Interesting clip, best watched with the sound off, I think.
Terrible driving. I hope the comments below were accurate, and that the riders actually did manage to get up and finish the stage of the race.
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It's been removed.
I've only seen it once, on the news, but my impression was that the driver suddenly swerved to miss a tree (they are often level or even inside the line of the edge of the road). But definitely too close to the rider in the first place.
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It's on ITV i-player on the highlights programme
www.itv.com/itvplayer/video/?Filter=254650
crash is 40 mins in.
There was another bad crash, not caused by a car, which resulted in several bad injuries (Vinokourov broke his leg and 3 others had broken bones). Far too many crashes this year, they all seem to be risking their lives every day.
Amazingly, both Flecha who was brought down by the car, and Hoogerland who somersaulted into a barbed wire fence, finished the stage 16 minutes down.. Hoogerland finished after having 30 stitches in wounds.
Even more amazingly, in the interview after the race, he said that it was an accident and that the car driver must be feeling very bad and he was sure the driver would apologise. Very generous of someone who could have been killed. He sounded very philosophical about it -
www.itv.com/tourdefrance/2011/stages/stage-9/
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>> Amazingly, both Flecha who was brought down by the car, and Hoogerland who somersaulted into
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I have become something of a TdF fan. It's on ITV4 live in the afternoon and then an hour of highlights in the evening - repeated in the early hours, I believe.
I was mildly amused when the presenter referred to Flecha as 'Norman Stanley Juan Antonio Flecha'.
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Been watching the TdF on and off for a number of years (much as I hate cycling it does make an excellent TV sporting spectacle) and came to the conclusion a year or two back it was only a matter of time before a support or press car or bike caused mayhem.
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"Been watching the TdF on and off for a number of years (much as I hate cycling it does make an excellent TV sporting spectacle) "
Same here, but I wonder if you are like me in that I think the commentary sounds superbly knowledgable but, try as I might, I still don't understand a word of it!!
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Indeed, but it sounds good when you drop terms like "le maillot jaune" into your conversation.
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This is how Hoogerland looked after his encounter with the fence -
www.cyclingnews.com/tour-de-france/stage-9/photos/181772
Ouch!
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Mirror, Signal, Manouvre - Londoner
