2011 Tour de France Running, er, Cycling Thread

Another thing I know...the crash today caused a lot of riders to spend a lot of energy over the last 10 K or so...which will upset the applecart at the TTT tomorrow.

That's why I'm projecting HTC will win the day, as they suffered the least damage among the majors in the crashes today.

 

Cyclists are the hardest men in sport, example No. 21,295.

From a tweet:

"Thomas de Gendt has a hernia on the collarbone and had both thumbs discolated. He'll ride tomorrow."

 

Didn't Tyler Hamilton ride like 2 1/2 weeks on a broken collarbone a few years back? PEDs or not, cyclists are some of the toughest mofos.

That British announcer (whose name escapes me right now) has a famous saying "He's wearing the mask of pain."

 

TigerVols, buy yourself a beer for nailing the stage winner.
Good stuff.

 

Hockey players don't understand what the big deal is about this.

I like the TdF, but I can't take them seriously when Contador hasn't been stripped after positive tests. Moreso than any other sport, cyclist seem to abuse the rules precisely because they are often allowed to get away with it. The IOC makes me crazy, but they don't deal with all this "my chicken dinner was contaminated!" nonsense.

 

Nice win by Farrar.

 

Good win by Farrar and Garmin. Thor in yellow did part of the leadout, so that shows Garmin is about the team.

 

Carnage on the road today.

Retirement Shack's Jani Brajkovic taken to hospital after nasty knock on head and pan-sized deep road rash on hip, thus now upping the Shack's average age to 73.

Contador caught up in an untelevised accident that left his jersey in tatters and him having to play catch-up.

Another rider's bike was caught by a camera motorcycle, cyclist was knocked clear and skidded along the road for a good 20 feet, while his bike disappeared attached to the moto.

All kinds of other crazyness going on as well, including a low-speed crash that saw about 10 riders knocked over like bowling pins.

Crazy shite.

 

Tom Boonen down in another bad crash on a flat, tiny farm road.

Edit: Hardman back on the bike, trying to catch the peloton, with the grimaces on his face sand his inability to hold the handlebars indicating he has a broken collarbone.

 

Moments away from my new Cav avatar. He went from 10th to 1st in 50 meters. Amazing.

 

Watching the replay and five minutes into the broadcast Liggett said the riders would need to watch out for accidents. Prophetic.

And is it wrong I hope every sort of calamity hits Contador?

 

I'm reaching my limit. Two more crashes and I'll start pulling for him.