VeloBalls

Bike reviews and cycling news that BITES

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Cav rejoins The Tour de France

Showing what can only be described as a remarkable amount of bounce-back following the operation on his shoulder less than two weeks ago Mark Cavendish made his way to France to support his Omega Pharma Quickstep team mates.

During an impromptu interview with Ned Boulting during the ITV4 coverage of The Tour de France Cav was keen to show Ned the scar on his shoulder, in fact he kind of insisted on it!  And very well-healed it looked too.  Cav then proceeded to show how flexible his newly bolted together shoulder was, and with all the enthusiasm of a kid showing off a new injury in the school playground he gleefully informed Ned Boulting that he could ‘feel where the screws are’.

When asked when he would be fit to ride again Mark Cavendish said that he was already gently back in training, but wouldn’t be risking a career-ending injury by entering a race for a while yet.  Yesterday Cav was spotted riding in the Omega Pharma Quickstep team car, as to what duties he had been assigned to earn his place in the car we can only speculate?  Expert power-sprinter and keeper of the team sarnies?   We’d like to think so.

Get well soon Cav!

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Geraint Thomas talks about his pelvis on his day off

Geraint Thomas is fast becoming one of our favourite pro-riders.  His apparently unshakable joie de vivre was in full force during the brutal Paris-Roubaix stage, and in his latest blog post for the BBC he refers to the fractured pelvis he earned in last year’s Tour de France and the crashing out of many of the top riders this year as ‘just one of those things’.  He probably shrugged and gave a cheeky little grin while saying it; what a dude.

In his blog post (posted today, a rest day) he also talks about a brown-trouser moment when his brakes failed during a fast descent during yesterday’s mountain stage (stage 10). Apparently he crashed.  Who knew?!?

During this genial little blog post Thomas also states the he believes Richie Porte can probably win Le Tour, something we entirely agree with.

Read the full post here…

 

Photo Credit: Brendan Ryan

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Contador crash – Van Den Broeck ses ‘I was there man!’

Following Alberto Contador’s exit from this year’s Tour de France there have been questions asked about what exactly happened that caused him to crash.  Whenever a rider crashes out there is a mix of sympathy and commiseration from riders who have been in the same situation themselves before.  With Contador’s sudden crash-related retirement yesterday his peers appear to be neither surprised nor sympathetic.

Reports from the peloton point the finger of blame for the first crash quite squarely at Contador himself, most rumours confirm that he was taking a big risk trying to get past Jurgen Van Den Broeck when he went down at the front of the group.  Crashing at the front of a field is never going to make you the most popular man on two wheels, but Van Den Broeck himself is being very public about his feelings on the matter:

“Apparently he felt the need to overtake me. It was in his typical style, standing on the pedals. He hits a pothole and goes over the handlebars. His head was next to my front wheel. He could’ve taken me with him. I can’t understand why you take that many risks to move up one spot” Van Den Broeck said after the race.

Jens Keukeleire also had something to say when asked about the crash by the fine folk at Cycling News;

“According to me, he was moving up during the descent. That didn’t seem necessary to me because we were already quite near the front. I didn’t see exactly what caused the crash but I saw him crashing. He touched the ground a couple of times really hard. Eventually, he ended up at the side of the road. At first I thought he would not get back up. It was a big hit. We were going really fast,”

The second crash apparently happened when Contador was aggressively moving forward through the group surrounded by his team.

Television footage of the aftermath of the crash focussed on a bike with broken frame laying on the road, causing speculation that a mechanical failure may have contributed to the crash.  Speculation that Tinkoff-Saxo official bike supplier Specialized were very quick to extinguish.  Rumours point to the broken bike being one of Contador’s spares, which makes us wonder what the hell happened to it to sever the frame?  A question I very much doubt we’ll ever get an answer to.

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Talansky licks tarmac, Gerrans says ‘buh?’

Simon Gerrans (Orica-GreenEdge) denied inflicting the crash that sent Andrew Talansky (Garmin-Sharp) tumbling during the sprint for the finish in the town-center of Nancy at the very end of another feverish stage at the Tour de France on Fri.

Talansky unashamedly blamed the Australian national champion for the accident, yet Gerrans demanded that he didn’t malignantly cause the spill and recommended Talansky ought to watch the replay to see precisely what happened.

“I’m sorry that he crashed, but I think as everyone saw, there wasn’t any malice about it, and I don’t think I did anything wrong,” Gerrans told eagerly waiting outside the Orica-GreenEdge bus.

“As I think everyone saw, we were in a pretty select group going for the win. I saw in the footage afterwards that Talansky went down. I think when he sees what happens, too, he’ll be able to see that I’m moving from the left to the right and he’s moving from the right to the left and he fell on my back wheel.”

Gerrans has previous experience of licking tarmac just metres from the finish line; he was only recently the victim of a crash when he went head to head with Mark Cavendish. The British sprinter was left with cracked ligaments and a separated shoulder and was unable to continue within the Tour.  Gerrans landed on his back and has struggled to perform because of his wounds.

He finished fifth in the sprint at Nancy and got into trouble while moving across the road, looking for a gap to push through behind Matteo Trentin (Omega Pharma-Quickstep), Peter Sagan (Cannondale), Tony Gallopin (Lotto Belisol) and Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Shimano).

“Today was a good indication that I’m recovering. Unfortunately, I didn’t get up for a place there but that’s the best I felt since stage 1. That’s all looking good moving forward,” he said optimistically.

“I had an unlucky first few days, but I seem to be coming round now. I’m recovering from the crashes and feeling a lot better.”

When pushed for his gut feeling on how well he would do in today’s stage (to Gerandmer) Gerrrans didn’t want to have a take a punt at guessing, but having seen the climbs that will brutalise riders during the last 20km his reluctance seems entirely justified.

 

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Froome crunches horribly out of Le Tour

That’s it, it’s all over, time to go home boyo.  Nobody likes to see anyone leave Le Tour this way, especially not when it’s our very own Chris Froome.

After suffering a suspected fracture earned by going down mid-peleton Froome visited the race doctor for some x-rays, and despite leaving the medical van with a cautious smile (and an even more cautious thumbs up) things were not looking good.  The doctor came out and didn’t tell us much other than ‘dunno, might be broken I guess’, and the nation waited for good news.  None came.

Going into a cobbled stage (Stage 4) with a dicky wrist was never going to be much fun, but after licking tarmac for the second time (before even reaching the dreaded ‘hell of the North’ cobbles of the Paris Roubaix) Froome had the question of whether he could continue cruelly swiped out of his hands.

It was heartbreaking seeing Froome requesting a fresh bike from the top of the team car while everyone around him tried to convince him to get in the team car, thereby officially dropping out of this year’s tour.

Now that Froome has gone home, and taking into consideration the very early departure of Mark Cavendish the only two ‘hot brits’ left in the race are Geraint Thomas and Simon Yates.  Personally we’re now gunning for Porte to win the GC, and if Geraint can get a spot on the podium then all the better.  The duo proved during stage four that they’re a hell of double act.  Bring on the mountains!

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Keukeleire says a naughty, and apologises to Froome

If it isn’t tough enough just making the grade to even compete in the Tour de France, imagine how tough it will be to continue after causing the defending champion to crash in your debut race. That’s just what Jens Keukeleire of team Orica-GreenEdge did to last year’s winner Chris Froome.

However, the calm and dapper Foome held no grudges and even went as far as to absolve the young Belgian of any wrong doing.

“Immediately I thought, even though it wasn’t my fault, ‘Fuck, I took down the winner of last year’s Tour de France,’ but in the end he seems to come away with some minor scratches,” recounted a troubled Keukeleire.

Tuesday’s Stage from Le Touquet to Lille played host to the incident. Movement was reported around the front runners, which caused Jens Keukleire to shift, ultimately initiating contact between his rear wheel and Foome’s front.

“A rider from Belkin wanted to go through a gap that wasn’t there,” claims Keukeleire, yet the Belkin rider was never identified. However, karma may have struck the mystery rider as his team leader Bauke Mollema was swallowed up by the resulting crash.

Despite the crash, both Froome and Mollema were able to remount their fallen bikes and rejoin the fray. Keukeleire immediately apologized to Froome, and there seems to be no bad blood between the two.

Photo credit: Laurie Beylier

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Lotto-Belisol luck-leak

Dark times are upon team Lotto-Belisol following the fourth stage of the Tour de France. Andre Greipel doesn’t seem to be performing as hoped as their dedicated sprinter and three of their riders crashed on Tuesday.

Rider Greg Henderson was forced to withdraw from the race due to the sustained injuries. Stitches were required to fix the leg wound Henderson received by verdict of team doctor Jan Mathieu.

“Greg Henderson has a deep cut of twelve centimeters on his right knee,” Mathieu said. “During a first check-up in the medical cabinet after the finish, the wound was stitched. Tonight Greg will go to the hospital of Herentals where he will undergo minor surgery by doctor Toon Claes. The knee will be drained to avoid the wound gets infected.”

The crash that claimed three of their riders happened on a round-about nearly 30 kilometers from the finish line. The crash was attributed to oil on the road. In addition to Henderson falling, riders Lars Bak and Bart de Clercq were casualties as well.

There is a silver lining to this downturn of luck. Rider Jurgen Van Den Broeck seems to be riding competitively and keeping time with the overall competitors.

Heading into the next stages, pressure is on Greipel to perform up to standard and bring solid consistent finishes for team Lotto-Belisol.

 

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Andy Schlek smashes out

The Trek Factory Racing team has lost Andy Schlek in stage four of the Tour de France.

Injuries sustained in a crash have proved too much for the racer. The crash occurred inside the final 30km, and cost him over a minute in time.

His team issued a statement via Twitter: “We are sad to announce that Andy Schleck cannot take the start in Le Tour today. The ligaments and meniscus in the right knee are too severely damaged from his crash in yesterday’s final. He will travel to Basle now for examination and a possible operation.”

Schlek confirmed this statement with one of his own, “Very disappointed to let you know that I will not be able to start. My knee is too damaged from the crash. This is a huge blow for me.”

Later, Schlek indicated he had intended to participate in stage four despite the pain of his injuries.

He issued a statement on his team’s website which read in part, “I went on the rollers as soon as we arrived in Le Touquet, to get the muscles and tendons warmed up, but the pain is too much. I believed until that moment that I would start. I think I ignored the pain somehow, hiding it in the back of my head.”

His team doctor, Andreas Gösele has confirmed that Schlek will need to “undergo an MRI-scan of the knee and we will subsequently decide if an operation is necessary.”

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Cav to miss the Commonwealth games – nation gutted

Mark Cavendish riding out of the Isle of Man, is set to miss 6 weeks of competition due to injuries sustained from a crash in stage one of the Tour.

The injuries, while non-life threatening, are serious enough to put him out of commission for longer than he would like.

“It’s worse than I was hoping,” opined the injured Manxman.

Following an x-ray, it is apparent that Cavendish has injured every ligament surrounding the joint in his shoulder. The crash between Cavendish and Simon Gerrans happened during the sprint finish in Harrogate.

“It is really painful, but at the moment all I can do is focus 100% of my effort on my recovery, to be able to get back racing as quickly as possible,” said an optimistic Cavendish.

He is surely to miss the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow which starts on the 23rd of July.

Trevor Taubman, Isle of Man team manager, is disappointed at the loss of Cavendish for such an extended period, but remains optimistic for the rest of his team.

“It is a blow to lose one of our major medal winning opportunities but I don’t want to detract from the other athletes in what is our strongest ever team.

“It is a loss but not a disaster,” said Taubman. “Whether he can compete or not we would still want him to be with us in Glasgow.”

 

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Wiggins Abandons Tour De Suisse Following Crash

Bradley Wiggins’ team doctor Steve Baynes announced on Wednesday that the 34 year old British rider would pull out of the Tour of Switzerland following a crash during Tuesday’s 4th stage.

Wiggins had already been struggling during the tour, and had been slipping out of contention for a top spot going in to stage 4. At the time of the crash, Wiggins was not involved in any rough riding, but had been hanging back trying to stay safe.

He told teamsky.com “Ironically, I was the last man in the peloton, trying to stay out of trouble when it happened.”

The crash occurred when Wiggins hit his brakes to match those in front of him, and was rear-ended by a rider behind him. Wiggins suffered injuries to his right thigh and knee, but was able to finish the ride, albeit without ever really rejoining the race. Team doctors told the website that Wiggins’ injuries would require “Some treatment,” but did not specify any specific course of action.

Wiggins had already been suffering through a chest infection during this tour, which may help explain his disappointing results in the first three stages of the race. Wiggins told theguardian.com that his only focus for Switzerland had been Friday’s time trial, but that with his chest infection, “I’d never have been 100% for it.”

Wiggins flew back to the UK following the announcement of his withdrawal, and will now spend some time healing and preparing for the upcoming Tour de France.