Tour Alsace 2013 (spoiler)
Towards the end of yesterday’s 4th stage at Colmar, at a fork in the road shortly before the finish, where the team cars were to turn off left (thus no barriers across the left fork), most of the peloton, led just then by australian sprinter Caleb Ewan (the new Cavendish?), also went left.
Only 19 of the about 120 riders still in the race went right. Of those Swiss rider Zahner (EKZ) was first to cross the line, the Eritrean Behane (Europcar) the last.
When the peloton discovered their mistake, yellow jersey Frenchman Nicolas David (Brest-Iroise) rode back to the fork and then went the right way, fearing he might lose the jersey, while Belgian Bosmans (BKCP - Powerplus) threw his bidon into the crowd in anger. The bidon hit a spectator on the nose and he had to be treated for the injury; Bosmans got a reprimand.
Although there were no barriers at the fork (otherwise the cars couldn’t escape the sprint area), the fork was noted in the stage route card and there were apparently police and race marshals indicating the correct way, but Caleb Ewan and other front riders ignored or didn’t notice them, and most of the rest then blindly followed.
The missing peloton were all given the same time as Berhane. David kept yellow.
Other stage winners so far: st 1: Pokodov (Itera-Katusha); st 2: Ewan (Team U-23 Australia), Pokodov kept yellow; st 3: Walsleben (BKCP - Powerplus), David took yellow.
Today is the main mountain stage, tomorrow the last stage.
Only 19 of the about 120 riders still in the race went right. Of those Swiss rider Zahner (EKZ) was first to cross the line, the Eritrean Behane (Europcar) the last.
When the peloton discovered their mistake, yellow jersey Frenchman Nicolas David (Brest-Iroise) rode back to the fork and then went the right way, fearing he might lose the jersey, while Belgian Bosmans (BKCP - Powerplus) threw his bidon into the crowd in anger. The bidon hit a spectator on the nose and he had to be treated for the injury; Bosmans got a reprimand.
Although there were no barriers at the fork (otherwise the cars couldn’t escape the sprint area), the fork was noted in the stage route card and there were apparently police and race marshals indicating the correct way, but Caleb Ewan and other front riders ignored or didn’t notice them, and most of the rest then blindly followed.
The missing peloton were all given the same time as Berhane. David kept yellow.
Other stage winners so far: st 1: Pokodov (Itera-Katusha); st 2: Ewan (Team U-23 Australia), Pokodov kept yellow; st 3: Walsleben (BKCP - Powerplus), David took yellow.
Today is the main mountain stage, tomorrow the last stage.
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Comments
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Speak of a cock up... Rather petulant of Bosmans if those were the turn of events.
Ewan won again yesterday and Silvio Herklotz won today and takes the overall lead. He was leading Thuringen till the TT, iirc, and he's only 19. No TT this year?0 -
Too much of this:
I just love Alsace..................and the place isn't bad either!
"Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.0 -
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Memories of 1988 TDF stage 14 climb to Guzet-Neige in the Pyrenees with Roert Millar jumping his 2 companions inside the last Kilometer and on his way to a stage win but the policeman flapping his arms like a bird caused him to go straight down the team cars road.
Philippe Bouvatier followed him but Massimo Ghirotto some lengths behind saw the mistake and turned left to the uphill finish 200 meters away.
Bouvatier came back for 2nd and Millar was 3rd.Organiser, National Championship 50 mile Time Trial 19720 -
The finish was used last year and Zahner, who's ridden the race many times, knew this, hence why he and his team mate went the right way.
The error comes from the other teams, they should've checked the route beforehand.0 -
Today was the last stage, won by Meissner, with Bury lad Adam Yates second and Herklotz third. Thus Herklotz retained yellow and became the successor to JTL (who?)wombly knees wrote:Silvio Herklotz won today and takes the overall lead.
I wonder to what degree Adam Yates contributes his success to years of eating Bury’s famous black pudding, the simple man’s blood doping?
I can’t find a photo of Adam Yates quickly and so, rather than post a photo of a Bury black pudding, here are a photo of a car in the Tour Alsace caravan, a photo of the local product it is advertising, and (so there’s a bike in at least one) a publicity poster for both the Tour Alsace and the local product.
The subtitle under which the beer is known (not just for the Tour Alsace) is ‘sans culottes’, which translates as ‘without bloomers’. One can conjecture if the lady in the poster is without.
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Suddenly seems a race worth spending money to watch.0
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Tour Arsace0
