04/26/24
July 09, 2004
Pigpile on wheels. : Huge crash in the last kilometer takes out all but the frontrunners. The film of the remainder straggling in is just incredible. They look like my neighborhood kids after they've been racing downhill. (FWIW, Lance fell earlier on, but wasn't hurt...dunno yet if he was involved in the crash at the finish)
posted by lil_brown_bat to other at 10:40 AM - 8 comments
link to film of incredibleness is requested. Ugh...sorry for the teaser. I was watching on OLN (btw, they're replaying it). Eurosport usually has vid, but it's not up yet. It'll probably show up in a bit. I have to say, I love their live comments -- they do them for ski races, too, which is where I first encountered them (there's no other way in the US to get anything like live reporting on ski races). Am I the only person who gets a giggle out of Brioches La Boulangere?
posted by lil_brown_bat at 11:35 AM on July 09, 2004
Is that a person or a cheese? Thanks for the post-- I never know how to feel about these crashes: I'm stunned they happen (though I realize just how close people ride), stunned that people can avoid them and stunned that people can get back up from the worst of them. Frankly, I'm stunned.
posted by yerfatma at 11:48 AM on July 09, 2004
The weather has caused a bunch of crashes the last few days. Graham Watson's daily photos are excellent, and this one gives you an idea of how hard some of these crashes have been.
posted by dusted at 12:01 PM on July 09, 2004
Is that a person or a cheese? If you're referring to Brioches la Boulangere, it refers to a chain of bakers. It literally means "Brioches- The Bakery", kinda like "Staples- The Office Supply Something-or-other". I'm stunned they happen (though I realize just how close people ride), stunned that people can avoid them and stunned that people can get back up from the worst of them. Frankly, I'm stunned. Ah-yup. On the video of today's coverage, you don't see the crash, but you see how packed the peloton is. Absolutely frightening.
posted by avogadro at 04:07 PM on July 09, 2004
With Cipo and Petacchi out I wonder if there'll be even more crashes as other would-be sprinters go for it...
posted by JohnSFO at 04:14 PM on July 09, 2004
avogadro, you give me too much credit by half. I was thinking that Brioche sounded like a French food word I heard on Smart Travels once. That's about as Continental as it gets 'round these parts.
posted by yerfatma at 05:17 PM on July 09, 2004
I always subconsciously call that team 'Mr Bun the Bakers' ... anyway, the rotten weather has combined with an abundance of 'road furniture' to mean that first-week nervousness in the peloton translated into lots of crashes. It should settle down soon. One hopes. I was in Paris on the Champs-Élysées back in '91 for one of the most spectacular crashes of all, when Abdoujaparov did his arse-over-tit after hitting a barrier cunningly disguised as an oversized Coke can. The barrier design has improved somewhat, but it's still nightmarish on run-ins.
posted by etagloh at 10:11 PM on July 11, 2004
link to film of incredibleness is requested. is the tour de france significantly more interesting now with accessible net coverage to compliment it?