Xavier Tondo RIP

[Parrulo]

Another example is that I changed the hubs and put in the spoke into my training wheels. I also change my mountain bike around… I really like that. In the winter, I meet my friends to go mountain biking. I really enjoy it, it is my life.

Read more: http://www.velonation.com/News/ID/6...I-Passionate-for-the-sport.aspx#ixzz1NPg1Ftmw

one of my friends who does BTT told me today that he has raced with tondo once. he also has a big signed poster of him on the volta a portugal podium.

 

[neineinei]

He is at number 27 in the last UCI world tour ranking.

Him dying now is just so wrong, I can't get past it.

 

[RedheadDane]

Just read the article about him on this site. Really great.

 

[Kwibus]

Just read the article about him on this site. Really great.

Agreed. Great piece, it gave me goosebumps.

 

[Angliru]

Just read the article about him on this site. Really great.

+1 The more and more I learn about Tondo the more heartbreaking and tragic I find his passing. The sport has really lost someone of great character. He would've been someone all of us would've loved to have ridden with and shared afternoon's conversation with talking about the sport.

 

[craig1985]

Yeah he really sound he was an awesome guy. Still can't believe he is gone, but then I feel the same with Wouter Weylandt

 

[RedheadDane]

Sorry for digging this up again.

Reading this article http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/memory-of-tondo-spurs-intxausti-on I have to say the following passage made my eyes a little teary:

Intxausti was sitting inside the vehicle when the accident occurred. His teammate died in his arms.

Seriously, poor kid!

 

[ansimi]

Horribly traumatic for Intxausti but some day he will be glad he was there for his friend's last moments. It's better than imagining somebody dying alone.

I'm going to miss Tondo so much at the Tour He would have been so happy to be there and would have factored in to the race. There would have been some miserably tough climb where the moto cameraman would have caught him smiling

I'm routing for Intxausti and the whole Movistar team.

 

[RedheadDane]

Yeah. You're right. Let's just hope that will be what he thinks and that he doesn't get any "I should've been able to save him" thoughts running through his head.

 

[thirteen]

Yeah. You're right. Let's just hope that will be what he thinks and that he doesn't get any "I should've been able to save him" thoughts running through his head.

a few of the magazines i picked up have him saying he's like to go for the White Jersey in memory of Tondo... he knows it's a long shot but he'll give it his all -- Tondo believed in him.

it was very sweet... i will definitely be rooting for him!

 

[RedheadDane]

Me too!

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Beñat crashed today. Hopefully he can get a stage win sometime in the race. It would be even sweeter than Vasil's.

 

[thirteen]

Beñat crashed today. Hopefully he can get a stage win sometime in the race. It would be even sweeter than Vasil's.

maybe it's good to take the pressure of himself?

and, yes, a stage win would be the sweetest of all!

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Team reports no fractures or serious injuries to either Intxausti or Amador (who, lest we forget, started his season unconscious in a dried up riverbed after being mugged).

Aupa Beñat, everybody should be rooting for you

 

[RedheadDane]

maybe it's good to take the pressure of himself?

and, yes, a stage win would be the sweetest of all!

A stage win during which he takes the white jersey (And then keeps it all the way to Paris.)

 

[craig1985]

Deadset Movistar are cursed.

 

[RedheadDane]

Today I watched an interview with Jens Voigt about the ****ty weather. At the end of it he stated that no one was smiling. My thought:

Tondo would be smiling!

 

[cineteq]

Great victory for Beñat Intxausti @ Vuelta a Asturias, which he dedicates to Xavi

"Creo que ya me lo merecía después de tantas intentonas y tantas desgracias. A mí mismo me estaba exigiendo ya ganar algo importante y hoy ha sido el día. Lo necesitaba, por mí para volver a ganar, y por poder dedicárselo a Xavi, es algo que he deseado durante mucho tiempo. He entrado en meta muy emocionado, acordándome de él y, evidentemente, esta victoria va en su honor"

http://www.biciciclismo.com/cas/site/noticias-ficha.asp?id=50665

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Can't believe it's been two years already today, Intxausti's dramatic win on Tuesday a timely reminder of how fragile life can be. Xavier siempre con nosotros.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Tres años

 

[mewmewmew13]

just saw this LS...hard to believe really

and just as sad see above post from Craig

 

[mariposa]

Tres años

Hard to believe it has been that long. Good to see Movistar still remembering him publically. It still brings tears to my eyes to think of what he never got to do and how he died.

 

[RedheadDane]

It still brings tears to my eyes to think of what he never got to do and how he died.

How he died mostly makes my insides turn in a rather unpleasant way.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Hard to believe it has been that long. Good to see Movistar still remembering him publically. It still brings tears to my eyes to think of what he never got to do and how he died.

It was a long hard fight for him to eventually make it to the top of the sport, and yet he only got to burn brightly for the briefest time before it was all taken away. One of my favourite riders and a guy I always had a lot of time and respect for. He had a great background story and was plagued by bad luck and timing, but he never stopped loving being a cyclist, and the accident that took his life is the kind of think that is just a complete one-off, a total freak occurrence, it's still kind of unbelievable. I've had that Paris-Nice video in my signature I think ever since then, because it just epitomised his career; after losing the good GC position he went stage hunting, he attacked from far, enlivened the race, and when the move seemed doomed he just refused to give up, and was absolutely delighted by his win even as he only just scraped home for it.