around their necks (Kloeden, for example) but the crossing-oneself memory that most sticks out in my mind was Yaroslav Popovych after he won a stage on a breakaway last year, crossed himself three times as he approached the line alone - and did it all in slow motion. At least on Versus' replays.

Would be interesting to know what percentage of pro cyclists are religious, and of what religions. Also interesting to know what percent are actively religious. In some countries religious identity is very closely intertwined with ethnic identity, and crossing oneself (for example) doesn't necessarily mean that someone is an active practicing Christian. Ah, the sociology of religion...