do-well

Based on the Horner article linked previously, I wonder how much there was a "predetermined" idea of "once this goes bad, which it will, we will show them." Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but I'm not sure Fabian was the on-the-spot ringleader by choice. Seems the peleton expected the worst and might have even had a plan in place when the crap hit the fan. If it is true that many of the riders felt that particular section was dangerous then I'm wondering if there was a tacit agreement to protect all riders - GC and sprinters alike. Being that FC was in yellow and had a dog in the fight (AS), the job of organizing might have just fallen on him.

I like what Horner said. Sounds like he is saying the organizer's lost the "right" to drama at the end because they used it up on an unnecessary descent. I'm okay with that thinking. Horner's always smiling, so if he's unhappy, that says something.

Shadco 

Maybe he / they (the schlecks) were a big part but they went sour in the first 5.6 miles of this race. What are they going to do now put the racing on hold every time they fall too far behind?

Chavenel didn't seem to think waiting was such a great strategy now did he?

rogwilco

I can't decide whether that picture is awesome or atrocious. I guess is depends on whether its owner is some childish hipster or an actual handicapped person. But I can't see a brake on the thing so I'm afraid it's the former.

Glades2

I agree with Phil Liggett - it's a bicycle race after all, and these professional cyclists should expect the unexpected...

IMHO, they should not have to find it necessary to resort to improptu "protests", since that only gives the public the impression that they are ill-tempered athletes - and in doing so also made less the stage victory to the deserving rider, since they could always say that "they gave it to him", and "we could have caught him"...

Sure, the downhill was fast and slick, but had it not been raining and no one had fallen, would they have made the same fuss - probably not...

As a touring club cyclist of many years, even I know that if it's raining and you're faced with a downhill - I better be alert and keep the speed down, at least a certain percentage lower than in the dry, lest I fall...

Perhaps this was a carry-over from the bitter comments made during the Olympics (following the death of the luge athlete), that organizers seem to put the althetes in more danger than is expected in order to keep the public interest (as one American cyclist alluded to today), but I sincerely do not think that was the case - perhaps the Tour organizers could have done more, could have alerted everyone via race radio that the downhill was slick, but a sudden shower (as the case today) is a sudden shower, and fast downhills are by their nature dangerous for cyclists (we lost a club member 2 years ago to a fast downhill), and again as Phil Liggett said, this is a race after all...

Frank

Laggard

Actually it wasn't.

I can see both sides of the argument though but think too big a deal is being made about this incident.

Riders do have good cause for being angry about the increasingly dangerous finishes organizers have allowed in the last 15 years. The increase in road furniture and organizers continuing to award finishes to towns with a silly amount of said furniture is a recipe for disaster.

Quel

As far as I can tell, seems like the only group that is irritated over the neutralization is Cervelo, and that's because their guys didn't go down.

A velonews article said that a motorbike was avoiding the very first crash and spilled oil/gas on the road, which is what caused others to slide out.

cannibal

I didn't believe anything about the story of the "cancellara bike" but now I know it's true!

These saxo guys will do anything to win. Not surprising really, with the biggest fraud that ever rode a bike, Bjarne Riis, as their team manager.

The other teams should ostracize those poor losers.

do-well

Oh come on - most the riders had to deal with the oil. Only the unskilled ones fell. Why should the good ones be penalized.

dgasmd

WOW, just registered for that post. Marvelous

Mr_Christopher

What is the official word on AS' injury?

cannibal

Yeah, cycling is going downhill. It is time somebody stood up and put a stop to it!

40 Cent

I'm pretty sure you're joking.

do-well

Working from the logic that the best win the races, I am concluding that the worst ones fall. And should be left behind. Some weird Darwinian approach to cycling. Even if the cause is an object (motor oil!) foreign/unnatural to racing.....

Ok, I'll stop. Yes I was and am still joking.

HardyWeinberg

Too Big To Fail

Laggard

Wow. Your first post and you post this idiocy?

FlashBazbo

If it rains, the roads will be FAR worse tomorrow. If it rains, then, would they mind neutralizing the race before they start? That would save us all a lot of time watching a meaningless parade.

davids0507

Wow, what a crazy stage. Jens knows how to suffer.


I saw video of a rider going down for no reason -- he was moving slowly, the road was bending slightly to the left, but the tires just weren't gripping the road and he went down.


This was a good article: https://velonews.competitor.com/2010/...d-stage_125976


Some quotes about the road conditions:


It all started when Lampre rider Francesco Gavazzi crashed out of the breakaway on the Stockeu. A TV motorcycle then crashed while avoiding hitting Gavazzi, and the bike spilled oil on the road. The oil had time to run down the hill by the time the peloton came through a few minutes later, setting off a dangerous domino effect that saw over 60 riders sliding across the road.

�There was something on the road,� Armstrong said. �We just couldn�t stay on our bikes�. It was more of a slide. I�ve got some good abrasions. It was so slippery that you just slid, so not much swelling. It was mostly abrasions. I will feel fine tomorrow� It seems that almost everybody crashed. Everyone will be banged up tomorrow. Between today and yesterday, the vast majority of the peloton has been on the ground at least once.�


�It was a straight road, downhill, with oil on it, and the whole peloton went down,� Evans said. �Sorry to the public for not racing. But it would not have been fair to the many who were injured.�

�It was ridiculously slippery,� said Team Sky manager Dave Brailsford. �They were coming down the last couple of descents and there were guys in the trees. It was carnage in the true sense of the word. Sixty guys must have crashed in different places.�

Contador has suffered a blow and abrasions on the right hip, knee and elbow. �On this road it was impossible not to fall. I fell on a straight part at about 60kph and when I thought about what could have happened, I saw that at every turn there were people on the ground; it was impossible to go without falling.�

Laggard

What Horner had to say about today:

""They put on a dangerous stage and so when they put it on like that, that's the result they'll get," Horner told Cyclingnews. "They got all their drama on the descent and they lost it all at the finish and they got what they deserved. The only thing more stupid about this stage is the pro cycling federation and Cedric Vasseur for ever letting a stage like this exist in the first place. There's no place in the Tour de France for a stage like this.""

do-well

There's a big difference between wet roads (natural and expected) and oil (unnatural and unexpected).

Laggard

How right you are. The way LL was talking riders are helpless without radios and tvs in the cars.

chadwick

Analysis on the stage and the crash from Carmichael: https://www.trainright.com/articles.asp?uid=4930 - not a bad read.

OrionKhan

Yep. LL made it sound like everyone had to slow down just to figure out what to do next because team cars didn't know who was where. Here's an option Levi, keep riding to the finish. One of the biggest arguments by the team for keeping the radios is safety. How many crashes are avoided because of the radio? Any?

SunSwingsLow

Protectionism will lead to lessor product in future years. Crashing and injuries are part of of every major sport. Even the premier athletes arent immune from it. If the Schlecks had gotten dropped then guess what...a new rider that maybe people didnt know about would be at the top and then NEXT year when the schlecks came back not only would you have the shlecks but a NEW rider that maybe no had heard of.

In short the tour is better when it doesnt protect its elite riders in this way. In fact in the long run its worse for them. That and it looks bloody awful to the casual fan to "protest" like that. the TdF will lose far more viewers allowing that crap to happen than it will if through the course of a race a top contender gets dropped from an accident or injury.

Buddy S

I normally have the biggest respect for Cancelara. Today was kind of disappointing. He had no choice but to wait for the Schleck's. It wouldnt have went over well if he left the team's main GC hopes back in the dust just to stay in yellow for a a little longer. He looked to be acting kind of *****y about the whole thing which isn't something I'm used to seeing him do (more of a cuddles trait). Facial expressions and pointing and all that jazz. It was said before but they knew about these stages way before they got here. They knew this race is dangerous. There is an incredible amount of first time tour riders this year. Why all the drama? You could kind of see it in the faces of everyone else that it seemed a little BS that they rolled in like that. But who would stand against Cancelara? idk.. just a little disappointed in the way he handled it.

DXchulo

Maybe it was overshadowed by Stage 3, but I don't remember anyone saying this stage was dangerous before today. Perhaps you can blame the organizers for not reacting to the oil spill properly (a common theme in today's world, it seems), but hindsight is 20/20 and everyone wants to say they knew the stage was dangerous beforehand. If something happens tomorrow, then they can talk about a dangerous route.

I felt bad for Cancellara as the stage went on. He lost the jersey through no fault of his own and I give him props for waiting around for his teammates. I understand why he did what he did, but I do think there should have been a sprint at the end. It especially sucks for Hushovd because Cav was getting dropped on the climbs before the whole crash mess started and Hushovd should have opened up a nice lead in points over Cav today. It just seemed like two guys got robbed instead of one for no good reason.

I understand that you don't attack after a crash, but once everybody catches back up the race is on. Go ahead and sprint it out. Anyone who was afraid of another crash could have hung back out of the way.