Sheldon Brown at
[email protected] wrote on 7/14/03 9:46 PM:
> An anonymous poster wrote:
>
>>>> When reading that Beloki had rolled his rear tire, it brought to mind two things; first,
>>>> Jobst's assertions that tubulars are bad in the alps due to melting glue, and second, that
>>>> heavy rear braking in that situation has been discussed as a bad thing in this group. He was
>>>> also using an 18mm tire. Interesting, when some using clinchers don't seem slowed at all, and
>>>> he might not have so many broken bones with them.
>
> I commented:
>
>>> Could be, but it could also be that the rolled tub was effect, not pause.
>>>
>>> I haven't seen the video yet, but it was mentioned that he had fishtailed. This suggests to me
>>> that he may have used his rear brake when he shouldn't have.
>
> Jim Edgar wrote:
>
>> Hard to say, as the footage was all from the helicopter. It was, however, a brutal crash - went
>> down hard on his leg/hip, slid for way too long on his elbow and whip-snapped his shoulder and
>> head down onto the pavement.
>>
>> Reports have him with a broken femur and elbow.
>>
>> How it appeared on the OLN feed this AM:
>>
>> Vino was about 15 seconds ahead at the crest of the hill, and was descending like a madman.
>> Reported ambient temps were low-to-mid-90's (F). Comments had been made about the "softness" of
>> the French roads in this region.
>>
>> Beloki was leading Armstrong, who had five or six riders behind him. The verbal time gap was
>> given as 13 seconds.
>>
>> Vinokourov approaches the "double bowknot" set of horseshoe turns on fairly narrow roads. This
>> will be where Beloki goes down. The screen computer shows a 10 second gap.
>
> I have since had the opportunity to watch this several times in slo-mo.
>
> It appears to me that the skid began _before_ the turn, as Beloki was trying to slow in
> preparation for the turn, but he had not begun to actually lean over into the sharp part of the
> turn. I believe this crash would not have happened if he had not used his rear brake.
>
> Lance went over the same pavement, also braking, and didn't fishtail.
>
>> The moto camera was behind Vinokourov as he went through that section - you can see very shiny
>> spots on the roadway as Vino speeds through the 90 degree left before the double bowknot. Phil
>> states that you can see the melted spots in the roadway, and as Vino makes it through continues,
>> "..that was a rather dodgy corner". The moto camera seems to slow and shift a bit, as the
>> cameraman has trouble keep Vino in the frame.
>
> Do you really believe that Phil Liggett's commentary on the highlights show is done in real time?
> I have always assumed that he puts his script together after the event, matching the footage,
> which he has already seen. This isn't the first time I've seen a bit of foreshadowing in his copy.
> He's good at his job, so he knows how to sound surprised nonetheless.
>
Yeah, I actually do. They claim to be "LIVE" on the AM shows - or maybe I'm easy to convince at that
hour. At the least I think it's reasonably in the same time frame - maybe 30 seconds to a minute
delay at most. Of course, that would allow plenty of time for the foreshadowing you detect.
Color me niave. ;^)
But, I've also heard him mis-call riders on a regular basis, and I think they would definitely edit
that out, given the chance. Also, with the AM feeds, there are many periods of dead air, where they
seem to be gathering facts. Also, when they come back from break, you can sometimes hear Paul
Sherwin commenting on what seems to be another broadcast. Plus, they often interrupt one another
mid-sentance, if some key action comes to them over race radio.
Back in this year's Giro, there was the key race moment when they lost the feed, and all were rather
vexed, resulting in a fine example of one syllable Anglo-Saxon verbiage which probably got snipped
before the evening broadcast.
They are on a webchat tomorrow at 2 pm ET on OLNTV.com. I'll take an early lunch and ask them.
-- Jim
