Remember Shimano’s on-bike videos at the Amgen Tour of California that gave an unprecedented view of the action after the UCI authorised a trial? Well, the experiment is being repeated at the Tour of Switzerland, with the cameras this time supplied by InCycle, and the footage is riveting.
Here’s the finish of Stage 5, which had been criticised by riders and team management because of the danger posed by its twists and turns. The peloton is clearly nervous as it approaches the flamme rouge – there is a lot of shouting going on.
You get a brief glimpse of Mark Cavendish in the British national champion’s jersey before he drops back to try and stay out of trouble but instead ended up in a spectacular crash, somersaulting over his handlebars but luckily emerging relatively unscathed.
The stage was won by Lampre-Merida’s Sacha Modolo.
22 thoughts on “Video: Inside the sprint – spectacular footage from the Tour of Switzerland”
Funny that English now seems
Funny that English now seems to the official language of the peloton.
Loving this… more please
Loving this… more please but with self levelling cameras, its brutal in there.
Would self-levelling cameras
Would self-levelling cameras not require some kind of weighted/gyroscope mount contraption? Not sure pro-riders would be happy with one attached to their bikes…
If i heard Degenkolb shouting
If i heard Degenkolb shouting “GO! GO! GOOOOOO!” i wouldn’t even think about it!
Also, did anyone else’s legs tense up when wheels almost touched? No? just me then… :S
JackBuxton wrote:If i heard
Not just you… my whole body tensed up for pretty much the whole video, and my heart rate went up too. Insane. But just fantastic. What a way to make a living!
Do any of those riders post to Strava? Would be curious to know how fast they were going at various points in the video — even at the start of the video it felt like they were going at well over 30mph (and those riders on the white line at the edge of the road! Crazy!), but the low camera perspective makes it hard to judge. Makes my legs ache just thinking about the effort they put in to pushing those pedals over such long distances, only to have to ride like absolute crazy at the end.
And this was vastly superior to the Shimano video — less vibration, different angles, no stupid music. Really felt part of it. This is the future 🙂 Great job.
The tyre screech on that
The tyre screech on that bend, woah.
:O
Just watched this, the best
Just watched this, the best one I’ve seen so far. Amazing to see how many riders move up, get passed, slot into gaps or slide across.
Mad. Absolutely stark raving mad.
I thought that sounded more like brake pads on carbon rims.
Sooooo close and so much
Sooooo close and so much pushing and shoving.
Even if I had the physical
Even if I had the physical talent to be a professional rider, I’m not sure I could do this. With 100kph descents and dangerous sprint finishes are they brave or a little bit crazy.
Gives me the shivers watching
Gives me the shivers watching that….bloody awesome.
I think if I could choose I’d be a climber just to avoid that mayhem.
That are bat shit mental
Superb images, it all looks
Superb images, it all looks so tranquil from the traditional overhead cameras.
Found Ted King’s Strava
Found Ted King’s Strava upload for the ride: http://www.strava.com/activities/155129936/analysis
The bit before the final KM (at the start of the video) is a slight downhill, so it is fast — for the last three miles he’s averaging 35mph, and even on the flat bit in the town he’s doing around 33 for about a mile.
It’s very humbling. On the flat, If I give it absolutely everything, I can go for just over half a mile at 32mph, but I’m really suffering and my heart rate is definitely zone 5.9. They’re going far faster over a much longer distance, and they’ve already ridden more than 100 miles to get to that point. It’s crazy. The sprinters at the front (in this video) contesting first place would have been faster still.
And yay for Strava data, on-bike cameras and modern technology in general! It’s like we’re living in the future 🙂
Stunning action, but horrible
Stunning action, but horrible quality in the video. It looks like it’s been converted into 1080i for TV and then back into 1080p for the web, de-interlacing artifacts.
Completely mental, I notice
Completely mental, I notice that they edited out the accident on the penultimate turn. They must have had footage looking at the rest of it.
I get nervous at 40kph in a small group all working together, that is brutal. Brave lads, footballers need not apply 🙂
Salkeldi wrote:Completely
You get more broken bones and injuries in football I’d bet.
Absolutely no room for
Absolutely no room for footballers! =D> Not enough room on the road for their rolling and writhing antics!
Glad that I’m not the only
Glad that I’m not the only one who thinks this is scary stuff. I’ll stick to triathlon and TT racing thanks- at least then
it’s only me to blame for a crash :-/
Eurosport need to get on
Eurosport need to get on this, this view but live would be great, press the red button for it sort of thing.
It would be amazing to see this at the tour for the sprint battles between OPQS and the likes of Giant Shimano as they’re bringing Degenkolb and Kittel to fight for some stages!
you’d bet wrong
you’d bet wrong
MotoGP has self-levelling
MotoGP has self-levelling cameras, however they’re servo-driven by a controller with a solid-state accelerometer. Probably a bit too heavy for cycling.
This is why I prefer mountain
This is why I prefer mountain and cyclocross racing. I never have the fear that at any second I could go from riding perfectly fine to sitting on the ground in pain and covered in road rash.
Respect
Respect