TdF Stage 8

[McPete]

And they're off to a pair of very sore legs later!

Feeding Stations again... Ooo, no crashes. That's different!

[europa]

Go Mick Rogers! But please don't fall off again

Richard

[McPete]

Yeah, that looked like a nasty bit of an accident! We were wincing watching the descent yesterday, "using all the road" looks bloody scary.

[europa]

Mick's in real trouble. He's hurt either his right arm or his collarbone, in either case, it doesn't look good, he can barely put his arm on the bars.

Cadel looks like he's at death's door ... but he always does so he's probably doing fine.

Apparently Robbie got dropped early in the day and will have to fight to finish inside the cutoff time.

Richard

[Hotdog]

Not looking great for the Aussie riders

Rasmussen is a machine...

[europa]

O'Grady has been taken to hospital

Mick's going backwards but at least he's still riding after seeing the doctor who had a good look at his collarbone.

Rasmussen is an excellent rider - on his day, he's unbeatable in the mountains.

As I type, Mick Rogers has abandonned

Richard

[stryker84]

what happened to stuey?

[europa]

what happened to stuey?

All I know is that he had an accident.

Here's an idea, how about we all adopt Vino, Leipheimer, Hincappie, Valverde as honourary Aussies ... that way they'll all crash and Cadel will have a clear run

Richard

[timbo]

If they were all from New Zealand we probably would have already claimed them as Australian.

[sogood]

O'Grady: Rib fractures with flail chest and punctured lung.
Rogers: Dislocated shoulder.
McEwen: nearly 20mins outside of qualifying time for stage (40mins within winner's time).

What a black stage for Aussies. Evans will have to be the focus from now on.

[gdl_gdl]

At least they show the whole race live on Sat TV in Honkers. I watched it from the comfort of my hotel room last night and didn't have to watch adverts about Erectile Dysfunction, Bike Force and Collingwood!

However I think the Japanese Language school advert shown here (all adverts in Cantonese) will be just as irritating!

Cheers,

Gary

[MichaelB]

O'Grady: Rib fractures with flail chest and punctured lung.
Rogers: Dislocated shoulder.
McEwen: nearly 20mins outside of qualifying time for stage (40mins within winner's time).

What a black stage for Aussies. Evans will have to be the focus from now on.

Almost like the 2nd round of Wimbledon.

Bugger. I taped it but caught a glimpse on the news this morning.

Let's hope that Cadel can do us proud.

From SBS weebsite ;

According to hospital officials O'Grady suffered fractures on five of his front ribs, three fractures in his back lower ribs, a punctured lung and a shoulder fracture.

X-rays and an MRI scan ruled out any spinal damage..

Some good news at least re the lack of spinal damage.

Apart from Cadel, any aussies left ?

[tuco]

The race was interesting enough with Armstrong gone and not leading every stage without the added accidents.
Who'd have thought so many of the 6 (I think 6) Australians would have crashed and been out of the race due to them? (I assuming Robbie was still suffering from the first stage crash)
Robbie will be 37 next year, maybe we've seen the last of him in this race.

[moosterbounce]

It certainly was a sad day for the Aussies. Not just that they are out, but the ongoing injuries and, yes, age is a factor for some. Though it is not just the Aussies that have suffered from crashes. Vinno and Kloden are machines; the guy that went through the window of a team car; the t-mobile guy who hit a spectator last night after the race and at least broke his nose (and put the spectator in a serious condition in hosptial)...the list keeps going.

It will be interesting to see how the rest of the race unfolds. I think this may be the race of "if only such-and-such didn't happen".

If Cadel goes too, then I'm switching allegiences to Linus...he is not only cute but I really liked his general attitude towards wearing yellow and the total pleasure in winning the stage. Rasmussen is a great rider, but I like to see the young guys coming through ans turn the race on it's head.

All fingers are crossed for Cadel to keep going...there is a long way to go and even if he doesn't get a podium, I just hope he finishes and doesn't get injured too.

[X-wing]

I feel so sorry for Rogers... he was in virtual yellow, descending like a demon with 'only' Hautville and Tignes to go. Next thing he is suffering so badly that his team car pulls alongside and he abandons. My heart was aching for him.
Phil Ligget said it best when he dismounted 'this is no time for the cameras to be filming this', or words to that effect.
If there was ever a sequence of footage to show the cruelty of bike racing, that hour from the descent to the abandon has to be it.


Rasmussen was impressive, as was Mayo... he seemed to suddenly grow legs again, which was good to see.

I don't understand why no-one was helping Moreau... can anyone figure that out? I understand why Rasmussen wasn't getting any help, but those guys in the breakaway between Rasmussen and the Vino gruppo didn't seem to want to work together. Every time Moreau took off he was shut down... and they had no cohesion, sometimes riding up to three abreast. I think there is a good little story in there.

Marcus (yawning, and still sad for Rogers)

[moosterbounce]

Rasmussen was impressive, as was Mayo... he seemed to suddenly grow legs again, which was good to see.

Mayo...it is the bike...Scott of course

[tuco]

If Cadel goes too, then I'm switching allegiences to Linus...he is not only cute but I really liked his general attitude towards wearing yellow and the total pleasure in winning the stage. Rasmussen is a great rider, but I like to see the young guys coming through ans turn the race on it's head.

You should be going for 'Ras moo ssen' as Phil likes to call him. We have a suburb here named Rasmussen and we pronounce is Ras mus (u as in up) sen.

It's good they put the riders names on the screen. I've only just learnt Ivan Mayo was Iban Mayo and I wondered why a Spanish guy was named Fletcher but it's actually Fletcha.

[Hotdog]

It's good they put the riders names on the screen. I've only just learnt Ivan Mayo was Iban Mayo and I wondered why a Spanish guy was named Fletcher but it's actually Fletcha.

The Ivan/Iban thing is understandable, in Spanish pronunciation 'b' sounds very much like 'v'. A mate of mine named Rob generally gets called 'Rov' by Spanish speaking colleagues.

[Mulger bill]

I feel so sorry for Rogers... he was in virtual yellow, descending like a demon with 'only' Hautville and Tignes to go. Next thing he is suffering so badly that his team car pulls alongside and he abandons. My heart was aching for him.
Phil Ligget said it best when he dismounted 'this is no time for the cameras to be filming this', or words to that effect.
If there was ever a sequence of footage to show the cruelty of bike racing, that hour from the descent to the abandon has to be it.

Marcus (yawning, and still sad for Rogers)

X2

Portrait of a man gutted.

...and here's me thinking Downhill MTBers were hard nuts.

Go Cadel!

Shaun

[Bnej]

I was staying up to see if Rogers would hold on and take the lead, it was very unfortunate to see him forced out in that fashion - especially after riding the extra hour with the injury!

[MichaelB]

It's good they put the riders names on the screen. I've only just learnt Ivan Mayo was Iban Mayo and I wondered why a Spanish guy was named Fletcher but it's actually Fletcha.

The Ivan/Iban thing is understandable, in Spanish pronunciation 'b' sounds very much like 'v'. A mate of mine named Rob generally gets called 'Rov' by Spanish speaking colleagues.

I too was caught out by some of Phil's pronounciations.

I kept looking for a team called Kay Stefanya (or similar), obnly to realise the other night that it was actually Caisse d'Espangne !!!

No wonder I couldn't work it out .....