Acts of Cycling Bravery
Posted July 13, 2011
Those of you who watched stage 9 of the Tour de France may have seen the shocking incident involving a media car, Team Sky’s Juan Antonio Flecha and Vacansoleil’s Johnny Hoogerland. On a relatively open yet downhill section of road, a car belonging to a French TV company swerved and took out Flecha, stunned by the impact Flecha then swerved, almost taking out Thomas Voeckler, but going into Hoogerland. Both riders were catapulted off the road, Flecha into the ditch, and Hoogerland straight into a barbed wire fence. The video of the incident can be seen here, although we would strongly advise viewer discretion as it’s a bit of a shock.
Hoogerland was pretty cut up, what might be referred to in medical terms as “a bit of a mess”, but like the heroic bike rider he is, Hoogerland finished the stage. Throughout the stage he’d accrued enough points to reclaim the polka dot jersey and in his post-race interview with Eurosport he even pledged to soldier on and attempt to defend the jersey. We here at Daily Cycle applaud bravery. Cycling is peppered with similar stories and we feel this pays testament to the sheer determination and bravery it takes to be a professional bike rider.
Although we’re really not a fan of him normally, Riccardo Ricco displayed incredible tenacity in the 2010 Tour of Austria. Riding for the Ceramica Flaminia team, Ricco hit a motorcycle which had been left parked on the 7th stage individual time trial. Ricco was able to continue the race on a replacement bike and began the final stage bandaged heavily. His nose was later found to be broken and his cut knee had required 12 stitches.
The point I’m trying to get across with this article is that cyclists are hard nuts. Cycling is a sport which requires some serious dedication and hard work. There are few sports which require the levels of self sacrifice and slight masochistic tendencies which characterise the world’s greatest cyclists.
This article is dedicated to the incredible bravery of the professional peleton. Not content with 100 mile stages and average speeds over 3 weeks topping 20 miles and hour, the professional peleton show the sporting world that nothing’s going to stop them doing what they love and getting everything out of their hard work and dedication. This year’s Tour has been marred by crashes, may the first rest day mark the end to the carnage, and the continuation of incredible racing! Pro cycling, we salute you!
Happy Cycling :-)
