Tour de France Stage 5: Carhaix - Cap Fréhel 164.5 km

[Cimber]

not sure considering the motorcyclist rode on the verge and didn't alter his line.

A bag on the moto caught Nicki's bike when the moto passed Nicki. Even if he rode on the verge and kept his line it was his fault, cos if there is no room he shouldnt have gone through the peloton in the first place. And he was warned also. In addition he kept riding on with the bike dragging along.

Was Nicki said:

"“I was riding safely in the side of the road as a motor bike knocked me off the bike. He was actually going so close that my bike was drawn after his motor bike for 200 meters and I landed heavily on the ground. Luckily, I'm ok and am able to ride again tomorrow,”

I dunno...looks to me like the motorcycle came up from behind and took Sorensen out, he never saw it coming:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ld9ah5cFVfI

Yep exactly

 

[Benotti69]

i wonder whats going on with hincapie's legs. thats a bit disgusting :S

varicose veins....Varicose veins are swollen, twisted, and sometimes painful veins that have filled with an abnormal collection of blood.

 

[lilyprotector]

i wonder whats going on with hincapie's legs. thats a bit disgusting :S

is this a photoshop joke? this can't be real right? it looks like a brain in his leg.

 

[Benotti69]

A bag on the moto caught Nicki's bike when the moto passed Nicki. Even if he rode on the verge and kept his line it was his fault, cos if there is no room he shouldnt have gone through the peloton in the first place. And he was warned also. In addition he kept riding on with the bike dragging along.

Was Nicki said:

"“I was riding safely in the side of the road as a motor bike knocked me off the bike. He was actually going so close that my bike was drawn after his motor bike for 200 meters and I landed heavily on the ground. Luckily, I'm ok and am able to ride again tomorrow,” "

bags on the bike belong to the photographers

he hardly notice a bike hanging of the back of his bike if he is trying to concentrate on the riders in front and 2 his left.

Sorenson aint gonna say i was a stupid **** for ignoring the motorbike to my right.

 

[just some guy]

is this a photoshop joke? this can't be real right? it looks like a brain in his leg.

its real..............

 

[Parrulo]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varicose_veins

varicose veins....Varicose veins are swollen, twisted, and sometimes painful veins that have filled with an abnormal collection of blood.

i know what those are, my mother had that. what i meant was that his are really really extreme.but i guess that should be expected from a cyclists. not a pretty sight.

 

[just some guy]

accident report from today- http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/tour-de-france-crash-report-boonen-contador-gesink-bloodied

 

[lilyprotector]

i know what those are, my mother had that. what i meant was that his are really really extreme.but i guess that should be expected from a cyclists. not a pretty sight.

i wish i could erase that image from my mind. i might not eat for days .

 

[Cimber]

bags on the bike belong to the photographers

he hardly notice a bike hanging of the back of his bike if he is trying to concentrate on the riders in front and 2 his left.

Sorenson aint gonna say i was a stupid **** for ignoring the motorbike to my right.

He is responsible for the bags on his moto. If I drive over a pedestrian with a trailer its still my fault even if it belongs to another person. A less exstreme example is that its also the drivers responsibility that all passengers have their seatbelts fastened. Point: even if it is the fotographerns bag its still the drivers responsibility to navigate the moto, especailly when whenturing into the riders domain, aka the peloton.

I dont see any media suggesting that it was not the moto's fault.

 

[Benotti69]

I dunno...looks to me like the motorcycle came up from behind and took Sorensen out, he never saw it coming:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ld9ah5cFVfI

so Sorenson cant hear a 1100+cc twin boxer BMW coming up beside him and give some room. Ah well. Motorbike didn't barge anyone Sorenson out of the way, it was tight though. But again the motorbike did not change its line.

 

[Parrulo]

i wish i could erase that image from my mind. i might not eat for days .

lol don't go that far. i have seen much worse in terms of skin related pics. stuff that could really take your sleep for a couple of days

 

[Benotti69]

He is responsible for the bags on his moto. If I drive over a pedestrian with a trailer its still my fault even if it belongs to another person. A less exstreme example is that its also the drivers responsibility that all passengers have their seatbelts fastened. Point: even if it is the fotographerns bag its still the drivers responsibility to navigate the moto, especailly when whenturing into the riders domain, aka the peloton.

let's not bring real life rules of the road into the TdF which is a far removed from the rules of the road as is possible, that most abide by.

 

[just some guy]

lol don't go that far. i have seen much worse in terms of skin related pics. stuff that could really take your sleep for a couple of days

a smell to .....

 

[Califer Hill]

so Sorenson cant hear a 1100+cc twin boxer BMW coming up beside him and give some room. Ah well. Motorbike didn't barge anyone Sorenson out of the way, it was tight though. But again the motorbike did not change its line.

The bunch was quite close together at that point where was Sorenson supposed to go?

As an aside when I'm going 40+kmph (downhill) I find the wind noise quite loud might not be the easiest to hear and appreciate how close a motorbike is

 

[myrideissteelerthanyours]

as interesting as the human integumentary system can be lets not turn this into a gore thread. these board are already way too much like 4chan for my liking.

 

[Cimber]

so Sorenson cant hear a 1100+cc twin boxer BMW coming up beside him and give some room. Ah well. Motorbike didn't barge anyone Sorenson out of the way, it was tight though. But again the motorbike did not change its line.

Obviously you have no idea whats its like in a Tour-peloton. One of the reasons for alot of the stress the first days is that its like no other race regarding sound. According to former rider Rolf Sørensen whats so special in the Tour is the level of noise, especailly the helicopters. He says its like the hearing sense is taken out of the rquation when your are in a Tour the France peloton, which is one of the reasons that there are so many crashes the firsts days, cos it always takes some getting used to (and hence the moto's also need to be aware of that fact, and 99% of them are.)

The moto didnt have to change its lane to be the wrong-doer, cos its lane was colliding with the riders line and that is the moto's fault. The driver MUSt choose a safe line with enough safety distance.

Also your keep forgetting the face that Brian Vandborg signaled to the moto that he shouldnt pass through the peloton, which he did anyways.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

The bunch was quite close together at that point where was Sorenson supposed to go?

As an aside when I'm going 40+kmph (downhill) I find the wind noise quite loud might not be the easiest to hear and appreciate how close a motorbike is

Plus the Helicopters going above the peloton make it almost impossible to hear something.

 

[VeloCity]

so Sorenson cant hear a 1100+cc twin boxer BMW coming up beside him and give some room. Ah well. Motorbike didn't barge anyone Sorenson out of the way, it was tight though. But again the motorbike did not change its line.

I doubt that he could hear it coming, but even if he did, it's not his responsibility to move aside for a motorbike that's coming up from behind.

 

[Benotti69]

Also your keep forgetting the face that Brian Vandborg signaled to the moto that he shouldnt pass through the peloton, which he did anyways

AFAIK Riders have no authority to direct the tour vehicles, so few would take direction from them.

But if someone can link an official statement about the dismissal of the motorbike rider i would be grateful.

I am sorry this incident happened and i am glad Sorenson is ok and that the motorbike didn't crash and do worse damage to riders or spectators.

If he was thrown out by ASO i wish they would treat others who commit faux pas in the same manner.

 

[Captain_Cavman]

It's surprisingly rare to see incidents like the Sorenson one today. But in general it's far too common to see motorbikes interfere with the race in some way by getting too close to the action. It's about time these guys were given a much stricter set of guidelines about how close they can get and those that don't meet them have their passes taken away.

 

[VeloCity]

AFAIK Riders have no authority to direct the tour vehicles, so few would take direction from them.

But if someone can link an official statement about the dismissal of the motorbike rider i would be grateful.

I am sorry this incident happened and i am glad Sorenson is ok and that the motorbike didn't crash and do worse damage to riders or spectators.

If he was thrown out by ASO i wish they would treat others who commit faux pas in the same manner.

But to be fair to the moto, part of the problem is that there's 198 riders, numerous support vehicles, team cars, motorcycles, race director cars, etc, all trying to squeeze through narrow, twisty rural French roads while going 50-70kph, and all trying to dodge road furniture and errant spectators and each other. I think the ASO has to take some responsibility - how much is too much? No wonder the riders are so edgy and nervous all the time.

It's a wonder that accidents like that don't happen more frequently.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Garate has a fracture in his arm, but he will continue.

Hard men. These TDF men.

 

[Square-pedaller]

I was wondering if Graham Watson had any comments about the Sorenson crash, as he is one of the relatively small number of photographers who are allowed to photograph from a moto. So far no tweets. Perhaps someone who uses twitter could tweet him.

I have a vague memory that photographer's motos are supposed to use side roads if they want to pass the peloton, but I may be misremembering that.

 

[Andy99]

Brilliant win Mark. Awesome.

 

[Benotti69]

Jean-François Pescheux, race organizer ASO

There are not too many motorbikes. It's hard to reduce the number of motorbikes. The problem is that the motorbikes try to overtake the peloton while it is nervous and spread out over the width of the road.

"People have a hard time understanding that riders don't want to lose their spot. If they lose a meter they have to work hard for ten meters. It's hard to regain your spot. The motorbikes have to overtake the peloton to do their work. This particular motorbike tried to overtake the peloton but he ended up off the road between the spectators.

"We saw riders passing through and then we found a racing bike a hundred metres further up the road so the bike must've been hooked on the motorbike. They have to do their work, but the priority is that the riders can do their work. Everybody has to help each other but sometimes it doesn't work out. We'll look into how we can sanction this," Pescheux said.

Soon afterwards it was announced that the moto driver, who was piloting a photographer from Getty Images, was banned from the rest of the Tour de France.

Motorcyclist

"There were four motorbikes who wanted to pass the peloton. Contador was back in the peloton and the first motorbike slowed down to take photos which is not allowed. Through the radio Mr. Pescheux told us that we had to drop back. I pulled over to the right hand side of the road and didn't move from that line. Suddenly I heard that noise," the driver said, referring to the bike that clung to his motorbike.

he wasn't consulted regarding the incident....surprise