Voight crash

[Speedneedle]

Nope. Look at the video. You can clearly see his left hand falling off the handlebar, when the bike hits the bump, making him loose his balance and steering ability.

 

[frizzlefry]

Nope. Look at the video. You can clearly see his left hand falling off the handlebar, when the bike hits the bump, making him loose his balance and steering ability.

Yea you can see the bump launch him forward. Thats why he lost it. he wasnt expecting it.

Had he been ready for it or braced for that little bump, he wouldnt have fallen. Maybe he didnt see the bump because of the rider in front of him. Or he was looking ahead and not down.

 

[Anonymous]

What can I say, I am not sure what you are?

 

[schadenfreude]

What can I say, I am not sure what you are?

guess how much i care?

 

[Anonymous]

guess how much i care?

how long is a piece of string?

(by the way, you care enough to post about it, which belies your suggestion that you care not a bit. That psychology thingy works like a charm.)

 

[Animal]

That looked horrible on the highlight program.

Get well soon Jens!

Does he have a website?

 

[56Cinelli]

Nasty crash, rewound the tivo several times to try and figure out what the objects in question were. I finally decided (gladly) that they weren't teeth, but I couldn't say for sure what it was. Hopefully bike parts disintegrating. How does this affect tomorrows downhill finish (after several other descents)?
Will anybody be hesitant?

 

[fairplay]

I'm really bummed out about Jens crashing, they showed some footage of him getting medical assistance and I could barely watch. Crossing my fingers and hoping for the best...

 

[Big_Blue_Dave]

It certainly eminates from the bike due to the positioning of the items. My thoughts are that they are sparks of carbon fibre. I say this as they don't stay on screen but just disappear, part of the sparks towards the end of the Sporza clip look like they are from the toe section of the sole of Jens' right shoe, ad my guess is the first set of sparks will be from the pedal.

 

[B.Rasmussen]

Seems he got off pretty easy all things considering. He broke his right cheek bone and has a concussion.

 

[colwildcat]

Nasty, nasty spill. I am fairly certain those were sparks. He did go limp. Not sure if that was unconsciousness or if the was trying to limit the road rash by not flailing about. Hope he's okay.

 

[Psalmon]

Prayers for Jens

Oh G*d what a sight. One of the all-time best, all-time favorites.

I remember Zabel said in Hell on Wheels that after a big climb you descend all punchy.

Jens had just put in a HUGE effort on the Petit for the team and may have had that same effect.

Hope he's ok, with no major issues, and can recover soon.

 

[dgodave]

I remember Zabel said in Hell on Wheels that after a big climb you descend all punchy.

Who here hasnt felt that? I for one probably descend punchier than any of those guys, after a climb like that. (Or before a climb like that).

 

[scatto1]

So Sad

He always animates, he'll be missed.

But I don't think it was his teeth...that guy is so hard, when he hit the deck, the asphalt probably started coming apart.

 

[BeachBum]

Does his back tyre blow out? The back wheel lifts right off the ground.

No blowout as far as I know. Back wheel came off because he went over a bump in the pavement. slo-mo vid (link from CF twitter feed): http://tinyurl.com/kur9jg

 

[Anonymous]

No blowout as far as I know. Back wheel came off because he went over a bump in the pavement. slo-mo vid (link from CF twitter feed): http://tinyurl.com/kur9jg

Watching it again, I think it might be as simple as a rolled front tubular or blow out.

 

[indurain666]

"Official" report says that he lost his handlebar grip on a bump. I don't know, hard to see from the vid.

 

[Anonymous]

"Official" report says that he lost his handlebar grip on a bump. I don't know, hard to see from the vid.

Nope, neither of his shoulders dip. They remain square and in line with each other well into the fall.(relative to the angle of the bike) Having lost my grip on a bump (right hand) with a broken bone to prove it, I can tell you that you would definitely pitch over because your hand keeps traveling in a straight line past the grips. That is what causes you to fall. He never dipped a shoulder, and while you can clearly see it was not his left hand, his right shoulder would have dropped and pitched forward if he lost grip with the other.

 

[md2020]

Nope, neither of his shoulders dip. They remain square and in line with each other well into the fall.(relative to the angle of the bike) Having lost my grip on a bump (right hand) with a broken bone to prove it, I can tell you that you would definitely pitch over because your hand keeps traveling in a straight line past the grips. That is what causes you to fall. He never dipped a shoulder, and while you can clearly see it was not his left hand, his right shoulder would have dropped and pitched forward if he lost grip with the other.

Take a look at the video again and keep an eye on his left hand. He's up on the hoods and when he hits the bump his left hand pops off. His weight ends up on his right hand and pushes the bars over.

 

[krebs303]

Jens has sent this greeting to the team:
"I think I was very lucky not getting severely hurt from today's crash. Now I hope that you can focus on the race and I wish you all good luck with the hard stage tomorrow”.

 

[richwagmn]

There was a hump in the road. In the video you can see the Rabobanker in front of him also jumps. I think the front wheel slides on the center line.

(According to Lance, according to Fränk Schleck Jens is doing ok.)

+1. Looks like the dip caused him to lose his balance and then his front tire hits the painted line. Ouch. All the best to Jens.

 

[Anonymous]

Take a look at the video again and keep an eye on his left hand. He's up on the hoods and when he hits the bump his left hand pops off. His weight ends up on his right hand and pushes the bars over.

I did, but his right shoulder never drops even as he is going down. It remains on the same plane as it was from the beginning. Only when he drops further does he take his hand off in an apparent attempt to break his fall. That was not because his right hand kicked off. That scenario would also be improbable because it would mean he had different muscular grips for right and left hand or that the bump did not have a linear effect on the steering system. (meaning it bumped more on the right side which without a break in the system could not happen). Think about how you ride and think about how you keep consistent grip with both hands. Most likely, BOTH hands would come off the bars if a bump was severe enough to dislodge one.

Those are my opinions based on watching it several times in slow motion. The front tire appeared to be the problem from what I saw.

 

[Martin318is]

It is very very obvious looking at the video. His left hand IS dislodged by the bump. There is zero reason why this would cause his shoulders to be out of line why? - Because the bike is already heading sideways out from under his falling body. He never really gets any weight back onto the bars at all.

Discussion of on-road bike and body mechanics are meaningless if you don't take into account that his bike was off the ground and his mass was still catching up to the bike on the way down.

View it again.

 

[klodifan]

Jens Voigt is the conscience of cycling:

http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/tdf2009/columns/story?id=4344207

 

[Anonymous]

It is very very obvious looking at the video. His left hand IS dislodged by the bump. There is zero reason why this would cause his shoulders to be out of line why? - Because the bike is already heading sideways out from under his falling body. He never really gets any weight back onto the bars at all.

Discussion of on-road bike and body mechanics are meaningless if you don't take into account that his bike was off the ground and his mass was still catching up to the bike on the way down.

View it again.

Because you rest your weight on your hands and for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Meaning what goes up, comes down, and because coming down has consequences based on the fact that once the hand begins moving in that direction, it wouldn't stop until it hit something and he wouldn't crash unless he missed the bars on the way down.

You say it is obvious, but here is your problem: You cannot see his left hand because of his body, ergo, it is not clear what happened. Physics suggest you are wrong.

EDIT: I just watched it for the 20th time, and his hand becomes dislodged AFTER the event that caused the accident. His hand ONLY becomes dislodged because the wheel was turned to the left. The cause of the crash is whatever caused the wheel to move left be it slippage, a rolled tubular, or a blow-out. It was not caused because his right hand came off the bars and you can clearly see it didn't happen because his left hand came off. Something else caused the wreck.

Maybe it is as simple as his front tire lost contact with the road and came down on the line? Either way, it was not because his hands came off the bars. That CLEARLY doesn't happen until he is already falling.