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Live blog: Fans arrested for endangering riders on Alpe d’Huez; Ex-pro’s journey from paracetamol to MDMA; Video of crash that forced Nibali to abandon + more
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Fri, Jul 20, 2018 14:30
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hawkinspeter 2 minutes ago
[img]https://squirrelenthusiast.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/do-squirrels-bite.jpg[/img]
Rendel Harris 5 minutes ago
Actually it's quite obvious (if you look with an unbiased eye, which given your histrionic tone one doubts you can) that he is positioning himself where he can see over and past the car to check if anything is coming and he would easily be able to pull back if there was; furthermore he can see through the trees for a considerable distance and know there's nothing coming. It's a perfectly safe overtake for a rider of his skill and experience.
hawkinspeter 5 minutes ago
Yes he's an arsehole, but he doesn't give "us" a bad name at all.
mdavidford 1 hour ago
We don't actually see him overtake at that point though - he appears to move out and sit just off the rear of the car, so if something had come the other way he could have dropped back in behind it.
Xenophon2 3 hours ago
I'm in Belgium and saw the full clip at the time in the media. I'm also a cyclist. That bike rider is an a$$hole, if you watch the full thing there's no doubt he deliberately knocked over the kid. There's no excuse for that type of behaviour.
froze 5 hours ago
In 1976 I bought a TX900 from Open Air Bicycles in Santa Barbara CA, the TX900 was a model the article failed to mention, it was Trek's top of the line frame/fork, it could only be bought as a frame/fork, I had it equipped with Campy Nuova Record because it was open box sale, can't recall the other stuff, but I think I had Zues hubs on Mavic tubular rims. Had the bike for about a year and sold it because girls thought there was something wrong with me because the bike was worth more than my car! So, I sold both and got a better car. Later, after I got out of the military, I went back to Trek and that same bike shop and bought an 81 515, and a few years later an 84 Trek 660 after the 515 got twisted in an accident, that one was a replacement frame so it was just a frame/fork which I put the entire Suntour Superbe group on it, I still have this bike in storage because I ride a newer bike.
rjfrussell 9 hours ago
(a) It looks like an absolutely stupid risk to take- I don't see how the rider could possibly have had any visibility round the right hand bend at the end of the video, when he is well across the centre line into the path of oncoming traffic. (b) It is absolutely NOT the case that he is only a danger to himself. Ask a train driver who has hit a "jumper". Surely you can imagine the life-long trauma of killing someone with your car, even if obviously it was not your "fault". Kids of friends have suffered PTSD for years after a car they were in was struck by a motorbike, and the rider was badly hurt. They weren't even driving. (c). AND equally obviously, what if a driver coming up the hill sees a bike in front of them, and either pulls off the road, or into the oncoming car??? (d) AND, critically, if anyone on a bike does something utterly twattish, there are many people who don't ride bikes who extrapolate to the position that all people who ride bikes are twats, and there is a dehumanising effect that makes life more dangerous for everyone on a bike. There are few things that make me more cross than people on bikes riding through red lights- which, let's be frank- happens at pretty much every red light, every time, in central london, because they are just making life more dangerous for everyone else on a bike.
StevenCrook 11 hours ago
I guess. But I've seen a fair amount of this sort of entitled behaviour from cyclists sharing paths with pedestrians... I noticed he said he'd got a 120db horn and had used it...Makes you think he was actually used to blasting it at people who had the temerity to be in his way.
StevenCrook 11 hours ago
Yup. Complete dick and someone who gives us all a bad name.
18 thoughts on “Live blog: Fans arrested for endangering riders on Alpe d’Huez; Ex-pro’s journey from paracetamol to MDMA; Video of crash that forced Nibali to abandon + more”
That Nibali incident is
That Nibali incident is outrageous. How can so called fans sleep at night knowing that they’ve caused the retirement of a GC contender? These are not fans, they’re animals.
Same goes for the twat in the
Same goes for the twat in the green shorts who gave Froome a sideways push as he rode past.
srchar wrote:
He got busted! https://as.com/ciclismo/2018/07/19/tour_francia/1532020428_071632.html
These “fans” are a disgrace
These “fans” are a disgrace
I can only assume these are the same fans who accuse Team Sky of ruining the sport.
Sometimes I wonder if the French would be happier with a Tour de France with only French riders. Though, I’m sure they’d still be unhappy if a Frenchman from a different département won.
Canyon48 wrote:
I expect the one who pushed Froomedog was, but the one who took out Nibali wasn’t. I assume you didn’t think through that one properly.
don simon wrote:
That was the one I was referring to 😛
I’m not sure what was going on with all the flags though, Bardet was having a pretty tough time with flags on long poles being draped in his face quite a few times.
Well that’s cleared that one
Well that’s cleared that one up then…
cant really see the crash,
cant really see the crash, but what it does show is how much of a complete of time videoing anything on a mobile phone is.
enjoy the moment, dont waste your time getting a few flashy images of very little..
Trying to pick my way through
Trying to pick my way through that footage above it looks like Nibali’s bars may have caught on a camera strap flapping around loosely rather than out of the way around someone’s neck! Feel for him, shit way to leave the event.
Stepping through the video it
Stepping through the video it appears Nibali either got caught on something dangling from the crowd or was directly pushed. He was not that close to the motorbikes or other riders.
He falls a fraction of a second after this frame.
When these Grand Tour
When these Grand Tour organisers going to supervise the crowds on these stages is when hell freezes over probably, now that they have partly caused a top rider to retire! Wtf?
Good work Watlina, I only saw
Good work Watlina, I only saw that Nibali was out of shot when he actually fell. Your still frame looks like a flag getting caught in his back wheel.
The person dragging Nibali to his feet was certainly well-intentioned, and maybe it was necessary to get him out of the road for his own safety. It’s not the ideal procedure where there’s a back injury, though.
HarrogateSpa wrote:
It looks nasty when he goes down. Because of his slow speed he just falls straight down sideways on to the road. You can see the pain as he puts his hand straight on to his back. Can’t belive he actually carried on.
Seeing the Dutch fans yet
Seeing the Dutch fans letting flares off in the faces of the lead rider on Wednesday and again on D’huez, this is an assault and those letting them off should be arrested and heavily fined.
RIP to Monty Young, yet another of the old guard to pass away, there are so few left now from those heady days of the late 40s/50s/60s. Glad that Condor live on and in their original address.
As for the Kiwi druggie, sounds like the judge is another wet through type, yeah remorseful my arese, remoreseful that he was caught. Should have got a far heavier sentence, don’t want skanks like that ‘reconnecting’ with cycling thank you very much!
You say that but the phone
You say that but the phone videos are the best shots we have of the Nibali crash.
Enjoy the racing and maybe set your phone on video but try and take it all in. Whenever I’ve been on the Alpe it’s been a great day but you need the TV coverage to show you what actually happened. Live sport is all too fast.
And yes anyone with a flare needs to be arrested. You’d think that would be pretty easy.
fenix wrote:
You are quite right. Unfortunately (I speak from experience having lived in France for over 20 years) the way the Gendarmerie opperates is to nothing to prevent offences being commited, and often stand around and watch them happening, and then act afterwards if they decide to act, ie are directed to.
<pedantry_alert>
Re: “Glad that Condor live on and in their original address” – As I first remember it, back when some of us still lived in black & white and Madame Thatcher was in her grisly pomp…Condor Cycles used to be on the other side of Grays Inn Road, I can then remember them moving to a larger address a couple of doors along – before they moved to their current location.
</pedantry_alert>
HowardR wrote:
You may be right, but whatever, Condors always were, and still are quality*, wherever the exact location of their shop was.
*For the definition of quality, please read “Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance”