TdF 2015 - Crash, Bash, Froooooome!

Blimey, what a day.

I had some time at home this afternoon and I was supposed to be doing paperwork, but after the exciting second day yesterday, with wind, echelons, rain, and Cav losing Tony Martin the yellow jersey (which he denies) and Fabs winning it ("yay!"), I thought I'd just listen to it a bit while working.

Well, that didn't work.  I found a stream, got captivated in watching it "just for a while" before getting on with some work, and then there was the most almighty crash.  I was glued to the screen for the rest of the afternoon.

Crash? If it weren't for the riders sliding along the road, you would have thought a grenade had gone off. There were riders all over the verge, crashing into a lamppost, bikes and riders piling up against the lamppost, more riders crashing into them, and Fabs piling into the back of it and his glorious new yellow bike clearly to be seen cartwheeling over the pile of bodies.

Several riders were badly hurt - Simon Gerrans was out with a suspected broken wrist, Dumoulin dislocated a shoulder: they both withdrew from the race there and then, as did William Bonnet, the rider who first fell, and one of the Dark Lords whose name I can neither spell nor pronounce. Ten Dam was listed as Abandon, he dislocated a shoulder, but apparently "They popped it back in" so he carried on racing... god, these guys are so tough. And all while wearing basically a swimsuit...

Fabs, meanwhile, was grey-faced and wobbling, clutching his back (remember those broken vertebrae from earlier this year?) and indicating to the race doctor that he couldn't see properly - clearly somewhat concussed, but he got back on his bike and headed back for the race.

Now we get to the tricky bit: a lot of people on social media are saying, and indeed some of the journalists are reporting, that "the race was neutralised until Fabian caught up."

This is not true: ASO took the decision to neutralise, and then to actually stop the race, because every single medical person and vehicle was completely absorbed dealing with this horrendous crash, so if there had been an incident further on - well, there would have been no medical cover at all. Mr Prudhomme was in the unfortunate position of having to try to stop 150-odd riders, who had no idea what was going on, and who were determined to keep racing. At one point there were the two red cars across the road, with Mr P waving his arms like a demented seagull out of the sunroof, while riders sneaked past on all sides. It was like trying to keep 14 puppies in a basket, with only one hand.

Eventually it all got going again, but very tentatively.

 Michael "Bling" Matthews of O'rica looked as though he'd been shredded...

...and as for poor JVS, he looked as though he'd been through a combine harvester.

Apparently there were 40 riders involved in total, including poor Daniel Teklahaemot (well, that's what it sounds like) who had a crash all on his own on the other side of the road, and who was somewhat overlooked in the drama of the main crash. But it's a bit of a shame, I'd just decided to make him my last Schleckland Pet, on the basis that he has such a great name, and usually my pets go on to great glory (JVS), they don't usually end up all over the road!

As for the race itself, well, they finally got to the Murder Hay, as they kept calling it,  and after a closely-fought battle, one of the Dark Lords just beat Chris Froome to the line. But Froomey gained 6 seconds time bonus, putting him into the yellow jersey, which is great news for Sky, and great news for Fab, as now he can sort himself out without feeling an obligation to start tomorrow.

*hasty typing sounds as I check on twitter*

Oh.  Bad news, Fabs has broken two different vertebrae - not the same ones he did earlier this year, but two on the other side, apparently, so he has withdrawn from the Tour. Poor Fabs, what a way to end his career - he's already said that he won't do another Tour, and remembering how long it took him to recover from the first set of cracked vertebrae, well, I'm guessing that he won't be back racing this season. It's unbelievable that he finished the race, up the Murder Hay, with two broken vertebrae. What a guy.

So that could well be the last time we see Fabs as a pro rider. *sigh*