[luv2ski]

There are always lots of crashes in the early stages b/c the riders are nervous, the stages are fast (sprint finishes) and the peloton is the largest but I don't remember a year where so many riders went out with broken bones. Three today alone! In the mountain stages many of the sprinters (and some domestiques, too) drop out because they just can't keep up. You also get the ones that eliminated by their times.
Remember the year that they took the race over a sandy natural bridge that is under water at high tide and there was a gigantic accident wiping out nearly the entire peloton?

[leilani]

Remember the year that they took the race over a sandy natural bridge that is under water at high tide and there was a gigantic accident wiping out nearly the entire peloton?

Are you talking about the Passage du Gois? (It's in the Baie de Gascogne AKA Bay of Biscay & connects to a little island (Ile de Noirmoutier). It was like the first day or so and took out a whole bunch of guys. That was what, maybe five or so years ago? Definitely to go in the "What were we thinking?" section of the Tour organizers' curriculum vitaes. The crash that still gets me crazed just thinking about it though was probably the first TdF I ever saw many many years ago: a dumb-as-a-stump gendarme, a COP for pete's sake, jumped in front of the riders to snap a picture and took out a couple of guys (one of whom was Laurent Jalabert I think!) I am surprised, though that in dog-mad France we don't see more problems with dogs on the road. THEY are what always seem to get me! And kids. (I broke a couple of ribs trying to avoid crashing into a couple of clueless kids. I love both (dogs & kids) but not when I'm on my bike.They scare me to death when I'm riding.