2011 Tour de France Running, er, Cycling Thread

Contador had an odd crash today...suddenly swerving out of the peloton and into a spectator, getting knocked on his ass.

Turns out he was bodychecked by Karpets...a little peloton justice?

http://cyclismas.com/2011/07/flying-karpets-contador-shove/

 

...and now a TV car has wiped out two riders from the breakaway...

http://ewoud.home.xs4all.nl/cycling/20110710_tourdefrance_carcrash.html

Flecha got hit by the car, Hoogerland goes flying into the barbed wire fence.

And, yes, BOTH are back on their bikes and racing. Hard men indeed!

 

+1 for Vlad Karpets. My new hero.
It's a bad week for Tour riders and the media. First a guy gets taken out by a camera bike and now the car today.

 

Hard ass man!



Hoogerland finished the day 50+ miles later!

 

Please tell me somebody gave him some new shorts.

 

They kicked the driver of the car out, but that's not nearly enough. The TV station the car belonged to needs to come up with a pretty heavy compensation for the guys that were involved and the driver should be made to stand with his hands behind his back while each rider in turn kicks him in the nut with a carbon fiber bike shoe.

UPDATE

I saw another replay of the crash again today. While Hoogerland was in a world of hurt, there was one of the guys that hit the deck that was extremely lucky not to be run over and likely killed by the race referee's car (red one). The car came to a stop just a couple of fee before turning his ass into road kill.

 

ESPN's Michael Smith has suddenly made a name for himself in the cycling community...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/early-lead/post/tour-de-france-car-crashing-into-cyclists-draws-laughs-from-espns-michael-smith/2011/07/12/gIQAM3pxAI_blog.html

http://tdflr.blogspot.com/2011/07/espn-suspend-michael-smith.html

 

How did this thread die? This thing's setting up for a great finish.
Andy Schleck attacked on the second of three HC climbs today and ran away with the stage. Somehow, Voeckler, who has held on to the yellow jersey longer than anyone thought possible, kept it by 15 seconds after joining a late attack with the other contenders (Contador couldn't keep up - we get a new champ on Sunday).
Four guys within 1:18, with the legendary L'Alpe d'Huez finish tomorrow and individual time trial Saturday before the finish Sunday.

 

There was a shot today that was priceless when the Voeckler/Evans group dropped Contador. The camera angle was behind him and you could literally and figuratively see the yellow jersey riding away from him.

 

Today's stage was fantastic. I've started pulling for Voeckler. I hope he can fend off the Schleck's combined assault and Cadel Evans in the TT. (But he won't.)

 

I'd be good with Schleck or Evans either one. Evans is an Aussie, so I like him, and Schleck got jobbed last year.

 

This thread died for me when Versus (along with a bunch of other random channels) stopped working on my TV. Thanks Comcast.