Professional Cycling For the Fans - Holy cow, anyone see that crash at the end of 2nd stage?

At the end of the 2nd stage, one of the CSC riders (jimmy casper?) clipped a wheel and fell on the last turn and hit the ground at something like 35mph and slammed the back of his head onto the ground, boucing it twice before he rolled over. And you wonder why they wear helmets, he would've cracked his skull right open had it not been for his helmet. After the wreck, he was on his knees with his head to the ground dazed for about a minute before he turned over to sit down. Lucky lucky man.

Yeah, I saw that, and it just looked terrible. I hate seeing the crashes.

I thought I saw two crashes, though in that stage. Then again, I could have just seen the same crash and just had a bad case of double vision or something.

Koffee

I can't even begin to imagine what would've happened had he not been wearing a helmet. Didn't they used to not wear helmets a few years back?

I can't even begin to imagine what would've happened had he not been wearing a helmet. Didn't they used to not wear helmets a few years back?

Yep

Just a few years back there wasn't any "real" head protection

It's things like that that prevent me from riding the tour! :D

If I were him (the guy fell down), I'd be very pissed off. The other guy cut all the way from left to right, that's totally his fault, he should have looked before making such a cross turn.

Just the fact he wasn't even rendered unconscious is a testament to his helmet's effectiveness. I'm glad they are mandatory, now. There are worse things than racing in a helmet I would guess, and I know watching someone die on live TV is one.

Do the helmets worn in TdF meet the same levels standards as the ones for sale in the USA? Or are they better/worse?

Al

It's things like that that prevent me from riding the tour! :D


G'day,

hey, I like your thinking, me too! (& no talent,to fat,to old,to lazy etc etc)......but hey, being scared of crashes is what i'm gunna tell everyone from now on,

cheers,

Hitchy

Do the helmets worn in TdF meet the same levels standards as the ones for sale in the USA? Or are they better/worse?

They're exactly the same. As with most other pieces of cycling equipment you see in the races, you can buy the exact same helmets at your LBS. That's one of the great things about this sport. Imagine going into a local car dealership and asking to purchase a Formula-1 race car... not likely to happen.