classic1

Strange finish. There are a lot of class sprinters in the Tour this year. All the big guns watched one another. Happened the other year too when Kirsupuu won on the first stage. Great move by Casper to throw caution to the wind and hit them when he did. Normal transmission should resume tomorrow.

Bockman

Sliced by a big green hand? Aren't those things foam rubber? If that spectator had a blade inside it to cause mayhem he really should have a bullet in his head.

EURO

Sheesh, you guys and your conspiracy theories.... He would have hit it at 40mph. At that speed almost anything would open up your arm.

classic1

It was the bloke on the grassy knoll what done it.......

El Diablo Rojo

Just before he was struck by the foam hand he was very very close to the barriers. I think he may have brushed up against them and that's what did it. I have a hard time believing he was cut by a foam hand.

gm1230126

2 seconds that put him in the Yellow Jersey.

harlond

What happened to DiLuca, finishing two minutes back? Was he sick or just demonstrating emphatically that his GT possibilities are non-existent?

There's kind of a French thing beginning to happen in this TdF. OK, just one stage, but throw in the World Cup and you can see it starting.

gm1230126

Pleeaassee don't go there. Not yet. Enjoy it while you can.

Devil

Nice to see George in the yellow.

Too bad about Thor.

EURO

The lack of that pre-season 'training trip' to Mexico seems to be having an effect this year...

godspiral

It was lame that CA let it happen, or that no one else tried to do it, or even that Husholvd let Hindcappie out of his sight. Although Husholvd was strong at the finish and was close to get top 3 if he wasn't hit.

Cucumber_Jones

I had to register to post this - as I am so shocked.

I reviewed the last 50m many times on my digital recorder and before the green hand hits thor there is a hand that pokes him right bellow his sholder. If you recored the race watch the end very closely before the green hand hits him. There is no way a foam hand (or even cardboard) would cut him like that.

godspiral

I thought this was a poor stage. There going too much by the screen play: too much standing aside for the sprinters.

41kph average on such a flat stage is slow compared to last year.

I hope to see more effort, and less scripting, this tour.

Trevor98

As far as I can tell from the UCI and TdF rules, had the spectator hit Thor with a bat the results would still stand. Regardless of the cause, he lost and is now injured (unknown how bad). It sucks but that's life. I bet riders give the fences a little more room in the future.

Bockman

He never struck the fence. You can plainly see that before the Big Green Hand his arm was fine and he had at least 2 feet of clearance to the barrier side. Whereas other fans were pulling their hands/cameras/waving flags/whatever out of the way at the last second, that ONE HAND stays there like a rock-- Thor recoils or rebounds slightly from it as he sweeps by. There's no conspiracy theory, I don't think someone was targeting him specifically, but I really do think someone was up to no good and had a knife in that stupid foam thing.

Cucumber_Jones

He did not touch the fence. A spectator reached out at him (as many do) and had a poking contact with his arm. At least that is what I saw with my slow motion digital feed.

Stadings don't change - however, perhaps someday they will do something about the spectators.

Laggard

Good lord. The guy's sick.

Some of you are pathetic.

Cucumber_Jones

This is exactly what I saw.

Trevor98

The fence is where spectators are and regardless of intent Thor was injured by a spectator. Therefore, I believe that riders will remember to avoid that danger zone. This happens every couple of years (LA and the musette bag?) but in time riders forget the danger of unpredictable spectators and get closer until something like this happens. This particular occurrence is more regrettable because it happened at the finish (no time to recover) and it may put the yellow jersey out of the race (unknown injury severity at this time).

bbattle

And where the heck was Tom Boonen? I thought he was in position for the sprint but he didn't make the top ten.

thunder

the foam hands may well be wire skeletoned, mcewen was cut or bruised 2 years ago.

Paniolo

Sad about Thor ... you could see him swerve to his left right as he went by the green hand. I guess the good thing is that swerve didn't cause a mass pile up. I hope he can continue.

Great move by George to grab 2 secs only 9.5k from the finish while all the sprinters were starting to jockey for the finish. Veteren move by a Veteren rider. I am surprized that CA wasn't marking the few riders that could catch Thor at that time bonus. CA did have Hinault keep George from the 4' second place bonus, but no one else from CA covered for the 3rd place. I wonder if Disco will do much to defend the yellow ... hard to see how they can keep it from some of the sprint teams over the next week with the small time gaps from the prologue.

That's truly a great accomplishment for George ... not a lot of riders earn a malliot jaune in their careers. How many Americans have worn it? Who else besides Lance, Greg and Z-Man?

Smoothie104

George was a few seconds away from it in 1998 as well. He was racing the TdF while wearing the Stars and Stripes of the US professional Champion. He got to within a few seconds, but couldn't get any time bonuses, or finish high enough in the bunch sprints. He was in 2nd place for most of the first week.

It's not often you see the US Championship Jersey in the TDF, Armstrong won a stage while wearing it in 1993.

240GL

Thor is now reportedly back at the hotel (after having the 5 cm long, 3-4 cm deep cut sewn up at the hospital), where he states that he feels "okay", and that he'll definitely start tomorrow. He is not denying that the injury may restrain him in a sprint finish, though.
Erling.

Da Tinker

Those green hands are plastic. Riders have been complaining about them even since they first appeared. There is now talk of a ban on the hands in the final 2K on flat stages.