In article <
[email protected]>,
John Forrest Tomlinson <
[email protected]> wrote:
> On Mon, 07 Aug 2006 23:46:56 -0700, Howard Kveck
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> >In article <[email protected]>,
> > Michael Press <[email protected]> wrote:
> >
> >> 1991 Tour de France, final sprint on the Champs Elyses.
> >> They used steel bar barriers with the legs that stick out
> >> from the vertical portion. Abdoujaparov hit the foot of a
> >> barrier at +60 km / hour and tumbled along the cobbles for
> >> what seemed a very long time. Quarter hour later he
> >> re-mounted the bicycle, to finish same time as the lead
> >> pack and kept the green jersey.
> >
> > Oh, you're right, I'd forgotten that one. Dumb barriers, somewhat (ahem)
> > nutso
> >sprinter, spectacular crash.
>
> I think he hit a promotional Coca-Cola sign, not the legs of a steel
> barrier. That is to say, he rode into an object that most riders
> would see clearly.
It's been a long time since I saw that - you may be correct, John. But I was
thinking about this and I would have to say that this incident was very unusual for
Abdu. He very rarely crashed, so I think this one was the exception rather than the
rule. So I'd still say he wasn't a spazz. Nelissen would be a better choice to label
as "spazz," since he did have a pretty fair number of big crashes. Sprinting head
down certainly didn't help (see: Armentieres). He hit a post separating the road
from the cycle path while trying to move up around the peloton in the '96 edition of
Ghent-Wevelgem, nearly demolishing his leg after only about 8 kilometers had been
raced. I think this essentially ended the portion of his career that involved
winning big races.
--
tanx,
Howard
Never take a tenant with a monkey.
remove YOUR SHOES to reply, ok?
