Tour de France: So Crashy
by Jen See on Jul 4, 2010 12:09 PM EDT
in Tour de France
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PrintThe opening stages of the Tour de France are always a nervy affair. All the riders come to the race with fresh legs and big ambitions. And always there are crashes. Today's stage ended with three crashes in the final 3 kilometers. So far, all of the general classification riders seem to have survived unscathed. In a display of determination, Adam Hansen finished the stage with a broken collarbone from a crash earlier in the day. Levi Leipheimer apparently suffered a minor crash also due to an unleashed dog.
The Tour organizers threw a tricky finish on today's stage. With just under 3 kilometers to race, the road turned nearly 180 degress. That's never easy to navigate with 190 or so riders frothing for the finish. Watch the replay, and a white jerseyed rider loses his line as the road turns. It's been a difficult season so far for Mark Cavendish, and today, those difficulties continued. Maybe he missed the memo with the course info? But here, he seems to ride straight through the turn and into Mirko Lorenzetto of Lampre, sitting next to him. They then career into Oscar Freire and Jeremy Hunt of Cervélo TestTeam. Maybe we should just call him Crash from now on. That's two total Pinball moments in recent weeks.
Past the trick corner, the road turned narrow into the finale. Apparently, the entire field wanted to ride in the same place at the same time. The result? A massive crash which took down the Yellow Jersey Fabian Cancellara, among others. So far, no one has reported serious injuries. From the front, the cameras could not make out any of the details and showed a wall of bikes as the sprint unfolded ahead.
With a small group left for the sprint, still the crashing wasn't over. As he came to the front, Petacchi moved to his right, and the pack behind him swerved to follow. Lloyd Mondory of AG2R-La Mondiale rider got caught in the pinch. In a bizarre turn of affairs, the kind of performance art that only cycling crashes can create, the rider's bike grabbed hold of American sprinter Tyler Farrar. Farrar had to slow and unclip to keep his balance, as he tried to kick the sticky bike away. Vaughters response: Crabapples! Out of the sprint for today, the American missed the chance to celebrate Independence Day with podium kisses.
Up ahead, meanwhile, Petacchi won the sprint, his first Tour stage victory in quite some time. Mark Renshaw, who typically rides as lead-out to Mark Cavendish, finished second, while Thor Hushovd took third. Petacchi takes over as the leader in the Green Jersey competition. Because the crash among the bigs came so close to the finish, the general classification remains unchanged and no one will lose time. Fabian Cancellara wears the Yellow Jersey for another day, followed closely by Tony Martin, wearing the White Jersey of best young riders, and David Millar.
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You mean "Crashes"
Check out Farrar after he realizes he has another guy’s bike stuck to his. He starts kicking it like a rented mule.
"Do you think we are a bunch a girls?...Go and ride some cobbles and you’ll definately know that we don’t discuss perfume and shaving cream." - Dom
It was Jez Hunt who got taken out by Cav...
Looked like Lorenzetto might have a broken collarbone but haven’t seen if he finished yet.
Tommeke!, Tommeke!, Tommeke!, Tommeke!
From what I saw of a French video that put the spotlight on the turn, Cav went into Lorenzetto which took them into Freire
and Hunt ran into their pile…so essentially, all Cav on this one…again.
Tommeke!, Tommeke!, Tommeke!, Tommeke!
by Vlaanderen90 on Jul 4, 2010 12:37 PM EDT up reply actions
Yeah, Mark Crashvendish
Tommeke!, Tommeke!, Tommeke!, Tommeke!
by Vlaanderen90 on Jul 4, 2010 12:42 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
Crash-Them-Dish! Sounds good.
Life is not fair! Need proof? Did you see any Vacansoleil Jersey in this year’s TDF?
.
BAsed on which video?
Because really.. There is no way you can blame Cav from video above.. Freire was interviewed en however the presentator was fishing to the “I blame Cav” answer.. There was no bad word from Freire
Blame and blame...
Not saying it was intentional but the video clearly shows the crash originates with Cav losing control. I don’t think there is any disputing that?
eh no
his helper turns, Cav veers left. I still suspect he freaks or actually looses grip on the painted zebra crossing but you can’t tell by the vid.
I will be blind..
But they touch… Cav tries to steer sharper right.. But seems hooked with Lorenzetto and is getting dragged to outer corner.. My take.. Nobody to blame here
He has already lost control by then and is simply trying to stay upright
Lorenzetto is just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Nothing intentional in Cav’s move there.
It looks like Cav's train turns right
and Cav turns left
Two guys trying to follow one wheel ?
Looks like Cav is following the wheel of his teamate, Lorenzetto? cuts across him on the corner and takes Cav’s teamamtes wheel leaving Cav nowhere to go
Rubbin's Racin...
My opinion (which is barely worth anything) is that he and whoever that was to his left (I think Hunt) were rubbing shoulders at the wrong time (ie when the road went 90 degrees to the right). It seemed to be that they were leaning on each other prior to being in the turn and they had no shot after that (and hell, their handlebars might have been interconnected by that point).
Anyway, I can’t stand Bahvendish (mostly for the mouth), but don’t blame him for this. They were fighting for positions and sometimes that results in going left when they should go right. Just a particularily bad time to be shoving on each other.
The later crashes are the WTF stuff..
I'm still not so sure
Equally plausible, and much more sensible, is that the guy on the outside of Cavendish leaned on him too much and Cavendish was forced to lean back (in order to stay upright), at a very, very bad part of the corner.
I just can’t think for one second that Cavendish did not know this corner was coming and that he could botch it so badly…
"Age and treachery will overcome youth and skill" - Fausto Coppi
by muk on Jul 4, 2010 1:23 PM EDT up reply actions
Seems like Cav came in with too much speed, because he made first contact, and just couldn't hold it
and when he hit Lorenzetto they pushed together and he kept going.
Tommeke!, Tommeke!, Tommeke!, Tommeke!
I'm thinking that here is where Hincapie is being missed.
If no one else tells Mark about the finish George does, and if no one reminds Mark about the finish during the race George does. I’m probably wrong but there seems to be a need to adjust Cavendish’s head and no one is doing it.
Woof
Cavendish studies the race book religiously
and sends a staff member out with it to see if there are any differences he should know about. A soigneur almost lost his job once for lying and saying a stage finish was just like in the book when he’d actually blown off checking it out in person. Whatever the problem was today, I don’t think that was it.
You understand smack talk? It's kind of, like, fun.--Mark Cavendish
he knows the finish, turns, and speed.
the issue (i believe) is his sense of entitlement. in his current state of mind i don’t believe he could navigate a group sprint like mcewen, petacchi, boonen, chichi, etc. he thinks he should be finishing all alone because, after all, he is the boy racer.
"The motor happens to be me." -Fabian
i think your part right
though to me it looks more like a loss of confidence. I imagine it’s a lot easier in those kind of finishes when you do have some swagger, arrogance and punch – once it goes you’re ust pack fodder
I was half-kidding about the racebook!
I think the entitlement thing is nonsense, myself.
Lack of fitness & confidence resulting from are more likely suspects.
"I was just trying to keep warm" - Ian Stannard on finishing third in KBK
Look here
Go about 30 seconds in and they highlight Cavendish
he goes straight and takes Lorenzetto with him, they go into Freire and Hunt runs into them
Tommeke!, Tommeke!, Tommeke!, Tommeke!
I expected at least to hear some sort of 'aiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiai' noise.
Disappointing.
"A mountain is not an obstacle, it is an opportunity" - Robert Millar
No, vuvus go Dzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
"A mountain is not an obstacle, it is an opportunity" - Robert Millar
for that you need the flemish feed...like that BBox TTT that went off the road last year...
LALALALALALALALALALALALALAL ooooooo LALALALALALAL
I saw it too
it seemed like he was gonna swing left and Lorenzetto already had it turned through the corner. Their lines met, it’s unfortunate. That was quite a messy end.
"You know if there's any contact at all Cristiano Ronaldo's gonna go down...maybe even just a puff of wind"
by agl on Jul 4, 2010 1:57 PM EDT up reply actions
That would make sense
But I haven’t seen any confirm on that one. Heh, that guy has bad luck in the sprints.
Seems like it, based upon where Farrar was in the results and his result and both of them walked across the line
with him being a bit behind him
Tommeke!, Tommeke!, Tommeke!, Tommeke!
by Vlaanderen90 on Jul 4, 2010 12:41 PM EDT up reply actions
From what Farrar says
it was a “Classic Mondory move” from farrar’s pov. Not very happy, but I don’t blame him, even though mondory was the one who looked pissed, with the shaking fist solute at the end.
"You know if there's any contact at all Cristiano Ronaldo's gonna go down...maybe even just a puff of wind"
by agl on Jul 4, 2010 1:58 PM EDT up reply actions
a frenchman shaking his fist during the tour de france...
everything bad that happens will be someone else’s fault.
"The motor happens to be me." -Fabian
Looked to me like someone cut into Mondory from our left.
It’s not all that easy to see, but he didn’t seem to do anything obviously reckless.
"A mountain is not an obstacle, it is an opportunity" - Robert Millar
That would explain why Mondory may be upset...
http://www.bah.net/
by dees ees en drama on Jul 4, 2010 9:27 PM EDT up reply actions
Yes from what I’ve seen, a Lotto rider swerved to avoid the barriers (at the right of the road). He bounced into Mondory who fell.
Yes, the barriers did seem to cut into the road a little there.
Anyway, all in all, I rather enjoyed Mondory’s fist waving routine.
"A mountain is not an obstacle, it is an opportunity" - Robert Millar
I think I figured it out.
Cavendish is unhappy at HTC and while many think he wants to move to SKY, he is actually using the Tour this year to audition for the sprinter spot on the new Team Schleck. I don’t know why I didn’t figure this out earlier.
Glad to see that most of the post stage comments from riders are about the huge crowds
seems to have been an exceptional atmosphere even by Tour standards.
Farrar sounds pissed at the AG2R guy
http://www.bah.net/
by dees ees en drama on Jul 4, 2010 1:56 PM EDT reply actions
arrogance: this is my space.
i think cav was handling the corner and the speed fine. his weight and angle of turn were the same as his lead out and the other riders. his weight then shifts towards lorenzetto in what looks like a careless attempt to block lorenzetto from entering his space. i obviously speculate, but perhaps when challenged, he feels his entitlement is threatened. in a split second he makes an arrogant decision, not a race decision. in a way, it is the exact same thing that happened with haussler.
"The motor happens to be me." -Fabian
Arrogance : I want that space.
I see it similar but from the other view, If you watch it in real time the lines HTC take are all the same but it looks like Lorenzetto line will cut up Cav and take his space into the corner, cav see’s the move coming out the corner of his eye and either :
1) loses his line/contentration for a split second and they touch; or
2) realises they are going to have a bigger acident in the middle of the corner and makes the decision to try and bail out the corner and hope for the best.
Either way I call racing incident, on to the next sprint :)
totally agree with your conclusion.
sprinters are aggressive and need to be in order to win. on to the next sprint.
"The motor happens to be me." -Fabian
Others are in his space more.
Because he’s not getting the lead-outs and he’s not in shape. Boonen, Haussler, Freire, Lorenzetto, Hunt, he’s just taking the competition out the only way he can now, crashing them out.
even at the risk of crashing himself out?
he’s an idiot. BAH isn’t strong enough.
"The motor happens to be me." -Fabian
oh come on
he isn’t deliberately crashing into people… though I suppose it doesn’t matter that much if it’s the end result
"I was just trying to keep warm" - Ian Stannard on finishing third in KBK
Levi Leipheimer crashed again
Hit the deck today after someone brought their dog to the race without a leash. But despite a lot of pain in his wrist nothing is broken!!
thanks. that is now stuck in my head for the remainder of the day.
"The motor happens to be me." -Fabian
Like I said earlier, I like Ale Jet’s new tactic : Stay away from Crush -Them- Dish, as far as possible! Win the Race! Works second time, already! LOL
Life is not fair! Need proof? Did you see any Vacansoleil Jersey in this year’s TDF?
.
hmmm
his movement across the road was at least partially responsible for the last crash… not all that much though, since it looked like pretty much every rider except Mondory managed to follow it
"I was just trying to keep warm" - Ian Stannard on finishing third in KBK
Have another look
especially from an overhead shot, it is clear that he is well, well clear of the next rider when he moves across.
When he jumped he definitely lit his afterburners. He opened a large gap very quickly….
"Age and treachery will overcome youth and skill" - Fausto Coppi
by muk on Jul 4, 2010 4:34 PM EDT up reply actions
Mondory broke rule 1
“protect your front wheel”
Closely followed by rule 2 (although he broke them in reverse order):
“Don’t try to go through non-existent gaps”
Might be worth giving Mondory a break
From L’Equipe
“Je suis désolé pour Farrar mais je ne pouvais rien faire , raconte le sprinteur d’AG2R. Un coureur (Jurgen Roelandts) m’avait touché à l’arrière”
"Chloe (Hosking) had a great run on my wheel and flew around me right at the end, timed it perfectly. There’s a difference between losing and getting beat, and I got beat today, she had a great sprint." Brooke Miller.
According to Sporza
Farrar didn’t give Mondory a break., kikker means frog. The Sporza video is georestricted though.
Badger, badger, badger, badger, badger, badger...
by TheFigurehead on Jul 5, 2010 5:17 AM EDT up reply actions
And "versnellingsapparaat" is my favourite word today
Badger, badger, badger, badger, badger, badger...
by TheFigurehead on Jul 5, 2010 5:19 AM EDT up reply actions
BTW
Did you notice how fast Freire was back on his feet? He tumbled and more or less landed on his feet. If this was turning he would be a winner!
Money is the best doping. - Gerrie Kneteman
I think the overhead 1-5 seconds in is most telling
The gap between Lorenzetto and Cavendish definitely narrows as it looks like Lorenzetto is cutting the turn sharper than the rest of the pack. It looks like they then bump shoulders and Cav leans back to stay upright, veering them off course and into the ground.
If that’s what happened, there isn’t much either could do. If Cav didn’t lean back, he was at risk of dumping it in the middle of the corner.
Yep
and the leaning back etc shows his track background more than anything else
"Chloe (Hosking) had a great run on my wheel and flew around me right at the end, timed it perfectly. There’s a difference between losing and getting beat, and I got beat today, she had a great sprint." Brooke Miller.
If you look really closely, a few seconds after Ale-Jet wins, you can see
Tyler throw his own bike after he discovers he can’t ride it in. Looking at it, he’s along the barriers on the right, and you can see his bike bounce off the barriers after the throw. I wish there was a better shot, it looked skillful from what I could see. :-)
A good bike toss is a thing of beauty.
Millar 5 or so yrs ago at the Vuelta… amazing. The Sistine Chapel of bike tosses.
Does Farrar get any green jersey points for that toss?
He should get at least six. :)
http://www.bah.net/
by dees ees en drama on Jul 4, 2010 9:28 PM EDT up reply actions
Re: Cav's crash
He caused it.
He simply bolloxed the turn.
Worse, he complicated matters by unloading on Lorenzetto once he started to make contact.
The s**t-eating grin he gave cameras as he rolled in tells you he knows he f****d up.
Not sure how everyone but me suddenly got the gift of ESP today.
Seems like all of you know what Cav was thinking before, during and after the crash. Pretty amazing, if you think about it. And smiling? Why that clinches it. Because we all know that a smile can only mean one thing.
I think it isn't debatable who caused the crash
motives are always unkown and we will never find out but video proves Cav caused the crash. Anyway there are 19 stages left and this will be forgotten(like the Garmin-Hincapie thing).
Los Geht's Deutschland!!!!
Down with Spain!!!!
Quitter's People United member # 42
It is debatable
and I haven’t forgotten the Evil Garmen thing at all.
"It's a lovely thing, feeling that momentum. If you're lucky, it's also about grace." Tim Winton
I didn't receive that ESP gift either,
so don’t feel terribly slighted. Anyway, I wouldn’t want to be caught claiming to have ESP.
"It's a lovely thing, feeling that momentum. If you're lucky, it's also about grace." Tim Winton
I think that is spot on.
He blew the turn, looked like he had no idea where he was going, then just piled onto Lorenzetto. The grin says it all, “Doh, I’m stupid. So what.”.
I find it odd how all of the talk is about Crash-em-dish
and I agree that he caused the first big wreck.
There were still, what, two other crashes in the last three km? One taking out Farrar (who just happens to be my favorite rider, but that’s beside the point…) the point is that he looked to be in position to win the stage until he got taken out by an AG2R guy whose name nobody seems to know.
Then there was that other massive pileup. Really an interesting day though.
http://www.bah.net/
by dees ees en drama on Jul 4, 2010 9:24 PM EDT reply actions
Oh and point of attention
The start of the fifth stage of the Tour of Switzerland was symbolically delayed by two minutes Wednesday as some riders expressed their anger at HTC-Columbia’s Mark Cavendish for the crash in the finish sprint of Tuesday’s stage.
Cavendish was penalized for changing his line and putting his colleagues in danger.
Riders from the Cervelo, Caisse d’Epargne and AG2R teams, whose colleagues Heinrich Haussler, Arnaud Coyot and Lloyd Mondory, respectively, were forced to quit the race because of their injuries expressed their anger at the Manxman.
It wasn’t the whole peloton who claimed Cavendish sprinted unsave n Suisse…
I posted this in another thread, too, but thought I should post it here, too...
I watached the primetime coverage of the stage last night on VS, and they showed a clip live from the HTC car, with Brian Holm, the HTC DS, giving directions to the team about the last 10k. He specifically said, several times, that at 2.3k to go, there was a 100% turn to the right, and that the team could make it through on 90% speed. He said it several times.
I don’t know, if I was on that team, I’d remember that, even if I’d studied the stage book and thought you’d have to slow down more. The DS telling his team that the turn could be made at 90% speed, to slow down only 10%, could have had something to do with it, especially hearing it several times in the heat of the race.
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