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Just finished watching the first stage.
What the hell with the bus???? Was the Orica GreenEdge bus higher than all the others?? Was the banner just too low??? So bizarre.
Congrats to Kittel. I hope all the crashers are okay.
I fear I may have jinxed Hoogerland by wearing my HoogerlandTFU t-shirt today.
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Update now that I'm watching the rerun of the prime time show: Seriously, NBC Sports?? A two-minute opening sequence??? TWO minutes????? Get over yourselves and just show the race.
It was one of the most bizarre finishes I've seen! I kept yelling at the TV "let the air out of its tires to create clearance" but I don't think that would have been enough. Why did they wait so long to decide to back it up?
BTW - check out the cool TDF wallpapers on this site: http://www.justeleanor.com/WALLPAPER. I downloaded the sunflower one but it was hard to choose.
Apparently the problem with the bus happened because it arrived late. The banner had been higher earlier in the day.
http://velonews.competitor.com/2013/...rst-day_292623
I think this is the strangest thing I've ever seen at a sporting event. Also it's a great argument in favor of allowing riders to use race radios. Imagine if they had not been able to move the bus and also were not able to notify the riders what was going on. Telling them the finish line was being moved up (and then saying "never mind") certainly caused problems, but it would have been a disaster if they had come barreling down the finishing straight only to find a bus in the way.
That was one of the stranger things I've seen and the bus seemed to have set off a very strange series of events. Then today near the finish a dog got loose and ran onto the road. If you are going to have a dog near the road it really needs to be on a leash and possibly a harness instead of just a collar, that could have been disasterous.
There have been cyclist-dog crashes in races before. Potentially very dangerous for the dog as well as the racers.
Apparently Tony Martin lost consciousness twice after crashing yesterday, but he's still in the race. This seems wrong to me. It sucks to crash out so early in such a big race, but I just don't think it's worth the health risk to continue after a serious crash.
Nice win by Bakelants today. He dug deep at the end.
I just read he had a concussion, a bruised lung, severe hip, back, and knee injuries; the team doctor OK'd him to ride today??? I'm not a doctor, etc. etc., but that kind of effort after a concussion, let alone the other stuff, is definitely a serious health risk.
What a strange couple of days at this TdF... I was definitely disappointed not to see the big sprinters near the finish line yesterday but I'm very happy for both Kittel and Bakelants. Bakelants reaction to crossing the finish line was absolutely incredible to me.
I feel terrible for the Orica-GreenEDGE bus driver :( I heard today that he was in tears over what happened yesterday.
Interesting note on the race radios, ny. On the NBC Sports coverage today they were discussing how towards the end of the race they'll turn the radios off to avoid being distracted by the team car. Couple that with the general noise/commotion/chaos and many of the riders never even knew about the 3km finish line. I think it was Kittel who heard on the race radio "the finish line is at the finish line" (after the bus moved) and responded back "of course it is, where else would it be" or something to that effect because he never heard the 3km finish line move to begin with.
I was screaming at the TV with the dog today!! Was he not on a leash? His owner endangered the racers and his dog. I wanted to slap the pups owner through the TV.
So did anyone watch both the live morning coverage and then the evening coverage of Stage 2? Was it my imagination, or did Phil & Paul call the wrong name of the winner in the morning, and then re-recorded the call with with the right name for the evening coverage?
Nope, you are correct.Quote:
Originally Posted by BikeDutchess
I'm also really surprised Tony Martin is riding. I was under the impression that there was a protocol to be followed for return to racing after a concussion, but perhaps it varies team to team at this point.
re the bus incident- While both my husband and I started saying get out, lower the tires and back up as soon as the coolant started escaping it was pretty typical of the "suits" (ie officials and organizers) to line up in front of the bus on their cell phones. Who did they think they were calling other than each other , other committee members, God? And why did not one of the appatent fire brigade members just step up and open the valves, of for that matter ,since the driver persumabaly knows his bus, why didn't he hustle out of the bus and do it right away indtead of sitting there crying. alternate definition for the organizing committee and all the suits- redundancy and lack of progress in an emergency situation.
Really really stupid, but thankfully it wasn't worse.
I wasn't really listening during the prime time coverage. But when it was live, they first said Bakelants was in the break, then said that race radio was reporting that it was Irazar (sp?), then said race radio was back to saying it was Bakelants. So I can see why they would just re-do it for later broadcasts.Quote:
Originally Posted by BikeDutchess
Another gripe for me about NBCSN -- they're interrupting the coverage to give updates on other sports. This by itself is annoying to me. But yesterday they announced the outcome of the F1 race, which they had covered live on CNBC but were showing on delay on NBCSN immediately after the TdF coverage. Apparently many people either didn't know to watch CNBC or chose to hold off on watching F1 until they after they watched the TdF, so they learned who won the grand prix before they had a chance to watch it. I chose to watch the F1 first, otherwise I would have been one of those very angry people.
The driver didn't necessarily know anything.... I've heard tell of the people who sometimes staff that type of position.. he may well have just been a friend of someone or a relative, not a professional bus driver.... (in fact I just looked it up... the bus driver was.... Garikoitz Atxa, a Spanish former cyclist who was on his first day working as the Orica team’s bus driver). I guess France is much like here... as long as it's called a motorhome any shmo can drive it... doesn't have to be a professional driver.Quote:
Originally Posted by marni
Yesterday's stage had an exiting finish but... polka dot shorts for the king of the mountains???
Jersey - yes. Bike - yes. Shorts...NOOOOO! He looked like he had measles. Really, really, big measles.
Bakelants reaction at the finish line the other day was priceless, and it demonstrated one of the reasons why Le Tour remains so enduring and fun to watch. Have to say I was rather glad to see Sagan get nipped at the line yesterday. Agree that the all-polka dot kit is just, ... hideous!