2009 TDF stage 16: Martigny Bourg-Saint-Maurice 159 km - Page 4

Ah . . . I just saw a snippet of the fall and didn't see the road marking. Should have guessed -- I've seen plenty of people eat asphalt because of road paint, which can be bad enough on a flat stretch much less careening down a mountain. Hope he's OK, although from what I understand he will likely be eating through a straw for awhile.

Just watched the counterattack of Lance. Possibly the speed of initial acceleration wasn't for Lance and he decided to go on his own rhythm. Lance might have suffered later if he went Andy and Contador. It was interesting that F.Schleck couldn't sit on the wheel of Lance when Texan caught him. A bit more exciting stage than expected.

Initially it was rumored that after two Bernards the Tour will finish at Les Arcs but it never happened. Pity because it would have been a real cracker with mountaintop finish.

__________________
Why am I still a fan of dopers sport?

Today's stage proved what we already knew - Astana has ability to respond to every attack.
Tomorrow will be very dynamic. Saxo has to keep trying, but with loss of Voigt that will be more complicated. Andy Schleck pointed out stage 17 as a very difficult and he'll definitely try again. His effort should be concentrated on gaining time on Wiggins, Kloden and Armstrong (if it's possible), 'cause Contador looks unbeatable. I'm looking forward to see what brothers have to show us tomorrow. They can have an ally in Evans... Sastre can join them too. It will be very interesting to see if some coalitions will be made.

__________________
"Soldiers! Heroes!

The supreme command has erased our regiment from its records. Our regiment has been sacrificed for the honor of Belgrade and the Fatherland. Therefore, you no longer have to worry for your lives - they do not exist anymore.
So, forward to glory! For King and country! Long live the king! Long live Belgrade! "

That truly turns my stomach. I can only think crushed teeth and mangled lips/cheeks/chin.

Reminds of that Credit Agricole guy that bit it real hard on the cobblestones - maybe Flanders - I'm not sure, but very similar total faceplant into the pavement.

May the force be with you, Jens...

Interesting stage. I was hoping for either Pellizotti or Astarloza to take it. Great run to the finish (except of course J. Voigt, ouch that looked brutal hope he gets better soon).

Probably tomorrow, Pellizotti will have a go at the early mountains again to cement his leadership. Most likely there won't be any more changes in the polka dot and green jersey until the end (same for team competition by the way).

With that out of the way, GC and young rider classification looked interesting today. The bad news first: whatever shred of hope Cadel had for the GC is gone the way of the dodo. He complained having a bad day on Sunday (where he looked more or less his own self), and totally blew it today. Could be he's actually sick, who knows. Menchov showing where you end up riding clean (race-clean, not career-clean). Tony Martin a jour sans. Have to find out what he was saying. Sastre again did not look all that convincing. He definitely came back but doesn't seem to be holding up all that well this year. I wonder what he will be able to do on the Ventoux.

On the other end of the spectrum are Contador, Nibali and Wiggins. Great ride by the three, they could follow all accelerations effortlessly. Very impressive.

Then we have Saxo and Astana. Clearly something was different today compared to Sunday when Kloden followed the Schlecks and Contador instead of towing LA. When the gap opened so rapidly, I thought for a while that LA might have totally bonked and therefore let Kloden go, but he came back very well once it got flatter and the speed in the MJ group dropped. Still, I see it more a weakness than a strength. First, he couldn't know for sure how things would develop and second, he did drag other riders at least part of the way back up. Now the MJ group had 6 of the top 8 riders (only LA and Le Mevel were missing and later Frank dropped), so Alberto wouldn't have made up time relative to the closest rivals (the closest would have been Sastre with ~4') but still. AC had a teammate in Kloden and said later in an interview that he didn't need LA.

The Schlecks tried to make the race Interesting but ultimately failed. Andy is 40" off the podium and 49" off LA. And he will lose time on Thursday. It seemed to me that Frank didn't quite have the legs to set up Andy the way they wanted, while Contador still had Kloden up there, so they essentially stopped their move. Then again Jens Voigt was also up there and helped. I guess that considering the long descent and how all groups came closer together in the end, it is understandable that they conserved energy for tomorrow and Thursday.

I don't think that Andy should resign himself to race for a podium just yet. Sure they could have tried today to hold the gap on Armstrong until Bourg St. Maurice, but what about saving some energy for tomorrow and Thursday? I think his goal should be to not lose too much time on Thursday and then go all out on the Ventoux. I think that likely, he might pass Kloden, Wiggins and Armstrong on the GC on Saturday anyway, so no point in using energy to knock one of those off the podium today. And, although I doubt it, maybe he can even put time into Contador on the penultimate stage (and if not, he's not going to win this thing anyway).

Lim & IH8LANCE have another look at the Youtube video of the awful Jens crash - look specifically at 4 seconds in and focus on the riders in front of Jens - particularly the Rabo rider who I believe is Ten Dam. See how they go over a large bump in the road? It looks like the bump throws Jens left hand off the hood and knocks him off balance and down he goes...

Lionel Birnie makes a comment on "the bump" on his Twitter page:

Having driven over the bump where Jens Voigt crashed, we're not surprised someone fell. It was nasty

Lionel Birnie (lionelbirnie) on Twitter

Get well soon Jens!!

__________________
"Never do you see a man sit so firmly in the saddle on a mountain pass".

Neil - great to see you back posting.

Thanks for that update.
The Eurosport commentators made the same point as Lionel Birnie.
Dave Harmon referred to a bump on the road as well.

Personally I could not see the bump - but Birnie know confirms what DH and SK both said.
God what an unfortunate accident.

__________________
.."But finally the last thing I’ll say to the people who don’t believe in cycling, the cynics and the sceptics. I'm sorry for you. I’m sorry that you can’t dream big. [I]I'm sorry you don't believe in miracles. You should believe in these athletes, and you should believe in these people. I'll be a fan of the Tour de France for as long as I live. And there are no secrets - this is a hard sporting event and hard work wins it" - Armstrong 2005 TDF
morelike hypocrisy.

Leaving podium fight for penultimate day is very risky in my opinion. Astana may be very motivated (for Ventoux) to ensure podium clean - sweep after good TT on Thursday and, in that sense, Andy could be demotivated if he loses much time on Thursday. So I think Saxo has to keep trying every day and tomorrow is good opportunity.

__________________
"Soldiers! Heroes!

The supreme command has erased our regiment from its records. Our regiment has been sacrificed for the honor of Belgrade and the Fatherland. Therefore, you no longer have to worry for your lives - they do not exist anymore.
So, forward to glory! For King and country! Long live the king! Long live Belgrade! "

play the video again and then select the second video at the bottom of the youtube plugin.

They have zoomed in on his handlebars. He is on his hoods when he hits a bump, and looses his grip on the bars. It should never have happened. It is Jen's fault. Maybe he had sweat on his palms from the climb and it was really slippery.
The same thing has happened to me. You have to have a good grip on the bars going 80km/h. Each little bump gets amplified.

Terrible sight. lucky there was no one behind him and hes lucky he didn't go off the edge of the cliff.

you can see the rear wheel of rider in front of Jens bounce off the road just before Jens goes down. it looks like it's a bump that is smooth so hard to see in the road.

i didn't face plant like Jens.. i did a 'super man' clear across the road though.. but i did a similar crash over some frost heave in the road... the road is smooth so you don't even notice that there is a bump there and when you hit it you're not expecting it at all you so you don't set up to absorb the bump.. elbows locked etc.. so when you hit, your hands are bounced right off the bars... at least that's what happened to me and it looks like Jens suffered the same fate... frigg'n brutal! i just cringed seeing that... can't let the wife see that one.