# WTF? Riders shot with BB gun...



## rogger (Aug 19, 2005)

According to the Rabosport website Oscar Freire and Julian Dean got hit by pellets from a BB gun on the descend from the Platzerwasel. There's some serious idiots out there... ut:


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## Mel Erickson (Feb 3, 2004)

rogger said:


> According to the Rabosport website Oscar Freire and Julian Dean got hit by pellets from a BB gun on the descend from the Platzerwasel. There's some serious idiots out there... ut:


Actually some serious marksmen. Hitting a descending cyclist with a BB is a stupendous feat! The army or the CIA needs to find out who these guys are and enlist them. I don't care if they're french fries or not.


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## cyclejim (Mar 31, 2004)

Must...kill...them


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## rocco (Apr 30, 2005)

Drunk Germans?


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## jd3 (Oct 8, 2004)

Mel Erickson said:


> Actually some serious marksmen. Hitting a descending cyclist with a BB is a stupendous feat! The army or the CIA needs to find out who these guys are and enlist them. I don't care if they're french fries or not.


All they had to do was aim at the Peloton. They were bound to hit one of them.


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## jupiterrn (Sep 22, 2006)

rocco said:


> Drunk Germans?


Why do they have to be drunk. Last time Germans starting shooting in France...well it was no fun for the world. Gee, did I just Godwin in the Pro Forum


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## El Guapo (Dec 10, 2002)

*We KNOW they weren't French...*

they have a habit of dropping, not firing their guns  I can say that because I have French heritage.

All joking aside, this action was likely a prank that could have gone seriously wrong. It certainly does not excuse the action at all.  Hopefully it was stupid kids who didn't know any better but soon will. If this was perpetrated by an adult, than they have no excuse (alcohol or no).

I'd say I'm "shocked" this happened...but, in reality, I'm more surprised this hasn't happened previously. There are a lot of idiots in this world and the USA is NOT their exclusive domain.


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## Creakyknees (Sep 21, 2003)

Stupid kids exist the world over.

I'm bettin $10 that skateboards were involved.


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## rocco (Apr 30, 2005)

jupiterrn said:


> Why do they have to be drunk. Last time Germans starting shooting in France...well it was no fun for the world. Gee, did I just Godwin in the Pro Forum



Which nationality could possibly have a grudge against Spaniards AND Aussies? 

Kidding aside, I actually do suspect the shooter or shooters were drunk and or radical youth (have you ever heard that band?... rad) but not necessarily German. I'm also imagining bmx bikes and possibly a small RV/camper van being involved.


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## danl1 (Jul 23, 2005)

Were Freire and Dean texting as they rode no handed, weaving down the road?




For the record, I was nowhere near there. 






Besides, nobody saw me.


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## rocco (Apr 30, 2005)

Creakyknees said:


> Stupid kids exist the world over.
> 
> I'm bettin $10 that skateboards were involved.



You're betting skateboards and I'm betting bmx bikes.


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## baker921 (Jul 20, 2007)

Nicholas Roache was shot just before the start of an earlier stage in this years race. Blood drawn, large bruise and everything! Police investigations establishe that an ice making machine on the back of a nearby van had exploded!


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## Creakyknees (Sep 21, 2003)

great - Drudge has picked up the story.

watch for ******* copycats here in the US in 3...2....


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## jupiterrn (Sep 22, 2006)

Creakyknees said:


> great - Drudge has picked up the story.
> 
> watch for ******* copycats here in the US in 3...2....


THEY CAUGHT THE GUY!!!!!!!!!


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## cyclejim (Mar 31, 2004)

Oh man


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## El Guapo (Dec 10, 2002)

Wouldn't he have been "aiming" his gun toward Lance?


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## ti-triodes (Aug 14, 2006)

El Guapo said:


> Wouldn't he have been "aiming" his gun toward Lance?




Greg isn't the best hunter out there. Remember 1987?


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## wsriii (May 23, 2006)

*Dick Cheney!*

Didn't I read that Cheney was hunting in Europe?


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## wim (Feb 28, 2005)

It vas one of these vonderful guys.


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## rocco (Apr 30, 2005)

wim said:


> It vas one of these vonderful guys.



Proving that an internet discussion thread can be Godwined twice.

Didi "The Devil" Senft is a German... ???


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## wim (Feb 28, 2005)

rocco said:


> Proving that a internet discussion thread can be Godwined twice.
> 
> Didi "The Devil" Senft is a German... ???


Yeah, except I was born in Germany in 1942. So my post is not Godwin, it's more of an inborn reflex. Senft is German, ja.


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## seeborough (Feb 3, 2004)

rocco said:


> Drunk Germans?


Wohl kaum. Eher ein paar Amerikaner, die wieder mal das 2nd Amendment missverstanden haben...


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## LWP (Jun 6, 2006)

baker921 said:


> Police investigations establishe that an ice making machine on the back of a nearby van had exploded!


#@$% carbon fiber ice machines.


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## BLUE BOY (May 19, 2005)

wim said:


> It vas one of these vonderful guys.


 WOW, I always wondered if there were pictures of the 1942 edition of the TDF.


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## threebikes (Feb 1, 2009)

Freire, Dean shot at during Tour stage

Both riders injured after air rifle attack, but will start on Saturday

Oscar Freire (Rabobank) and Julien Dean (Garmin-Slipstream) were hit by lead pellets fired from an air rifle during Friday's stage 13 at the Tour de France. Neither rider was seriously injured and both plan to start in Saturday's fourteenth stage.

Three shots were heard as the peloton were descending, 165km into Friday's stage. Freire and Dean were hit, with the third shot luckily missing any member of the peloton.

Both teams confirmed the incident. “Oscar [Freire] was shot in the leg but he is okay,” Rabobank spokesman Luuc Eisenga told Cyclingnews. “Just the thought of it is very frightening.”

Eisenga said that the team was reporting the incident to the French gendarmerie.

After the stage, Rabobank team doctor Dion van Bommel removed a lead pellet from the three-time former World Champion's thigh. “He was very cool, but that is Oscar,” van Bommel said. “In the femur, such a pellet can cause little damage, but if it had hit Oscar in the eye, he would be blinded. I think this is outrageous, and I've never experienced anything like it in my career.”

Garmin team manager, Jonathan Vaughters, told Cyclingnews: “[Julien] Dean was hit in the index finger. I think this is an issue for the police. It's a bit sad that this happened. The tour has remained open to the public because we trust them. It would be horrible to erode that trust.”


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## cyclesoflife (May 8, 2005)

Hmmm... two sprinters shot... my guess is that the shooter is Robbie McEwen and he was aiming for Cavendish.


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## RSPDiver (Jun 3, 2006)

3 shots means either multiple shooters, or a CO2 powered gun (which I believe would be a pistol). Range and accuracy would suck with the pistol, but only range is really suspect here. Otherwise, this was a group of douchebags. But if rifles, I imagine it would be hard to hear them over the noise of the cheering, peloton, and approaching vehicles, unless they were close. Pistol, maybe louder. But certainly close.

Glad they're okay, though, and I hope the s#it heads are caught.


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## CabDoctor (Jun 11, 2005)

My guess is that it was vinokourov and rasmussen


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## Maximus_XXIV (Nov 10, 2008)

Some kids were shooting cyclists here in SoCal. Sad times.


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## old_fuji (Mar 16, 2009)

gavrilo princip?


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## Tumbleweed (Jun 6, 2005)

Stupid French


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## wim (Feb 28, 2005)

seeborough said:


> Hardly...Probably some Americans who once again misinterpreted the 2nd Amendment


Perhaps. The 2nd Amendment states that only a _well-regulated militia _can take pot shots at French bicycle riders.


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## uzziefly (Jul 15, 2006)

At least it was pellets instead of something else  :yikes: :ihih:

Some people are bastards. Well, lots of people are one time or another. But, some people are genuine a$$es who are lowlife individuals who should have sh!t for meals and be degraded.


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## Tugboat (Jul 17, 2006)

rocco said:


> Which nationality could possibly have a grudge against Spaniards AND Aussies?


Calling Julian Dean an Aussie is like calling George Hincapie Canadian.


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## cruso414 (Feb 20, 2004)

I would look for evidence on the grassy knoll.


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## Maximus_XXIV (Nov 10, 2008)

They apprehended some kids according to Phil.


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## seeborough (Feb 3, 2004)

RSPDiver said:


> 3 shots means either multiple shooters, or a CO2 powered gun (which I believe would be a pistol). Range and accuracy would suck with the pistol, but only range is really suspect here. Otherwise, this was a group of douchebags. But if rifles, I imagine it would be hard to hear them over the noise of the cheering, peloton, and approaching vehicles, unless they were close. Pistol, maybe louder. But certainly close.
> 
> Glad they're okay, though, and I hope the s#it heads are caught.


Grissom? Is that you?


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## Snakebitten (Jun 26, 2008)

Apparently it was a pair of French snipers that took turns.


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## rogger (Aug 19, 2005)

Snakebitten said:


> Apparently it was a pair of French snipers that took turns.


Those aren't French snipers, wrong camo pattern.


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## rocco (Apr 30, 2005)

wim said:


> Yeah, except I was born in Germany in 1942. So my post is not Godwin, it's more of an inborn reflex. Senft is German, ja.


I was only being fatuous.


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## Time2ride (Apr 12, 2009)

wim said:


> It vas one of these vonderful guys.


That's one of the funniest pictures I've seen. What's that the Tour de SS, and who's that in the breakaway, Coronal Klink?


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## Snakebitten (Jun 26, 2008)

rogger said:


> Those aren't French snipers, wrong camo pattern.


Serious Cat approves of how serious you took my post.


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## austincrx (Oct 22, 2008)

Now, do they cut there hands off for punishment, or is that somewhere else?


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