TDU stage 1 *Spoiler*

pottssteve
pottssteve Posts: 4,069
edited January 2012 in Pro race
Very close. In a photo finish:

1. Greipel
2. Pettachi
3. Sabatini

I think! Crash in the final couple of kilometres.
Head Hands Heart Lungs Legs

Comments

  • LeicesterLad
    LeicesterLad Posts: 3,908
    20 Riders taken to hospital, Several with fractures and broken bones, one a career ender. Hows that for the first race of the season? :(
    http://www.twitter.com/InTheGC http://www.InTheGC.com http://www.facebook.com/intheGC
  • blazing_saddles
    blazing_saddles Posts: 22,725
    edited January 2012
    LeicesterLad wrote:
    20 Riders taken to hospital, Several with fractures and broken bones, one a career ender. Hows that for the first race of the season? :(
    Frederic Guesdon.
    Caused by a woman stepping into the road, apparently.
    Most of GreenEdge involved. Haussler and Roelandts CB and shoulder respectively..
    "Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
  • blazing_saddles
    blazing_saddles Posts: 22,725
    Double post. No delete function now?

    Anyhow, bit of the crash and Ale J's dodgy sprint here:
    http://wwos.ninemsn.com.au/cycling/vide ... 1762babc8b
    "Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
  • shinyhelmut
    shinyhelmut Posts: 1,364
    Gutted! I remember Guesdon winning Roubaix and surprising everyone (myself included!) What a way to end a career.
  • shinyhelmut
    shinyhelmut Posts: 1,364
    Blazing Saddles wrote:
    Double post. No delete function now?

    Anyhow, bit of the crash and Ale J's dodgy sprint here:
    http://wwos.ninemsn.com.au/cycling/vide ... 1762babc8b

    He certainly fooled the commentator.
  • pottssteve
    pottssteve Posts: 4,069
    Thanks for the link. I couldn't see any woman in the road.....?

    Petacchi seems to be taking the scenic route - if he'd gone in a straight line he'd probably have won!
    Head Hands Heart Lungs Legs
  • alan_a
    alan_a Posts: 1,587
    http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/in-d ... 6246615628

    "A FEMALE spectator has been knocked over in a pile-up involving up to 20 cyclists in a dramatic end to the first stage of the Santos Tour Down Under.

    The incident happened about 1km from the finish line of the 149km stage from Prospect to Clare.

    An ambulance spokeswoman said a female spectator, 70, and three cyclists were injured in the crash.

    The spectator was taken to Clare hospital with minor injuries.

    Two cyclists were taken to the Royal Adelaide Hospital and another to SportsMed SA for further assessment, the spokeswoman said.

    Australian cycling team GreenEDGE tweeted that Australian cyclist Robbie McEwen was involved in the crash.

    "Robbie McEwen involved in what DS Matt White termed a 'soft crash','' the team's official Twitter feed said.

    "The rest of the squad emerged unscathed. Crash blocked the road and our riders were able to get through to contest the finish."

    Santos TDU race director Mike Turtur told Adelaidenow that a female spectator was hurt when a cyclist skid onto dirt and hit her."
    http://www.3pistescycle.co.uk
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  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 43,462
    Haussler involved in yet another crash??? The old woman was probably Cav's gran or something :wink:
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 43,462
    I've seen people DQd sprinting in a far straighter line than those two did there! Sky looked to have a fairly decent lead out set up there but no-one with the out-and-out finishing speed required to compete for the win.
  • frenchfighter
    frenchfighter Posts: 30,642
    Petacchi has to be king of the wavy sprint
    But Greipel, who now has nine stage wins in the Tour, was most critical of the slightly-downhill finish.

    "Okay, it's a part of our job, nobody tells us that we have to sprint, but the organisation should calculate the risk a little bit for us," said Greipel, the overall Santos Tour winner in 2008 and '10.

    "We did 75km/h and if there's something that happens you cannot react anymore." Race director Mike Turtur said the nature of the finish was made clear to the teams at a pre-race meeting.

    "It's dead-straight, straight as an arrow finish - at the technical meeting, everyone was advised it was slightly downhill, so it was going to be fast," Turtur said.

    "We couldn't have emphasised it more.

    "I will speak to Andre to see what his issues are." Greipel was also angry at Petacchi's tactics as the pair had a photo finish.

    "He went from the left to the right ... I think he didn't care what happened behind him," Greipel said.

    "Maybe he didn't see me but I think it was just not fair."
    Contador is the Greatest
  • ddraver
    ddraver Posts: 26,695
    Insofar as he his king of getting away with it! Cav/Hushovd would have been DQ'd, no question! (*ducks*)

    A Vacansoleil rider lost the bike from under him and the riders behind him hit the spectator trying (in vain) to avoid the pile up.
    We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
    - @ddraver
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,661
    Roeland's classics campaign is f*cked already.
    _
  • josame
    josame Posts: 1,162
    The crash started from within the pelaton and moved out towards the spectators rather than the other way around
    'Do not compare your bike to others, for always there will be greater and lesser bikes'
  • cougie
    cougie Posts: 22,512
    Looks like Sky are carrying on their lead out practice for when Cav is with them. I couldn't understand why they persisted setting Henderson up last year - he never quite had the pace - but its all good practice eh ?
  • rebs
    rebs Posts: 891
    Think Yates said somethign last year in that if they setup the leadout their sprinter is in as best position possible to content for the win even if they lack the full on speed. Just presses others to dig deep to use their top end to get by. Kind of makes sense. Their sprinter at least gets more of a chance to a top 10 then without the leadout. Whether it is worth it depends on whether teams are looking to win end of year poitns tally which it seems Sky have made a target for.
  • ddraver
    ddraver Posts: 26,695
    cougie wrote:
    Looks like Sky are carrying on their lead out practice for when Cav is with them. I couldn't understand why they persisted setting Henderson up last year - he never quite had the pace - but its all good practice eh ?


    Oh yeah, clearly they should just do one max power test on all the riders and then send the best one around the course by himself! I mean what is the point of riding 150km and then actually trying to win?!?!

    Stupid Sky w*nkers! Gah!
    We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
    - @ddraver
  • blazing_saddles
    blazing_saddles Posts: 22,725
    Poor lady and younger female, were caught in this maelstrom, rather than causing the crash.
    That honour goes to Wacky Vacky:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGYD6rXU ... AAAAAAABAA
    Worth several watches, for one spectacular piece of bike handling, if not the carnage.
    "Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
  • nweststeyn
    nweststeyn Posts: 1,574
    She is fine I am told by my good friends at Sky Sports 4. Quite a crash though!

    So glad the 2012 season is underway, got something to watch again!
  • Turnbull2000
    Turnbull2000 Posts: 189
    Only 30 minutes of highlights tonight? F*ck off!!
  • nweststeyn
    nweststeyn Posts: 1,574
    I don't think there was any more of interest to show :P
  • ddraver
    ddraver Posts: 26,695
    Turnbull2000 wrote:
    Only 30 minutes of highlights tonight? F*ck off!!

    Where are they on? Thanks
    We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
    - @ddraver
  • iainf72
    iainf72 Posts: 15,784
    Turnbull2000 wrote:
    Only 30 minutes of highlights tonight? F*ck off!!

    If you want more than 30 mins of the TdU you must love long turbo sessions
    Fckin' Quintana … that creep can roll, man.
  • afx237vi
    afx237vi Posts: 12,630
    Shame about Guesdon. Disappointing way to end such a long career. The lady and the little girl were lucky not to be seriously hurt, though... had to watch the overhead replay of the crash through my fingers.
  • Doobz
    Doobz Posts: 2,800
    afx237vi wrote:
    Shame about Guesdon. Disappointing way to end such a long career. The lady and the little girl were lucky not to be seriously hurt, though... had to watch the overhead replay of the crash through my fingers.

    I was amazed that the girl was still standing after carnage that had ensued around her..
    cartoon.jpg
  • Cumulonimbus
    Cumulonimbus Posts: 1,730
    cougie wrote:
    Looks like Sky are carrying on their lead out practice for when Cav is with them. I couldn't understand why they persisted setting Henderson up last year - he never quite had the pace - but its all good practice eh ?

    Looking at the overhead of the crash there was a Sky rider who got held up and then didnt really bother catching up. Maybe that was EBH - i noticed he finished a way down?
  • afx237vi
    afx237vi Posts: 12,630
    Doobz wrote:
    afx237vi wrote:
    Shame about Guesdon. Disappointing way to end such a long career. The lady and the little girl were lucky not to be seriously hurt, though... had to watch the overhead replay of the crash through my fingers.

    I was amazed that the girl was still standing after carnage that had ensued around her..

    She'll always have a story to tell about that one time her mum took her to see a bike race, anyway!
  • frenchfighter
    frenchfighter Posts: 30,642
    Blazing Saddles wrote:
    Poor lady and younger female, were caught in this maelstrom, rather than causing the crash.
    That honour goes to Wacky Vacky:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGYD6rXU ... AAAAAAABAA
    Worth several watches, for one spectacular piece of bike handling, if not the carnage.

    Thanks.
    Contador is the Greatest
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 43,462
    Whoever it was who hit the parked car did well (either by luck or good judgement) to avoid ploughing directly into the spectators. Was that the rider who got the career ending injuries? The spectators seemed to get hit by a rider who had already parted company with his bike.

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