Riders knocked off by tour TV car

TheStone

Looks worse each time I watch it.

Gazzaputt

paulcuthbert wrote:

I was impressed by Hoogerland in the post-race interview. He wasn't angry at all. Can imagine some people flying off the handle and going for the idiot who caused it. But it seemed like he was very accepting of it, pretty much along the lines of 'these things happen'. I guess he feels lucky to be alive.

Shocking stuff though. Can imagine there will be new rules about cars after this incident

+1

I was in awe of Hoogerland in the interview. He taught me a lesson or two there. There are bigger things in life and no-one lost a life or limb.

Top fella and I hope he can continue in the Tour.

WisePranker

paulcuthbert wrote:

I was impressed by Hoogerland in the post-race interview. He wasn't angry at all. Can imagine some people flying off the handle and going for the idiot who caused it. But it seemed like he was very accepting of it, pretty much along the lines of 'these things happen'. I guess he feels lucky to be alive.

Shocking stuff though. Can imagine there will be new rules about cars after this incident

He came across really well, very laid back considering what happened.

To think that he finished the stage with injuries like that riding faster than most of us here probably can at full fitness says a huge amount about the fitness and character of these riders.
Someone should show the stage video and interview to a few of the 'world class' sportsmen that play football. It'd show them how proper sportsmen behave.

Mark Bom

Someone should show the stage video and interview to a few of the 'world class' sportsmen that play football. It'd show them how proper sportsmen behave.[/quote]

Absolutely WisePranker! Really puts sport into perspective when you consider the suffering these pros endure. Bad enough on a normal day, but after crashes like that, to get up and back on the bike is heroic.

OffTheBackAdam

Aside from the obvious damage inficted by the wire, look at the lumps on his arse.
Scar tissue from previous accidents or from repeated intramuscular injections?

squired

If it was in England the driver would probably complain that they didn't see the riders because they weren't in hi-viz!

Joking aside, it was a terrible incident. I feel sorry for both JH and JAF. Not only was it their chance of a stage win, but even if they hadn't won they would have got world ranking points. At least JH got the polka-dot. JAF has come out of it with nothing though.

shockedsoshocked

OffTheBackAdam wrote:

Aside from the obvious damage inficted by the wire, look at the lumps on his ars*.
Scar tissue from previous accidents or from repeated intramuscular injections?

Noticed it too. There's a lively debate going on my facebook at the moment.

turnerjohn

looks worse the second time around ! The driver had loads of room and there were trees linning the raod...would have seen them all ! Looking at it again it's almost as if the driver deliberately swerved...now thats another topic for debate I'm sure !
Miricle the crash wasn't worse !

shouldbeinbed

squired wrote:

If it was in England the driver would probably complain that they didn't see the riders because they weren't in hi-viz!

yes that was my twitter line on it, along with the driver blaming Flecha for not paying any road tax.

I can't see why there shouldn't be a prosecution for that, not like theres no witnesses or evidence at the very least the driver should get a UCI lifetime ban from driving at cycling events

whitestar1

Fastlad wrote:

Did you see the rider knocked off the road into the barbed wire fence??? Unforgiveable IMO The driver should be sacked immediately, irrespective of the fact he was avoiding a tree. :evil:

I strongly agree! At the end of the ITV4 highlights you could see the crew hiding from the camreas. They know they should have stopped! I really feel sorry for both riders but more so for Team Sky (streak of bad luck it seems). I think Hoogerland was a saint not to out demand the expulsion of the driver and crew of the car. Lifetime ban I am demanding!

mz__jo

in L'Equipe this morning Christian Prudhomme was adamant that the car did not have permission to overtake the riders. France TV have given apologies to the two riders and teams concerned aparently. Hoogerland's first comment to Flecha was quoted as being thanks that they were both still alive. Sandy Casar was a bit more forceful in condemning the cars in the convoy.
A comment was made on french television about how much more outcry there would have been if the riders hit had been french. It certainly didn't aid Voeckler's cause to have the group reduced to 3 from 5.

TheStone

mz__jo wrote:

in L'Equipe this morning Christian Prudhomme was adamant that the car did not have permission to overtake the riders. France TV have given apologies to the two riders and teams concerned aparently. Hoogerland's first comment to Flecha was quoted as being thanks that they were both still alive. Sandy Casar was a bit more forceful in condemning the cars in the convoy.
A comment was made on french television about how much more outcry there would have been if the riders hit had been french. It certainly didn't aid Voeckler's cause to have the group reduced to 3 from 5.

It also very much looked like Tommy V attacked after they went down. Don't get me wrong, I like him and realise at that point he had the most to lose, but if it was another rider we'd probably be criticising.

cougie

I didnt see an attack. It was pretty apparent that he couldnt wait for them if he wanted a chance of yelllow.

carl_p

TheStone wrote:

mz__jo wrote:

in L'Equipe this morning Christian Prudhomme was adamant that the car did not have permission to overtake the riders. France TV have given apologies to the two riders and teams concerned aparently. Hoogerland's first comment to Flecha was quoted as being thanks that they were both still alive. Sandy Casar was a bit more forceful in condemning the cars in the convoy.
A comment was made on french television about how much more outcry there would have been if the riders hit had been french. It certainly didn't aid Voeckler's cause to have the group reduced to 3 from 5.

It also very much looked like Tommy V attacked after they went down. Don't get me wrong, I like him and realise at that point he had the most to lose, but if it was another rider we'd probably be criticising.

Suggest you watch again. Not exactly an attack is it? If if anything he gets out of the saddle and cruises.

The Mechanic

Don't forget that he almost went down himself.

Slimbods

TheStone wrote:

It also very much looked like Tommy V attacked after they went down. Don't get me wrong, I like him and realise at that point he had the most to lose, but if it was another rider we'd probably be criticising.

I didn't see an attack, but he did keep riding. He'd lost two riders from a strong breakaway, his odds of getting yellow were diminished by the incident.

Slack

TheStone wrote:

It also very much looked like Tommy V attacked after they went down. Don't get me wrong, I like him and realise at that point he had the most to lose, but if it was another rider we'd probably be criticising.

Given that he almost went down as well, I'd be surprised if he was thinking 'attack'. The Rabobank rider did well not to come a cropper as well.

Cracking ride thereafter for the 3 remaining breakaways to keep it together and maintain the gap!

celbianchi

TheStone wrote:

It also very much looked like Tommy V attacked after they went down. Don't get me wrong, I like him and realise at that point he had the most to lose, but if it was another rider we'd probably be criticising.

utter nonsense

cogidubnus

Didn't look like an attack to me. They waited for the team cars to give instructions before they hit full gas again

smithy21

Dont think it was an attack. I thought he looked behind before he continued and probably realising there was no way the other two were going to be getting back on anytime soon he just got on with it.

TheStone

ok .... looked like an attack to me. I'll rewatch tonight.

He did do well to stay up in the first place.

evil_breakfast

From the beeb's sportsday live newfeed.....

1445: Team Sky principal Dave Brailsford refused to rule out the possibility of taking legal action after Juan Antonio Flecha was wiped out by a car at the Tour de France. "Once you've got the facts then you can decide and evaluate whether there's an opportunity for the police to do something. There are different options available, but (we'll wait) until we've got the facts and got the lawyers to say 'you could do this', 'Team Sky could do that', 'Juan as an individual might want to do that'.

geebee2

I think it would be really bad for lawyers to be involved in something like this.

It would be a very bad precedent, and not healthy for the sport.

mrushton

that may depend on how the French police view it. The driver drove at least without due care and coul/did cause serious injury to one or more people. In the Guardian pics, you can see Flechas front fork completely blown off.

Keith1983

I appreciate that there is an inherent danger with cycle racing, but did nobody at any point think, barbed wire fences and cyclists travelling at speed would best be avoided?

stokepa31

I read with interest on CKs twitter feed that the incident was not shown on the French TV highlights!!!!!!!!!!!!

garzar

"I appreciate that there is an inherent danger with cycle racing, but did nobody at any point think, barbed wire fences and cyclists travelling at speed would best be avoided?"

I think 3 weeks racing 150+ miles per day it would be pretty difficult to avoid any roads bordered with barb wire ???? !!!

CyclingBantam

Keith1983 wrote:

I appreciate that there is an inherent danger with cycle racing, but did nobody at any point think, barbed wire fences and cyclists travelling at speed would best be avoided?

Sorry but this is an absolutely stupid comment and a very stupid route to go down.

The driver made a stupid mistake and should be appropriately punished. Lets not start making stupid asertions that we should only use 'safe' roads. The road, or the fence were not in any way the issue here. Do you really want them to be riding dowm motorways all day?

This is just the same as the people that want conkers in school banned because a chiled smacked another round the head with a conker.

Sorry but this attitude really bothers me. :oops:

celbianchi

CyclingBantam wrote:

Keith1983 wrote:

I appreciate that there is an inherent danger with cycle racing, but did nobody at any point think, barbed wire fences and cyclists travelling at speed would best be avoided?

Sorry but this is an absolutely stupid comment and a very stupid route to go down.

The driver made a stupid mistake and should be appropriately punished. Lets not start making stupid asertions that we should only use 'safe' roads. The road, or the fence were not in any way the issue here. Do you really want them to be riding dowm motorways all day?

This is just the same as the people that want conkers in school banned because a chiled smacked another round the head with a conker.

Sorry but this attitude really bothers me. :oops:

Agreed - it's a ridiculous argument.

dougzz

Definitely time to think again about the volume of motorised vehicles though. TV tech stuff, races judges, that sort of thing, but why so many cars that are just full of string pullers?

It always seems to me that the vehicles outnumber bikes about 5 to 1 if you're roadside for an entire stage.