A crash even a NASCAR fan would envy
Once again, you gotta love YouTube. I missed the spectacular crash in Sunday's Tour. No worries, it's right here - complete with commentary in french, no less.
Here's the amazing thing about it. The guy who takes the most spectacular plunge is Matthia Kessler, in the pink T-Mobile jersey. Yet he managed to - I'm not making this up - get back on his bike and finish the race.
The other two crashees? Not so lucky. The first one to kiss the guardrail is actually the guy on the right of your screen, in the white Cofidis jersey. Poor Rik Verbrugghe sustained a fracture of his left femur and is done for the year. The next guy to hit the brakes - and then the pavement was David Canada, in the yellow Saunier Duval team. He skids out, braking his collarbone in the process.
Canada's fall forced Kessler to swerve and hit the brakes. But his momentum carried him over the guardrail and then his handlebars in spectuclar fashion.
The culprit? The same stuff that tragically altered Joseba Beloki's career a few years ago - and forced Lance Armstrong into his famous detour through the fields. Apparently the roads in this part of France are, well, crappy. When it gets hot, like it has been during this stretch of the Tour, the tar on the roads begins to melt. The sticky surface becomes a nightmare for the cyclists, particularly when they're descending. All it takes is for a tire to adhere to that melted tar at the right time and WIPEOUT.
Why allow such an important race to be run over substandard roads? Excellent question.
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