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Video: What happens when a TV helicopter gets a bit too close to a bike race?

This chopper pilot got a bit carried away in pursuit of a great shot

As if hazardous street furniture, fans getting in the way on climbs, and the occassional badly-driven car weren't all enough to contend with, these riders at the Vuelta a Burgos had a TV helicopter get a bit too low.

John has been writing about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work.

He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.

Since then he has worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farrelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.

John has also written for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site's main audience.

He joined road.cc in 2013. He lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.

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11 comments

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ag_hind | 10 years ago
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I don't want to be picky, but: The heli covering the race is a Eurocopter and the one being "apprehended" is a Robinson...Two completely different choppers. A Robinson couldn't cut my grass if it tried....the Eurocopter is gas-turbine and a far more powerful. Just saying.  16

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GerardR replied to ag_hind | 10 years ago
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No fair: a Robinson crashing and burning would do a fine job of your grass!

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TeamCC | 10 years ago
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Anything to win! Hover helicopters over your competition!

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Skylark | 10 years ago
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LOL, what an anticlimax of a finish.

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Decster | 10 years ago
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Didn't Moser use a helicopter to win the Giro  39

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therealsmallboy | 10 years ago
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Hahahaha! Awesome

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Cheesyclimber | 10 years ago
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I'm sure it's not the first time they've been blown off by someone with a big chopper.

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minnellium replied to Cheesyclimber | 10 years ago
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ROFL

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billyman | 10 years ago
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it still looked quite high up the draught must bee amazing to blow them off course.

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Jimbonic replied to billyman | 10 years ago
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billyman wrote:

it still looked quite high up the draught must bee amazing to blow them off course.

It's because the pilot had to change the pitch of the rotor and put more of an angle of attack into the blades to stop and hover. And, since he was right over the cyclists at the time, whoomp, there they go!

Just thought you might like to know....  26

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StantheVoice | 10 years ago
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Helicopter incident at 44.25 onwards.

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