Top 5 cycling crashes of 2007
The cycling season ends tomorrow with the Giro di Lombardia, aka the most beautiful race in the calendar, and I thought I’d make a list of the five most spectacular crashes of the year.
At first, I thought it was possibly in bad taste, but then I saw the Times’ list of the 50 worst sporting injuries (via Sportsfilter) and thought that’s way more tasteless. Check out number 15 — broken teeth, concussion, shredded nutsack, all in the same match!
Anyway, I figure most of us watch sport partially waiting for a Bad Thing to happen. Fisticuffs in a rugby match, drivers spinning off in motor racing, bad tackles in football, crashes in cycling. It all adds to the excitement and provides a good talking point. As long as no-one gets seriously hurt (unlike some of the people in that Times articles), then I figure it’s fine to revel in a sportsman’s misfortune. And so on to the crashes…
5. Burghardt vs. Dog
Dogs. The arch enemy of cyclists everywhere. Although this old labrador looks seriously unfazed after getting clattered by Marcus Burghardt during the Tour de France. Check out the guy at 42 seconds in the black shirt trying to look all casual after he had obviously just called the dog from the other side of the road. “Dog, what dog?”
Also, bad PR for carbon fibre wheels. Either they’re really weak or that dog is really strong.
4. Uran gets wet
One of the more unusual crashes of the year, Colombian rider Rigoberto Uran decides to take the scenic route off the Riedbergpass mountain in the Deutschland Tour, overshooting a bend and flying into a stream. As the German commentator so eloquently puts it, oy oy oy oy oy.
3. Chute massive!
Big one from the Tour of Poland a month ago. Made all the more delicious because two of the main crashees were Graeme Brown and René Haselbacher, two riders unequivocally hated for their tendency to cause crashes. And as most cyclists and cycling fans know, the one who causes the crash is never the one peeling himself of the pavement a few seconds later. Justice!
Stay tuned until halfway through the clip and you’ll see Jimmy Casper literally flying through the air and over the finish line. If only points were awarded for style!
2. Sprinters on Ice
Note to race organisers: It does not help riders go faster if you cover the finishing straight in soapy water. Seriously. Alessandro Petacchi took his fifth asthma-powered victory of the Giro d’Italia, the rest of the peloton crosses the line on their arses.
If you prefer to watch the crash from some Italian guy’s balcony, click here, it’s a pretty good view actually.
1. “I landed on a fat sprinter”
As if Belgium is not awesome enough already — I mean, Tin Tin, Jean-Claude Van Damme, beer… — I now find they dub their cycling highlights with cheesy euro-disco. I’m moving there!
Stage 2 of the Tour de France into Ghent, and a massive pile-up blocks the road from kerb to kerb. This crash is cool for a number of reasons: Firstly, it involves the yellow jersey, which always ups the excitement factor. Secondly, the ensuing confusion meant that Tom Boonen celebrated too early and ended up being out-sprinted by his lead-out man Gert Steegmans. Boonen later claimed that he had deliberately let Steegmans win. Number of people that believed him? 0.
Finally, it resulted in this quote from cocky Welshman Geraint Thomas: “I fell soft; I landed on a fat sprinter.” Thomas is a first year pro and was the youngest rider in this year’s race. Great way to make friends, Gez!
Andrew @ October 19, 2007