Boohoohani out of le Tour - shame, shame

OK, those are crocodile tears:  my, I did laugh at reading that Boohoohani had been in a punch-up, and had broken his hand on someone else's teeth!

Apparently he and a couple of teammates were staying in a hotel during the French National road race, and some other guests were being a bit rowdy. At 4am, mindful that he would have to get up early in the morning, Boohoohani and his brother went along the corridor to complain, only to get into a fisticuff fight with three drunken guests.

Oops!

Despite being a former boxer, Boohoohani fractured his hand and needed four stitches, so the next day he was in no fit state to race, and had to withdraw.

Shame, shame.

It gets worse: apparently he's now out of le Tour, because the hospital did not do a terribly good job: the later news report said  "We don't know if the stitches were badly applied or if the wound was badly cleaned but it's a significant infection, which has forced him to stay in hospital for two days and receive treatment for several more,"

Good thing this didn't happen in America, Cofidis would be suing the hospital! Luckily for the hospital, it was in France, and luckily for Cofidis, there was just time to slide in a replacement rider, so Nico Edet will be feeling the pressure as, frankly, the Cofidis team is not exactly an A team. They have had the decency to give us all a giggle by sending along Geoffrey Soupe, whose amusing surname is such a ludicrous contrast to his extremely un-French first name.

Meanwhile, here in Schleckland, we have some extremely serious news, in the loss of another Schleckland Pet: Johan Van Summeren has had to retire from the sport due to ill health: he's had a recurring heart problem for most of this year, and he has finally had to announce that he's retiring.

*glum face*

I shall miss him terribly in the pro peleton: not only the tallest rider, at 6'7" (be still my beating heart) but he seemed to be a genuinely nice guy, with a strange habit of tucking up his sleeves, as though his arms weren't long enough already?  At least he will always live on in Shleckland, not least for being immortalised in the famous Loupe episode:



16.15 CET At last, the peloton are getting organised, Garmin are at the front and are pulling well.

"Garmin Base to Garmin Car, tell Garmin 2 to stop rolling his sleeves up. Over."
"Garmin Car to Garmin Base, he always does it. Over."
"Garmin Base to Garmin Car, well we don't like it, it spoils the look. Over."
"Garmin Car to Garmin Base, well I've told him, and told him, but he always does it. Over."
"Garmin Base to Garmin Car, well tell him again. Over."
"Garmin Car to Garmin Base, tell him yourself. Over."
"Garmin Base to Garmin Car, don't give me that, get on to him and TELL HIM. Out.

16.20 CET There's something happening at the front of the peloton, one of the Garmin riders appears to be having an argument with his team mates, and is now sitting up. The rest of the Garmin team are losing their cohesion, and several of them are pulling at their sleeves. HTC are moving up towards the front of the peloton.

"HTC Car to HTC 1, get up the front with the others, would you? Over"
"HTC 1 to HTC Car, why bother, it's a shitsmall race. Over"
"HTC Car to HTC 1, shut up and pedal. Out."

Yes, now it's all over, I can reveal that "Garmin 2" was of course JVS, and here's a quick montage of some of his moments:

Best of luck JVS and Jasmine, for future health and happiness.