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We were discussing this possibility yesterday morning as we went through Didcot. The crap road surface up the Broadway has had enough botched patches but the last week's work on re-surfacing down by the Lidl roundabout could have lead a stranger into a false sense of security.
I commute in this area and it is stunningly crap.
It's enough to make you think the authorities don't welcome bicycles.
Perhaps she was just blowing her nose.
Freak accident - could happen.
Where I live, mid Yorkshire, the highway policy appears to be to leave all the defects, holes & patches, & cover all the good long stretches in loose chippings. Makes my blood boil - some area's are almost unrideable on a road bike.
Her team mate hit the pot hole but Vos & what looked like half the peleton got taken out in the aftermath.Vos was lucky to miss the road sign.
It was on ITV4,should be on the ITV4 site if you watch the stage on catch up.
It was on ITV4,should be on the ITV4 site if you watch the stage on catch up.
Ta.
They are claiming that it was not a pot hole on Hadden Hill that caused the crash, but it was a mere dip in the road surface, hence why it was seemingly not picked up and remedied before the race or raised as an issue by the Tour organisers who drive the route just before the race looking for issues. There's an article on the Oxford Mail website about it (my source for the above).
I saw that on telly this morning - it wasn't a pot hole - I watched it about 4 times and the woman in front of Vos looked like her hand slipped off the bars, caused her to wobble and take out everyone behind her when she went down. She still had something in her hand when it slipped off too, like something had broken. Couldn't see quite enough detail though.
If anyone has the footage - watch her left hand.
So long Marianne....
There was def an imperfection in the road surface when I watched it last night that coincided with the front wheel wobble starting. They repeated it a few times. A rider they interviewed afterwards said it was too. Maybe not the council definition of a pothole, yes, which shows how useless that measure is. Real shame.
We don't have any potholes outside our house, either...
Not where I was told it happened. Strange, that isn't the worst part of the road by far.
Roads are in a shocking condition, you could see something wasn't right with the road from the tv coverage, Vos' team mate hit some uneveness/ dip/ pothole sending her wheel and ultimately her flying!
Strange. A mate of mine lives near Bedale in N. Yorks. Regular routes for Tour de Yorkshire come round his way, and he reckons the council are always out repairing the various courses. I've not ridden them, but driving over them in the car and they doo seem very smooth and pothole free.
There was def an imperfection in the road surface when I watched it last night
Yeah, I played it back a few times to see what happend, it was poor road surface that made the rider lose the front wheel.
We rode out yesterday to watch it at Henley, then up the top of Pishill, over the other side as they came up Britwell hill. All said we thought they might have put a bit more effort into fixing the roads!
Overall leader Marianne Vos crashed out of the Tour mid-stage after a peloton crash near Didcot. The former world champion needed treatment after sustaining cuts on her face.
Her team released a statement, it said: "The speed went up in preparation for the second intermediate sprint.
"There was a fall before me, due to a dent in the road, which I could not avoid.
"I fell hard on my head and, apart from a cut and some scratches, I don’t have any other injuries. Yet I went to the hospital because the cut had to be stitched.
"Very unfortunate, I was quite upset by it, because I was in such a good position. But even after a fall, the race continues, but this time without me."
it was poor road surface that made the rider lose the front wheel.
It was her hand slipping off the bars that made her lose balance and subsequently the front wheel. Damn surprised a pro road rider can’t keep hold of the bars cos theres an imperfection in the road surface. But hey ho, waddoIknow.
Pic above simul-posted and tells nothing.
Pic above simul-posted and tells nothing.
Doesn’t look like a pothole in that picture.
Not one that would unseat a pro rider at least.
This is linked to in the newspaper article...
https://twitter.com/thepuncheur/status/1138894753066561536
She clearly gets jarred through the bars and then loses it
Hardly a massive pothole was it? I ride past far worse than that every time I go out. And she had a clear view of it. There's a bigger hole than that in the road outside our front door.
Looks more like her stem or handlebars collapsed to me.
And she had a clear view of it.
That's not my idea of a clear view of it as she had a rider right in front of her which would mean she had about 1 millisecond to react . Serious question do the pros ever point to a road imperfection if they have riders behind them like you would do on a club run or are the roads usually better than that .
You see them do it in breakaways, dunno about the peloton though, you'd be unpopular if you started swerving around stuff!
As for not being able to hold on, I've done it before, off road and on, you just happen to weight/unweight the bars at just the wrong time, or you rotate your wrist in/out a bit, something jolts the bike and your hands are gone. Just one of those things where 99.9% of the time you think "ohh lucky not to puncture on that", then one time it caches you moving your grip.
Alternative explanation, Voss' front wheel tapped her teamates rear mech into the spokes locking the back wheel?
That is awful to watch though - just becomes a passenger as her shoulders make contact with the bars. Crikey!
You can detect a small shadow on the road, it looks like a tiny pothole - which is more dangerous than a big one which would have been obvious.
She's my favourite rider so I hope she gets well soon.
Looks like she clipped the edge of the pothole, that sent her wheel to the side which jolted her enough (combined with riding with almost locked out arms/straight wrists) for her to not be able to control it when her momentum shifted forwards, at that point she was just a passenger.
I don't know much about road racing, but my god isn't one of the fundamental disciplines to keep 100% concentrated and not let go of the bleedin bars no matter what when you're in a tight bunch, speeding along?!
Looks more like her stem or handlebars collapsed to me.
I thought that as well-
I hit a pothole recently and was running against the rim before I could come to a stop, tyre went down instantly, I stayed upright but it could have ended very differently. Looks like her tyre did the same.
Obvious hole in the top surface. Front wheel hits it and sets up a wobble from which she can’t recover. In a road race you can’t see far ahead of the rider in front of you. I’ve seen riders go OTB when hitting a lip like that or even a small speed bump in races. A hole of 3cm depth will do it.
I’ve also seen riders thrown off because they were on the hoods rather than the drops hitting relatively modest imperfections such as joins in the road surface.
It’s not her stem or bars. Just the state of UK roads. It was probably noted in the pre race course inspection but deemed not significant. Sometimes they are painted so riders can see them early. Not in this case
Hope they all heal fast.
EDIT. DezB it’s quite common to have to take one hand off the bars for food, drink and occasional signals (e.g. puncture - arm up). Hit one of those holes with one hand and you WILL go down.
I don’t know much about road racing
Clearly
Cycled up the hill today, nasty little hole I wouldn’t want to hit.
Clearly
Haha, you’re so awesome.
Haha, you’re so awesome.
Thanks but I think you dont know much about me or road racing tbh.
Clearly.
In interviews afterwards she said it was a small pothole. Amazing how quickly the front of the bike folded in.
Full disclosure: I went over the bars after hitting a lip that was about 4 cm in a race. Was hemmed in at the side of the road and didn’t see it. Didn’t take out the peloton but did faceplant into the tarmac. Lost about 15 minutes. Came round sat up with the medic having already tended the cuts. No stitches but a massive Monday morning shiner.
As I said, such offs are not uncommon in road racing. Come and race Surrey League potholed lane fest. You can’t see much ahead of you and rely on other riders. And you absolutely don’t swerve around the hole. In this case she didn’t see it or she’d have braced her arms for impact. Comms should have had a long diamond painted around it at the very least.
In interviews afterwards she said it was a small pothole. Amazing how quickly the front of the bike folded in.
It was a "bobble" in the tarmac, barely discernable at the angle they approached it. Possibly something like a tree root under that tarmac causing a slight distortion. They were doing about 35mph, slightly downhill and on the run in to a sprint.
The bike didn't collapse or fold in. Her left hand slipped off the bar tipping her weight right over the bars, the wobble that resulted was never recoverable. No-one behind had any space or time to avoid it. Fortunately the vast majority of fallers were fine but the immediate aftermath was horrible to sort through.
I'm local so had a gander at the spot on my back earlier. It's defiantly a hole, narrow and deep for the size. Looks like the end of a previous repair has degraded leaving quite pronounced edges. There's not much gradient to the trailing edge, more like a little step. I'd say you'd have a fair chance of puncturing or damaging a wheel on it.
Reckon it would be hard to spot unless you had a clear view of the road.