Tour de France 2011 talk

[pll]

Could we abstain from wishing crashes on any cyclist? I know Contador is the evil guy of the day, but from disliking him to wishing he would crash, there is a huge distance... I find such wishes appalling.

Horner hit his head hard. If he has a concussion (which it looks like the case, judging by his confusion at the finish line about actually having crashed and finished -- see the video from bicycling.com clip here), I hope he does not start tomorrow. It would be too dangerous if he were to fall again.

[bmccasland]

I thought if you didn't finish a race you were out. Granted it's been a while since I've read the race rules on the official tour website. How does one go get checked out at a hospital and get back to complete a race with sufficent time to not be disqualified?

[pll]

Horner was taken to the hospital *after* finishing the stage.

[ny biker]

I'm really surprised they let him finish the stage. Usually if a rider is confused like that after a crash, they put him in the ambulance right away.

[pll]

I'm really surprised they let him finish the stage. Usually if a rider is confused like that after a crash, they put him in the ambulance right away.

I know! Did you the video I linked? He did not seem to remember crashing or understand that he had finished. How did he ride 25km in that condition? he must have simply gotten on his bike before medical personnel even looked at him.

[blue_angel]

Horner hit his head hard. If he has a concussion (which it looks like the case, judging by his confusion at the finish line about actually having crashed and finished -- see the video from bicycling.com clip here), I hope he does not start tomorrow. It would be too dangerous if he were to fall again.

That is so insane! I can't even believe that he managed to finish the stage in that condition. It just goes to show how incredibly *trained* these guys are--they can do it on reflex.

Man, Team Radio Shack is really trapped under a cloud. Here's hoping that nothing else bad befalls any of them!

[ny biker]

I haven't watched the video yet.

But the thing is, Bruyneel has said that he stopped and found Horner lying in a ditch, and could see he had crashed hard. So Horner did not get back on his bike without help from the team. That's why I'm surprised he continued the race. Bruyneel may be an aggressive manager but I do believe he puts the health of his riders ahead of everything. I remember a TdF a few years back where one of his key climbers crashed and then started to race again, but after a bit they spoke to him and determined he had signs of a concussion, at which point they took him from the race right away.

And even if the race doctor was busy with other riders, you would think that at some point he would have caught up with Horner to check him out.

So maybe Chris was coherent enough that the extent of his injuries was not so clear.

Regardless, I hope he recovers quickly, along with all the other injured riders.

update: nice blog post from Jani Brajkovic:

http://www.livestrong.com/teamradios...ith-left-hand/

[Mako]

http://www.livestrong.com/teamradios...ith-left-hand/

Gosh, he seem like a nice chap, and has some thoughtful points!

I hope that he heals well and that team Radioshack's luck improves - they seem to have had a rough ride so far

[loopybunny]

So maybe Chris was coherent enough that the extent of his injuries was not so clear.

Saul Raisin was coherent once in the hospital and it took a while for the bleeding to become serious enough that he slipped into a coma.

Natasha Richardson was coherent after her skiing accident as well.

It seems to me that because of the mystery surrounding brain injuries that if someone shows even the slightest possibility they may have a concussion, the injury needs to be taken very seriously.

I'm letting Chris's accident get to me a little too much. That video was just heartbreaking.

[bluebug32]

So sad to see Horner is this condition. Also sad that he was on my fantasy team!

[Aggie_Ama]

I think given the amount of things that are being learned about head injuries cycling needs to take a better stance on them. These men are pressuring themselves to be a a danger to their health and others by riding. They really need to have a way the doctors can say "NO MORE". Football is finally starting to see the light and cycling needs to follow suit. What scares me is we now know that this many head injuries can lead to life long issues but cycling seems to treat it as par for the course.

I can't believe the number of big names abandoning from crashes. And on Contador, I don't want him to crash but I do like that he is not having everything go his way. It seems like he needs a bad grand tour to bring him down a notch. I don't like him racing when he could end up banned and being stripped of any wins.

[pll]

Talking about bad luck for a team, the situation of Movistar is particularly sad. Coming into the tour, they were dealing with the death of Xavi Tondo in a freak accident with a garage door, while Mauricio Soler has serious neurological deficits after a crash in the Tour de Suisse. During this tour, two of their young riders, Andrey Amador and Beñat Intxausti (fracture of the radius on stage 1, diagnosed yesterday -- he was in the same ambulance as Horner), were injured in a crash, and Vasil Kiryienka abandoned, sick. I've been rooting for their sprinter, José Joaquín Rojas, who is clearly putting an effort to get the green jersey. It has been neat to see him get some stages from teams with serious lead outs for their sprinters.

Things are definitely not going Contador's way. He seems tired after the Giro, and it does not look like he has a good enough team. The team has been invisible.

[denda]

Pll - Sorry, it was just a bad joke. I don't wish anyone to get hurt. I would really like Contador to have a strong finish and someone beat him in a very close finish.