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Tyler Farrar borrows fan's shoes and bike to finish Tour Down Under stage

Dimension Data rider grateful for assistance after crash

Dimension Data’s Tyler Farrar borrowed shoes and a bike from a fan to ensure he completed today’s Stage 3 of the Tour Down Under to stay in the race.

With his team car and neutral service support already up the road, the American, left bloodied and scarred by the crash,  gratefully accepted the offer of help from 42-year-old New Zealander Anthony Tooman, reports Adelaide Now.

The assistance contravened a UCI rule that says that “riders may only receive technical support from the technical personnel of their team or from one of the neutral support cars or else from the broom wagon.”

However, the commissaries decided not to sanction the American, who finished the stage on the De Rosa bike 13 minutes 7 seconds behind winner Simon Gerrans of Orica-GreenEdge, because of exceptional circumstances.

Mr Tooman, who went to the end of the stage in the broom wagon, said: “We could see him on the side of the road and asked ‘do you need a wheel?’ and he said ‘nah, a wheel is not going to cut it.’

“Then it went to ‘well, what pedals are you running?’

 “He was on Speedplay and I was on Shimano, and as soon as that was decided it was just ‘well you might as well just take everything’.

“Then the next question was ‘what size shoe are you?’

“He was a size 43 and I’m a 44, so we swapped shoes, he jumped on my bike, we gave him some water and seeya later.”

After the stage, Farrar’s team tweeted: “A big thanks to the spectator who lent Tyler Farrar his bike today. Tyler would be out of the @tourdownunder if it weren't for you mate! ;)”

The crash happened with around 20 kilometres left as the group approached the Corkscrew Road climb, with Farrar only noticing around 5 kilometres later that his derailleur had broken.

In a blog post on The Peloton Brief, Farrar said: “In 14 years as a professional this was the first time I’ve ever had this experience.

“I couldn’t stop saying thank you over and over again. He saved my tour. I really didn’t want to come to Australia to do 2.5 days of racing. It’s a pretty cool look into how nice people in Australia are.

He added: “He’s gonna love his new Strava record on Corkscrew now. Thanks man!”

Dimension Data have given Mr Tooman a full set of team kit for his help, and he later posted a picture of it to Instagram.

 

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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12 comments

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matthewn5 | 8 years ago
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My nephew is a Cat A racer in Adelaide, and is always picking up incredible bikes for a fraction of the price we'd pay in the UK. He says it's because the local Mamils spend up big, get bored, and then buy the next new thing. The overall market is smaller so these near new top spec bikes go for a pittance. He has a hugely enviable stable of bikes as a result....

When I was down there last year his local high street had an ultra-high-end Mamil bike shop, and a low-end shop selling basic kid's bikes and low-end first bikes. Nothing in between, and seemingly nothing made locally, bar a few very new custom builders. There's a very active club riding scene because of the Adelaide Hills which are right behind the city and abound with 400-500m climbs and descents.

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hmsgenoa | 8 years ago
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The bike is a De Rosa Protos, with a discreet paint finish, is made in Italy, can be made to custom geometry spec and is the same frame the Nippo Fantini team ride on. I noticed a picture with Farrar off the bike afterwards and almost admiring it, it is reputed to be the stiffest frame on the market. I wonder what his Cervelo felt like afterwards.

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WolfieSmith | 8 years ago
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Aside from the mess over wheels and bike rules why haven't the UCI banned that haircut yet?  Reminds me of the question - 'How you you fit a man's ponytail under a helmet?' 'Easy. Cut it off.' 

I didn't fight in two world wars to have to watch long haired hippies - some with silly beards and vulgar tattoos - riding in the pro peleton. 

No wonder Tyler's so accident prone. Maybe he can't see where he's going. 

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SpeshulEd replied to WolfieSmith | 8 years ago
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WolfieSmith wrote:

I didn't fight in two world wars to have to watch long haired hippies - some with silly beards and vulgar tattoos - riding in the pro peleton. 

 

I'm guessing no one did. I'm also guessing that if you have to worry about that now, you have far too much time on your hands.

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Bhachgen | 8 years ago
1 like

Please please please stop these autoplay video ads. Brutal.

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Milkfloat replied to Bhachgen | 8 years ago
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Bhachgen wrote:

Please please please stop these autoplay video ads. Brutal.

use an adblocker, subtle advertising is ok, but if it rammed down my throat I hit the culprits in the wallet.

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Carton | 8 years ago
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Australians and New Zealanders (particularly the former) get a lot of grief here for their attitudes towards cycling but in my experience to a man they are all proper nice guys/girls (unless you confuse an Aussie for a Kiwi or vice-versa). Way to represent the antipodes, mates.

Also, that seems like a DeRosa King XS, right? Just above the UCI weight limit, then. Would've been fun if it was a bit below it.

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CXR94Di2 | 8 years ago
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Double post

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CXR94Di2 | 8 years ago
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Bet he wished he had picked up an electric assist bike  1

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Rapha Nadal | 8 years ago
2 likes

So Porte gets penalised for taking a wheel from another rider last year but Farrer is OK to take a bike from the general public?

Also, is it possible for Tyler Farrer to ride a bike and not crash?  I wonder if he falls off his seat with the same regularity.

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dafyddp | 8 years ago
1 like

Great story - please the officials practised a bit of common sense. Eugène Christophe must be spinning in his grave at the though of how easy modern day riders have it! 

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surly_by_name | 8 years ago
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I hate speedplays as well, although this seems to be a pretty drastic means of getting out of wearing them. Bloke was 40+. No surprises, "Vets is where all the good stuff is". I am in the same glasshouse. Australians (and I am one - just don't live there anymore) seem to have a prediliction for overpriced Italian bikes - when I visited at Christmas, I saw a far higher proportion of Pinarellos, Bianchis, Colnagos than in the UK. Seems marginally unfortunate given most (all?) of the frames begin their life closer to Australia (in Taiwan or China) than Italy.

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