Posted on 07/10/2011 6:31:18 PM PDT by george76
ST. FLOUR, France - Tour de France riders were furious after two of their number were injured in a crash involving a television car on Sunday's ninth stage.
Spaniard Juan-Antonio Flecha crashed to the ground while Dutchman Johnny Hoogerland went flying into a barbed-wire fence.
"He was lying in the barbed wire, completely in it, in the barbs, his pants were completely off, he was completely naked," said Michale Cornelisse, the sports director of Hoogerland's Vacansoleil team after rescuing his rider from a ditch.
"I just saw him flying through the air. He has deep cuts in his legs, he was going at 60 kilometres per hour, it was unbelievable."
(Excerpt) Read more at ottawacitizen.com ...
wow.
Gotta be some charges in that.
Did the TV crew get out and start taking pictures?
I Really don't care to see .. Naked Guy!
So why did that idiot frog driver suddenly swerve right into the riders? Not like he needed to avoid anything.
Because it was either swerve or take out the tree coming up.
He was trying to miss a tree at the edge of the road.
WTH was that about?
Tour director Christian Prudhomme said the car had failed to heed directives on the race’s official radio channel.
“I announced on Radio Tour, which is the channel everyone should be listening to, that all cars should pull to the side and give priority to the team cars,” said Prudhomme.
“They did not take that order into account... and caused the crash of both riders. This behaviour is intolerable.”
It is the second such accident on the race.
On Wednesday, Denmark’s Nicki Sorensen was lucky to escape serious injury when a motorbike carrying a photographer tried to squeeze past the peloton through a non-existent gap on the side of the road.
The motorbike clipped the Saxo Bank rider, who crashed to the ground heavily
Yeah, I see the tree, and he was 3-4 feet away from it. No way was such a swerve required. I’m thinking he was mucking around trying to give the photog a good shot and got startled when he looked ahead.
Spandex an sprockets oh my.....bttt !
The ASO made a statement after the Tour de France stage, about the incident. “Following the accident which occurred at the 167 kilometers mark … involving the riders Juan Antonio Flecha and Johnny Hoogerland, vehicle Euro Media numbered 800 has been excluded from the Tour de France.”
Tour de France race director, Christian Prudhomme was furious about the unforgettable incident and explained his feelings about the day.
“I announced on Radio Tour, which is the channel everyone should be listening to, that all cars should pull to the side and give priority to the team cars,” said Prudhomme.
“The car previously received the order from the race direction not to pass and let the Europcar team manager get through to the breakaway to give Thomas Voeckler the bottle he was asking for.
“They did not take that order into account … and caused the crash of both riders. This behavior is intolerable.”
What moron let them ride on an open roadway?
Ugly day in the Tour. Good thing for Flecha and Hoogerland tomorrow is a rest day. Lot of crashes, Contador ended up on his butt from Carpets colliding with him, some speculation it was intentional, but the saddest was Vinokurov leaving the race after a bad crash. He was racing nicely yesterday and nearly caught the leader in the final section.
Bring on the Pyrenees. Thursday should be interesting with the Hourquette d’Ancizan, Tourmalet and Luz-Ardiden.
Ugly race today. Crashes everywhere. Multiple mountain climbs and fast decents, while the road was still very wet from rain. Very dangerous.
But it seems this year, the routes have taken them on a lot of very narrow roads. Appeared more than usual. There has been a lot of traffic jams with the cars and motorcycles and bikes getting blocked by it all.
I saw the car incident. Brutal. Rider went full airborne backwards and almost upside down into a barbwire fence.
He was lying in the barbed wire, completely in it, in the barbs, his pants were completely off, he was completely naked
Hoogerland, the man got up after flipping through the air and into a bob-wire fence (as we say in Texas) and finished, taking the Polka Dot jersey, King of the Mountains.
He didn’t look like he was having a fun day near the end (no pun intended) but if he can carry on he’ll be in the KotM shirt come Tuesday.
Yah, there may be some EPO going on with a lot of them, but I admire these cats. He probably can’t even have an Advil for that, UA fail for sure. Aspirin, maybe? Dunno. But he is lucky to be able to climb back in the saddle and make it to the finish. I hope he is on the bike at the start of the next stage.
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