Tour of Basque Country - spoilers

[bikerboy337]

Spoilers below





Wow… bad crash and big names down… waiting to hear how things shake out but JV looks bad….Remco and Roglic down hard too…

Hoping the best for the riders

[Spdntrxi]

at this rate MDVP wins the TDF.. Pogi stay safe

[prototoast]

I love bike racing, but good riders being taken out by bad crashes is the worst part of this sport.

On the bright side, this might make Pogacar's Giro-Tour double attempt more exciting.

[nalax]

Originally Posted by prototoast

I love bike racing, but good riders being taken out by bad crashes is the worst part of this sport.

On the bright side, this might make Pogacar's Giro-Tour double attempt more exciting.

Sorry, there is no bright side.

[Hilltopwalters]

Yeah that was brutal to watch. The last two weeks have been abysmal in terms of injuries. Sad to see.

[trener1]

Originally Posted by prototoast

I

On the bright side, this might make Pogacar's Giro-Tour double attempt more exciting.

I agree with the poster that said no bright side.

But even taking the human element out of the picture, and looking at it from a pure racing perspective, I think that in fact the opposite is true.
If Vngo isn't racing the Tour and both Evenepol and Roglic come limping in, the the Tour will be way less exciting, just another boring Pog procession.
Just go look at last weeks Volta Catalunya, it was basically a televised Pogi training camp.

[prototoast]

Originally Posted by trener1

I agree with the poster that said no bright side.

But even taking the human element out of the picture, and looking at it from a pure racing perspective, I think that in fact the opposite is true.
If Vngo isn't racing the Tour and both Evenepol and Roglic come limping in, the the Tour will be way less exciting, just another boring Pog procession.
Just go look at last weeks Volta Catalunya, it was basically a televised Pogi training camp.

I was imagining a scenario where Vingegaard, Roglic, and Evenepoel are racing, but coming back from injury so there was more drama in the build-up--not one in which none of them races. Similar to what we saw from Pogacar last year as he came back from injury in advance of the TdF.

I am trying to provide a scenario to look forward to for everyone, including the riders who crashed. Who knows what will end up transpiring, but I hope that later this year we can see some exciting, dramatic, and safe racing by all.

[tv_vt]

That's bad. Prayers for all of them. Sheesh.

[vespasianus]

How did the crash happen? I watched some grainy thing on YouTube and it looked like a whole bunch of people just skidded off the road - but it makes no sense to me.

[GregL]

Originally Posted by vespasianus

How did the crash happen? I watched some grainy thing on YouTube and it looked like a whole bunch of people just skidded off the road - but it makes no sense to me.

Per cyclingnews, there are tree roots underlying and lifting the pavement in the corner where the crash occurred. The riders hit the bumpy pavement and went down like dominos.

Greg

[gravelreformist]

Regardless of the why, that was just a terrible corner as the natural run-off area was a literal minefield. A cement drainage ditch and huge boulders with zero margin for error.

One of the breakaway riders missed the turn as well and was seen riding through the grass and forest before making it safely back on the road. Pretty sure that Evenepoel successfully bunny-hopped the ditch only to crash when he hit the grass on the other side.

A huge blow for the sport.

[vespasianus]

Originally Posted by GregL

Per cyclingnews, there are tree roots underlying and lifting the pavement in the corner where the crash occurred. The riders hit the bumpy pavement and went down like dominos.

Greg

That is crazy and bad. There were issues with the Vuelta last year and now this. Bike racing is Spain looks to be a blood sport.