The Tour de France stage last night was the most brutal I have ever seen. Crashes can happen anywhere, anytime in this sport but the Tour seems to bring out the worst in the riders, spectators and visiting press. Add to that the insane pace of some of the stages this year and you have one scary sporting event! State of Origin eat your heart out!
A crash on the descent of a big mountain saw half the Astana team deposited in a gully and left Alexander Vinokourov with a broken pelvis and saw him being hauled out by his teammates and team personnel. The same crash also left a number of other riders down with injuries you could only expect to receive coming off a push bike at 90kmh. Another favourite broke his shoulder a little further down the road. Coming down a mountain too fast on a descent that had been rain soaked in a storm only a short time before and was still drying on the bends I suspect caused this one. Sometimes it seems that they do race too hard in these circumstances and are really pushing the outside of the envelope. When you are taking risks you sometimes get bitten. And these blokes got bitten hard.
The worst incident amongst many for the day was a Euro France TV car going too close to the breakaway and knocking Juan Antonio Flecha off his bike and sending Johnny Hoogerland through a barbed wire fence! Miraculously both of them escaped with abrasions. How one or both of them weren’t killed is amazing.
I sat there numb whilst watching this incident. It’s unbelievable that such a thing could happen when the riders safety should be paramount at all times. One thinks that there may be a review of accreditation for media following the race. I bet that the Euro France car kept driving back to Paris!
It’s a rest day in the Tour today and as a rule the cyclists don’t like rest days because it breaks their routine but I suspect quite a few of them will be happy to take it easy for a day this time.
I was up until past 2am this morning watching the race and woke when Linda got up to go to work at 6.30am and really didn’t get back to sleep. I feel fine now, not tired at all but I am a little wary of how I might feel later this afternoon when I’ve been at work a while. Will just have to battle through and take advantage of the rest day myself. I wouldn’t miss watching the Tour for all the tea in China though!
My weekend went by quite quickly. I drove over to West Wyalong with Linda and Megan to pick up Monique who was staying with her grandmother and to leave Megan for a stint.
It was quite pleasant. I like the drive over through Young, Bimbi and Quandialla. Quiet roads. Country Australia. Apart from a few rain showers on the way it was a nice trip. Overnight in West Wyalong and back yesterday. I was going to take a few photos around West Wyalong but once I was there I realised there was nothing much to actually take photos of! It’s quite a busy little place as it is at the confluence of three highways but there is really nothing much of note there. The locals seem to like it and I guess that is the main thing.
So that was my short, sharp weekend. Preparing now for the seemingly never ending treamill of life at Australia Post. I wonder what excitement that will bring today. Till next time………
Strange Notations From a Laborious Life 