Ronde van Vlaanderen Sunday 18th October 2020 *Spoilers*

jam1e

When I saw it my first thought was that it was done on purpose, he'll never admit it but I'd bet money on his reaction being "shit, wrong one".

rick_chasey

DeadCalm said:

rick_chasey said:

Lads it’s not a club run.

So you'd expect a higher level of competence, no?

Unfortunate accident

ocdupalais

rick_chasey said:

DeadCalm said:

rick_chasey said:

Lads it’s not a club run.

So you'd expect a higher level of competence, no?

Unfortunate accident

Exactly.
Because it was High Drama, therefore it’s has to have a plot line like a wearisome pantomime with a Baddie, a Goodie and The Stooge...?
No. The last bloke in line wasn’t paying full attention and smashed into a slow moving middle-aged bloke riding a massive motorbike. It’s a real shame cos he was wearing the rainbow jersey and would’ve caused the other two some problems. Accidents are nearly always a real shame.

DeadCalm

ocdupalais said:

rick_chasey said:

DeadCalm said:

rick_chasey said:

Lads it’s not a club run.

So you'd expect a higher level of competence, no?

Unfortunate accident

Exactly.
Because it was High Drama, therefore it’s has to have a plot line like a wearisome pantomime with a Baddie, a Goodie and The Stooge...?
No. The last bloke in line wasn’t paying full attention and smashed into a slow moving middle-aged bloke riding a massive motorbike. It’s a real shame cos he was wearing the rainbow jersey and would’ve caused the other two some problems. Accidents are nearly always a real shame.

No baddies. No goodies. No drama. I'm not disputing that it was an accident. It was definitely caused by poor riding from WVA though.

blazing_saddles

Not the greatest translation, so I have tidied up a couple of words for clarity, but the salient point is clear and unambiguous.

Lissens, 64, told Belgian newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws: “I’ve been doing this for 20 years and something like this has never happened to me. Afterwards I saw that Alaphilippe was just talking into his microphone and could no longer avoid me. I feel sorry for Alaphilippe. His injuries are bad, but he also had the chance to win the Ronde and that really hit me hard. I also got all the sins of the world all over me on social media after the race. That touches me very deeply. I feel guilty, even though I can’t do anything about it.”

https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/racing/motorbike-rider-responds-after-incident-that-took-julian-alaphilippe-out-of-tour-of-flanders-2020-473119

So, he was talking into his radio and we all know what that entails.

I feel sorry for the motorbike driver, who has obviously been given a tough time by Alaphilippe fans on twitter etc, looking for apportion blame for something that was obviously an unfortunate accident.

DeVlaeminck

DeadCalm said:

Anyone who reckons that it was Alaphillipe's fault does not (or should not be allowed to) ride in a paceline. The rider at the front has to know that the riders behind will be unsighted and should ride accordingly. Even Wiggins, who is no Alaphilppe fan, suggested that the two Vans were at fault.

Yeah I'd tend to agree there is at least some shared blame there - I've obviously never been a pro but I've ridden chaingangs with a few current and ex pros and like the rest of us they'd expect a shout if you had to swing out suddenly.

ddraver

If you're determined to focus on the rivalry...

https://cyclingtips.com/2020/10/mathieu-van-der-poel-and-wout-van-aert-a-head-to-head-history/

Some wizard cool pics tho

bobmcstuff

gsk82 said:

bobmcstuff said:

Not sure the moto really did anything wrong there, vdp and wva were trying to use the draft, swung out late

You don't get draft from a static bike. MvdP caused that

Just to come back to this as the video came up on my feed. The bike was clearly moving. Slowing down, but moving. They were trying to get a bit of shelter from it as they came through - pretty obvious to me. And Alaphilippe is on his radio on the run up to it.

Just an accident IMO.