Again.
Such good riding! Such excellent tactics! I didn't think it was going to work - I think most people watching, including those in the team car, didn't think it would work - as I thought he'd end up being flattened in a sprint, as he is not really a sprinter.
But after such a long, hard race, it's not actually about who can sprint, it's about who has that tiny little bit left in the legs. Fabian tested them all, he made them use up their last little bits, and he saved his one until those last few metres.
In fact, he saved the last bit for so long that the following group nearly caught them! But it was another fantastic ride for Fab, and a well-deserved victory. Hopefully this means that Trek can now relax, as they have won a major Classic with their star rider *waves flag saying "Go, Fabian!"* and we might get to see Andy a bit more.
Although I was slightly concerned by an email I received from Trek saying "You're already a dedicated fan of Trek Factory Racing. Want to take your support of your favorite team to the next level? We're looking for partners to join us in building a team for the future."
Hello, I thought, they are running out of money and are going to ask members of the fan club to chip in a few quid each to keep the team running. Reading it more closely, they are merely asking for co-sponsors. I don't think I can quite afford to run a cycle team, but thanks, Trek, for the invitation.
Going back to RVV, and the crashes - oh boy! were there ever some crashes! I don't think I've seen such a crash-hit race, it just went on and on. I wasn't making notes this time (I was tweeting instead) but I do think that Stijn Devolder deserves to be made an honorary Schlecklander - he hit the deck, but managed to get back on: then two Stinkoff riders decided to change bikes, and managed to knock Stijn into the ditch, and a BMC rider right into the field of crops. But some team members came to get him, and he managed to get back on. AND THEN not long from the end, he went down again! As he was wearing his national jersey, I didn't actually realise that he was another Trek rider: he was in Leopard-Trek as well, and I'm a bit embarassed that I didn't know him. But, unbelievably, he made it back on, and at that point I decided that the only suitable result was for Fab to win it, with Stijn second.
But to get back to the crashes, two in particular stand out, for all the wrong reasons, and the first and worst has to be poor JVS, who came a massive cropper over a traffic island, flattening a pedestrian as he did so.
Now, there are many arguments already raging about this, and I will come out clearly on the side of JVS and the pro riders. The group of pedestrians, including the elderly lady who was flattened, and a child, were standing on a traffic island, in the middle of a road, during a cycling race. What sort of idiot stands on a traffic island? It's dangerous enough standing beside the road, as anyone who has seen any races in Belgium knows!
If there has to be a question of fault or blame, then it's her own fault for standing there, and possibly the fault of the marshalls for not ejecting spectators from the middle of the road. There should have been a marshall on the island, as it was in the middle of the road, and it didn't have any sort of bollard on it, just a kerb.
I certainly don't think that it was Johan's fault in any way at all - there's a suggestion that he was trying to bunny-hop the edge of the island and just didn't see her, there's a suggestion that he was nudged off line just as he made the hop - it's simply not clear from the footage.
All you can say for certain is that at one moment the stout lady in the dark red coat is standing on the traffic island, and then the next instant she is flat on her back, with a bike on top of her, and JVS is lying on the ground clutching his face, and ends up being stretchered off to hospital in a neck brace.
Not pretty, no matter how you look at it - and if you really want to there's one here:
http://youtu.be/E8tBa4Uc5OA and another from a better angle, but worse quality here: http://youtu.be/nTgb8Ec3YZ4 and I do not recommend watching all of it, it seems to be a collection of crashes and watching too many crashes makes me start feeling queasy!
There is some suggestion that JVS might face a legal case, especially if the woman dies, but I very, very strongly hope that this does not happen. OF COURSE I am very sorry for the woman, but honestly, she was standing on a traffic island in the middle of the road. That is simply not a safe place to stand!
If you check the second video, there are two adults and at least one small child standing on the island: then JVS goes through them like a mower and the island is suddenly empty. Then the bloke and the child step over the unconcious woman and the holding-head-in-agony JVS and continue to watch the race! Callous, or what?
It's the marshalls who are to blame, if anyone: and from their point of view, it is true to say that no matter how many ropes and barriers you put up, members of the public will crawl past them just as soon as you aren't looking.
But at the same time, I do hope that there are not any repercussions for the sport - I would hate to see full barriering, or the banning of spectators. I guess we will have to wait and see, and hope that the spectator recovers.
As for poor JVS, he was back on his bike for an hour today, according to the news, but has a very sore face, and appears to be feeling mighty guilty about the whole affair. Sensibly, he is refusing to discuss it. So, best Schlecklander wishes go to JVS for a speedy physical recovery, and no lawsuit.
Talking of callous, there was another crash that took out Popovytch: I thought it was yet another annoying spectator with a badly-managed flappy flag, but it turned out to be an annoying spectator with a stupid flappy coat, which caught Popo's handlebars and threw him down, hard.
The callous part comes in where, after the poor guy has been lying, stunned, in the gutter for some time, with spectators from the other side of the road running over to make a barrier around him, Little Miss Flappy Coat wanders over, wine glass still in hand, and peers down at the fallen rider. Then she carelessly wanders off, still with her (unspilled) wine glass.
That's her, still clutching her wine glass. Presumably she was hoping to see some blood? The resolution of the video is not very good, but I totally failed to see her mouth making anything remotely like "sorry" shapes.
If you want to watch it, go to this page:
http://www.sporza.be/cm/sporza/wielrennen/140604_rvv_valpartijen
and check the 5th one down.
Ending on a better note, there was a lovely moment where Johnny Hoogerland - honorary Schlecklander and special barbed-wire pet (I, too, have scars from barbed wire in the leg but I didn't have to have 27 stitches and I didn't ride a bike the next day) - slid off the road along with another rider, just as the course turned steeply uphill. The other rider stopped picking up his own bike, and gave Hoogerland a good, long shove to get him going again. Isn't that amazing? Not even one of his own team-mates, just some anonymous rider, helping a fellow DUTCH!! (not Belgian, thank you B, for pointing that out, too much "Belgian" in this post!) rider. I love this sport - you simply would not get that, in any other sport.
So there you have it, a day full of crashes, and some lingering issues to be sorted out afterwards.
Nice piece, Coug.
ReplyDeleteBut,.... Johnny Hoogerland is Dutch and the two riders who were changing bikes were not Saxo Tinkoff but BMC. One of them was Greg van Avermaet who got second in the GC.
Barbara.
Hi Barbara,
ReplyDeleteOOPS! You are so right, of course Johnny Hoogerland is Dutch, I do apologise to all his fans, and I have changed it, above.
But there were clearly two Stinkoff riders in bright yellow changing bikes, with a couple more waiting ready, who were standing out in the road, and Devolder collided with one of them. There certainly were also two BMC guys (one of whom ended up in the crops) and it is possible that Devolder was swerving to avoid them when he hit the Stinkoff guys. Whatever happened, it was another big crash!
Coug
This was an exciting race, what I saw of it. Our TV coverage was as usual, challenging, to say the least. We saw from about 70 to 40 km left, then the last 4 km. And it was on Monday morning. That is the usual sort of thing. The Tour down Under was even worse: cut up in pieces, the pieces scrambled and shown out of order.
ReplyDeleteParis-Roubaix is on at midnight Monday night.
Anyway, I was cheering when Fabs won.
emjay
Loved the race, shouted myself hoarse for the winner (what a sprint), and enjoyed your recaps.
ReplyDeleteI think I may be able to throw some light on the BMC/Tinkoff crash. Another of my very favourite riders was involved in this crash; of the four TST riders who went landed in a jumble across the track. His interviews in Danish press, via google translate (worth it's weight in GOLD for the humour alone), gives this: "Just after the turn are two BMC riders and is in the process of putting a new wheel on one of the bikes after a puncture. Then Stijn Devolder swerves to avoid and rush right in front and we both with full force smoke into the asphalt."
The interview goes on to say that poor Matti Breschel, who had just returned after the freak mattress accident in Oman, thought he had broken his leg and was left lying in the road, unable to move. Passing cars and motorcycles nearly ran him over before he was able to haul himself to safety using his arms. Luckily the leg was not broken, but he does have a giant haematoma under the thigh muscle. As he points out himself... this is just what happens when you race bikes.
Just goes to show these guys are hard as nails, and other sportsmen should be made to watch A Weekend In Hell every time they roll about in agony after a tiny tap.
Midge (Matti Breschel Appreciation Society) ;p