Fabian Cancellara, odds-on favourite to follow up his success at the Tour of Flanders last weekend by winning Paris-Roubaix on Sunday, has sustained his second crash in two days. Today's chute, which saw the rider land heavily on his left side was caught on film - you can watch it here.
Yesterday, the RadioShack-Leopard rider suffered some nasty looking road rash on his backside after coming down during the Scheldeprjs, while today’s chute happened during a recce ride on one of Paris-Roubaix’s fabled secteurs of pavé.
After the crash, which happened on the Waindignies-Hamage cobbled secteur, according to Het Nieuwsblad he got into the team car where he sat, with a disconsolate look on his face, with directeur sportive Dirk Demol, although he rejoined his team mates on the recce later on.
Speaking after yesterday’s crash, team manager Luca Guercilena said: Team manager Luca Guercilena: “It was a typical crash. Just a small touch of the wheels and he went down. We decided he could continue in the race and we are having the doctor take a look at him. We’ll see how he’s feeling tonight and tomorrow.
“Since the crash was as 60kph he was a bit uncomfortable in the race but was able to continue. His muscles were warm at the time of the accident so it was no real problem for him to go on.
“We will be doing some recon tomorrow and we believe we can stick with our same plan. We’re quite confident that everything will be fine. It’s not ideal, but it’s fine.”
Last Sunday, Cancellara made a stunning attack on the final ascent of the Paterberg to drop Peter Sagan and Jurgen Roelandts and time trial the final 13 kilometres to a stunning victory.
A week earlier, he had won the E3 Harelbeke with another solo attack, and that form has seen him installed as a red-hot favourite for Paris-Roubaix, a race he has won twice before.
Should the bookies be proved correct, Cancellara will emulate Tom Boonen’s achievement last year, when he became the first man to do the Flanders and Roubaix season double in two different years.
Boonen is out of Sunday’s race as he recovers from injuries sustained after crashing during the Tour of Flanders.
The team has not yet made a statement on today’s latest fall, although it has posted some pictures of the recce – including an upright Cancellara – on its website.
And 3 of the 'workers' are just leaning!
Same sketch everywhere, or so it seems. Take Whitelegg Way in Bournemouth. Wide cycle lanes put in both sides of a (formerly very wide) two lane...
Sounds cool. I haven't taken an "unnecessary flight" since 1992. Flown many times since then for work, but you can't patrol the Iraqi desert, or...
My first thought on reading the headline was "ooh, has Clevedon put in covered bike parking now?".
I rented a car a few weeks ago, a Skoda Octavia (needed a big car for a weekend), and the ride was astonishingly good compared to my own 10 year...
Silly.
Shimano for me please ! 👋👋
Shimano were castigated for not bringing on new factories to meet pandemic demand, thus gumming up the supply chain. Their argument at the time was...
I figured out a reason of that squeaking noise. I have xpresso 2 and 7, and also xpro 10 pedals, and that squeaking isn't present only at Xpresso 2...
Italian tourist and pussycat in Portugal.