Wow, listening to the live report of the crash and final sprint was so exciting, I can't wait to see the Versus extended coverage this evening! Poor Boonen, so close yet so far...
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Wow, listening to the live report of the crash and final sprint was so exciting, I can't wait to see the Versus extended coverage this evening! Poor Boonen, so close yet so far...
From what I saw and what he said Steegmans miscalculated the position of Boonen. Said he saw a wheel out of the corner of his eye and hoped it was Tom. Boonen himself, realising that there was nobody within striking distance, eased off, while Steegmans kept going full speed ahead. Thereby crossing ahead of Boonen who once he saw that Steegmans was going all-out tried to increase his speed but the line came up too soon. Seemed to be no hard feelings tho'.
The crash was a disaster. Tho' not as big as that one on the Giro, tons of people went down (incl Cancellara and McEwen in Green) and several incl Cancellara crossed the line holding arms and shoulders at injury-indicating angles. Tho' Cancellara was ok by the Presentation - put his Yellow jersey on no trouble.
That turned out to NOT be McEwen. Just a green team jersey.
I'm so glad I took a couple days off to watch the coverage! Today's finish was something, with that crash. I wonder how many will have to drop out of the rest of the tour due to injuries? I think Fred Rodriguez was among those holding his arm. Never a dull moment in this year's race.
I might stay up tonight and catch the coverage. My husband will have to forgo watching "The Age of Love" though or whatever it's called [I could not believe that Mr. Intellectual was watching that show! He's rooting for the 40 year olds.]
Just watched the race now... about to head off to work on my bike... what yuck conditions!
Any word yet on injuries in those who went down?
:eek: just seen the coverage of the stage today, and WOW! What a crash, just of the finish line too:(
Must have been a horrible day to race, i mean, as if the crash wasn't bad enough, but the weather, ugh!
Not too sure of all the injuries, but quite a few crossed the line holding one of their arms close to their chests, the commentary suggested that it may be coller bone injury's...we shall have to wait and see what tomo brings...
236.5km, the longest day of the tour :) i'm sure it will be an entertaining one!
cancellara went down and crossed the finish line holding his left arm in the "oops i broke my collarbone" position. discovery's Tomas Vaitkus was in tears and has several fractures in his thumb. hincapie was in the crash as was fast freddy and i believe thor hushovd too. no more info just yet
That has to be a lead-out man's dream. Those guys do so much work and pull off just before the finish. And they rarely get to bask in the glory of the win. But secretly I bet they all hope for a day like today. Steegmans did everything he was supposed to do. It just wasn't supposed to end like that. But he ends up with a Tour de France stage win in his home country. His team gets first and second. And Boonen gets the green jersey. It's like a Belgian fairytale. It's a good day to be Gert Steegmans!
It is only the third day and it has been a great Tour already!
Wait, Boonen gets the jersey anyway? Why?
Stage 1:Quote:
Originally Posted by rij73
Tom 3rd - 26 points
Robbie 1st - 35 points
Stage 2:
Tom 2nd - 30 points
Robbie 6th - 20 points
Tom -- 26 + 30 = 56 points
Robbie -- 35 + 20 = 55 points
So even though Boonen didn't win the stage today, he earned enough points to take the points lead and the green jersey...for now.
Ah... Thanks muchly!
The majority of the riders who went down are ok. Cancellara thought that he had hurt himself badly, but felt fine after the finish. Hincapie also suffered a nasty contusion to his knee, but plans on riding. One of the other Disco riders, Vaitkus, however is out. I think that, so far, he is the only one to have pulled out of the race due to the crash today.