A Tough Situation for the Giro

[greatking88]

Rest in peace Wouter,

I pray that your wife, family and friends can find light at the end of the tunnel, give them strength to find a way through the most difficult days ahead, you were a shining light.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQBGoOHeQuk

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

I agree the route probably shouldn't be changed because of this. As said earlier, there are risks in cycling, they know this, wouter knew this, somebody posted a link of an interview just days ago, where he mentioned fear of crashing increased after every fall. It is such a sad thing.

Agreed that maybe the Crostis should be removed, but this was an issue before this incident. I am not looking forward to that descent. And I agree safety nets should be placed where real risk is involved. But this sad sad accident apears to be of freak-nature, where badluck piled up.

For me personally, the event, and the images I saw during the stage made this a surreal experience, and yes the races goes on, but I am struggling to find excitement in the sport at current time. These feelings will pass, but for the moment, I find myself personally uninterested at the moment.

androni have said they want to race tomorrow

good!

who cares want androni want.
I will agree with what the peleton collectively decide to do.

 

[Altitude]

It would also be respectful if posters here didn't speculate on what they think may have caused or contributed to the crash, now is not the time.

How is this disrespectful? And when would be an appropriate time to discuss it?

 

[dlwssonic]

please the giro have to let the crosis descent stay its part of the race. Im sure they will race more carefully now, but that doesnt say about nibali.

 

[flicker]

please the giro have to let the crosis descent stay its part of the race. Im sure they will race more carefully now, but that doesnt say about nibali.

I went back and watched the last 50 k of the race, absolutely no more dangerous than the Milan San Remo, or the Giro stage Axel Merckx almost won.
These guys are pros. They push their luck everyday they train or race.
Totally not the fault of the promoters of the Giro. Sorry about the tragedy, but that is the chance taken by any riders, even amateurs where I live.
As far as safety, watch the replays, columns of houses, road furniture, tractors parked on the road, standard road clutter. Being a pro, part of the job.
The route has been out 4 months, it is the responsibility of the teams to check the route out beforehand. If Contador can't hack it he shoulda stayed on the beach .

 

[zigzag wanderer]

look at the disgraceful coverage by bbc sport

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport

Its the 6th story behind absolute bull**** that means nothing by comparison.

Of course when Massa or Kubica (who together have less balls then Weylandt has in his little finger) crashed it was the headline news. Not just for the sports section but for the whole of bbc news.

Chapeau to all the european papers who understand that this is a major story.

Even to sky, who have probably never before had a non football story on their front page.

Down with the bbc. ****s.

To be fair to the BBC it was their main sport headline when I checked the site around 7.30pm UK time.

It's still the main sport headline on the homepage (if you're reading abroad at least)

 

[dlwssonic]

androni have said they want to race tomorrow

good!

yes androni! at least some teams have decided to continue on with the race. the race has to go on.

 

[dlwssonic]

look at the disgraceful coverage by bbc sport

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport

Its the 6th story behind absolute bull**** that means nothing by comparison.

Of course when Massa or Kubica (who together have less balls then Weylandt has in his little finger) crashed it was the headline news. Not just for the sports section but for the whole of bbc news.

Chapeau to all the european papers who understand that this is a major story.

Even to sky, who have probably never before had a non football story on their front page.

Down with the bbc. ****s.

Its not like britain gives a **** about cycling, other than sky and cav.

 

[Ferminal]

I went back and watched the last 50 k of the race, absolutely no more dangerous than the Milan San Remo, or the Giro stage Axel Merckx almost won.
These guys are pros. They push their luck everyday they train or race.
Totally not the fault of the promoters of the Giro. Sorry about the tragedy, but that is the chance taken by any riders, even amateurs where I live.
As far as safety, watch the replays, columns of houses, road furniture, tractors parked on the road, standard road clutter. Being a pro, part of the job.
The route has been out 4 months, it is the responsibility of the teams to check the route out beforehand. If Contador can't hack it he shoulda stayed on the beach .

On this point I disagree.

It shouldn't be up to the riders or teams to have to go and check every significant descent and any dangers it may pose. The race should be required to report on the descents, highlighting the surface, the gradient, the road width, technically challenging areas, any risk factors which need to be taken into account.

The riders manage the risks on the bike, their decisions can be enhanced by better information being available. You can't say that riders and teams should have to find out about dangerous roads on their own - it should be mandatory that the administrators of the sport provide them with the information necessary.

 

[flicker]

On this point I disagree.

It shouldn't be up to the riders or teams to have to go and check every significant descent and any dangers it may pose. The race should be required to report on the descents, highlighting the surface, the gradient, the road width, technically challenging areas, any risk factors which need to be taken into account.

The riders manage the risks on the bike, their decisions can be enhanced by better information being available. You can't say that riders and teams should have to find out about dangerous roads on their own - it should be mandatory that the administrators of the sport provide them with the information necessary.

I do not know how much info the organizers give the teams. In the best interests of sportsmanship and safety, I would ausume they are forthright.
The rider who went down today, unfortunate, not the fault of the organizers.
Just an accident. I actually checked the footage, he went down on an inside corner, he looked like he clipped a rock embankment.I hope the other riders take caution. I do think the Italian races require upmost skill, and look like someone could die or be seriously injured at anytime. Obviously, the warnings are up about tommarrow.

 

[Cimber]

Lars Bak says that Wouters fell on section that was straight and it was unprovoked. So it seems as if it was just one of those really really unfortunate crashes that just must not happen, but is without fault of anyone. But so far we have heard so many different stories about it so lets see whaqt they conclude. But here is what Bak says (google translated):

http://translate.google.com/transla...trabladet.dk/sport/cykling/article1551845.ece

 

[auscyclefan94]

Supposedly he couldn't pull out of his pedal and the bike propelled him down.

 

[LugHugger]

Sorry Hitch, but there are sporters dying on their arenas of choice all over the place, and you, I, and tons of others don't think twice about it, all the more if it is a niche sport, and the unlucky soul in question is a foreigner to boot.

They have given plenty of space and respectful and tasteful attention to the rider here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cycling/13333589.stm

Agreed. The piece quoted by Hitch is respectful and accurate. And it's front page news in their sport section. I don't see what else the BBC could have done given the relative prominence of cycling in the UK. We know that cycling is a much more important part of the social fabric on the Continent and therefore has more widespread coverage.

 

[Bavarianrider]

Well at hard as it sounds, the danger of such a horrifc crash is always there. Not only in big races, but when ever somebody takes his bike and goes out on the street. As long as bikes exist such sad things will happen. Actually it's quiet suprising that in the past not more riders have died. So in the big races we actually have been quiet lucky over the years. It was pour Wouter who ´had to pay the price now
But the giro will go on and cyling will go on. Just like in 1995 or 2003.

 

[moi123]

look at the disgraceful coverage by bbc sport

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport

Its the 6th story behind absolute bull**** that means nothing by comparison.

Of course when Massa or Kubica (who together have less balls then Weylandt has in his little finger) crashed it was the headline news. Not just for the sports section but for the whole of bbc news.

Chapeau to all the european papers who understand that this is a major story.

Even to sky, who have probably never before had a non football story on their front page.

Down with the bbc. ****s.

LOL. Shut up man. Show a bit respect for other sports please! I don't want to sound rude or something, but both Kubica and Massa are bigger sportstars than Weylandt. F1 is much more dangerous, btw.

Of course it would have been headline news if it was one of the bigger cyclingstars, it's like that. Non-cyclingfans, or better said the non-die hards will have never heard of this Belgian cyclist ever before.

There are a lot of other people around the world who die in worse conditions, shouldn't they be headline news? No, it won't help their family at all.

 

[Tuarts]

People mention Jens Voigt's crash but what about John-Lee Augustyn in the 2008 tour on the descent of Col de la Bonette-Restefond? That could have so easily gone badly too.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

In fairness to the BBC, it featured in TV sports news updates on Breakfast show this morning, with some "sofa chat" between the sports news guy and the presenters. Which is probably more air-seconds than the winner will get, and unless Cavendish wins a stage, is probably the only mention that will be made of the Giro before it ends.

 

[red_flanders]

May I just point out that this photo is tilted by about 13-15 degrees to the left (loaded it into a image program and rotated it clockwise until the cycles where more or less vertical).

It still looks very severe but the road is not "leaning" outwards as much at least. Make your own observations and draw conclusions from that.

Thanks for saying it. Was driving me nuts!

 

[dlwssonic]

im sure the giro will do a good job on the crostis descent by putting barriers and nets at the dangerous corners. I think it will stay zomengan hasnt said anything about removing it.

 

[hrotha]

Mind you, it's still pretty dangerous because it's so narrow. It could be a disaster with the team cars and the motorbikes, not so much for those safely in a group but for those trying to close a gap and making contact with other groups (but since it's a loop I imagine they'll reduce the number of vehicles up and down the Crostis drastically).

im sure the giro will do a good job on the crostis descent by putting barriers and nets at the dangerous corners. I think it will stay zomengan hasnt said anything about removing it.

Seriously, stop. We get it, you want to see a race. You don't need to smear your wishes all over our mourning faces. We have no way to know what Zomegnan will do, no reason to think Zomegnan will do this or that just because he hasn't said anything about it yet.

 

[Benotti69]

It would appear from what RAI are showing that Wouter hit a corner of a low wall, with what would have been i imagine be his left pedal considering the height of the mark causing hi to crash and he continued down the road about 25 metres.

 

[Benotti69]

this is the Giro's 94th year. Only 4 deaths in that time. I think that is testimony to the skill of the cyclists and the knowledge of their limits on the descents.

Riders appear to be wearing black arm bands.

 

[Machu Picchu]

With regards as to whether they should race today or make changes to routes down the line let me just say this, there are people, many people, who are involved in racing, yesterdays race, today’s and the next day’s who knew and loved Woulter more than us fans, they are also more aware of what racing involves than us, let them make the choic.

If they neutralise the race today then fine, if they decide to race today, well that’s fine too cause these are the people who know and should make the decisions. We, as fans, should be there to give our support or if we prefer to walk away from the sport until we have come to terms with it.

 

[will10]

this is the Giro's 150th year. Only 4 deaths in that time. I think that is testimony to the skill of the cyclists and the knowledge of their limits on the descents.

Riders appear to be wearing black arm bands.

Where are you watching it?

 

[dlwssonic]

Seriously, stop. We get it, you want to see a race. You don't need to smear your wishes all over our mourning faces. We have no way to know what Zomegnan will do, no reason to think Zomegnan will do this or that just because he hasn't said anything about it yet.

Ok I want to see a race. Im a cycling fan so of cause I want to see a race nothing to wrong with that right? anyway sorry for my previous post i respect their decision to neutralise todays stage. But whats wrong with wanting a race on a stage long after his death. The race can stop today but it is going to continue. And comeon dont act as if you knew weylandt personally.