# Casper crash video (Kemmelberg)



## backinthesaddle (Nov 22, 2006)

http://www.cycleiwakuni.com/gw_crash.wmv

Horrible!


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## Dwayne Barry (Feb 16, 2003)

backinthesaddle said:


> http://www.cycleiwakuni.com/gw_crash.wmv
> 
> Horrible!


Like running his face over a really big, dull cheese grater. The camera couldn't have been in a better position to capture it.


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## daneil (Jun 25, 2002)

All that from a little bottle.


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## TWD (Feb 9, 2004)

Looks like the rider two in front of Casper flinched and locked up his rear wheel trying to miss a water bottle causing a chain reaction.


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## capt_phun (Jun 14, 2004)

daneil said:


> All that from a little bottle.


You would think its just a "little bottle" but if you slow the video down & enlarge the bottle you'll discover its more than just a "little bottle". When you enlarge the bottle image you see it clearly has "ASO" written on it. This was a direct shot a Team Unibet.com by the ASO to once & for all rid themselves of Unibet!!!


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## Einstruzende (Jun 1, 2004)

Hope he's all right. That was a hell of a spill.


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## crumjack (Sep 11, 2005)

Cyclingnews has some disturbing pics of him after the crash.


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## SilasCL (Jun 14, 2004)

Einstruzende said:


> Hope he's all right. That was a hell of a spill.


Don't know about Casper but Farrar broke his kneecap and will be out for a month.


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## BarryG (Jul 5, 2004)

They should make all the riders use Camelbaks next year.


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## TurboTurtle (Feb 4, 2004)

How can pro teams not know enough to be able to keep their bottles in their cages??? Sometimes I'm amazed by what these pro teams do (or don't do).

Next time someone tells me something must be good/right because the pros do it, I'm goinf to remember this and think, "yea, right".

TF


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## TurboTurtle (Feb 4, 2004)

BarryG said:


> They should make all the riders use Camelbaks next year.


Or gather up all the bottles and relegate one rider from that team, in order of their finish, for each of their bottles found. - TF


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## atpjunkie (Mar 23, 2002)

*can't tell if it was the bottle or its contents*

and I can't tell if it is a chain reaction or each rider hitting a wet spot
watch it in slow-mo
bottle

wobble (rider 1)
wobble (rider 2)
wobble slam (Casper)

it does look like rider 1 dodges and then it goes haywire, maybe a touch of the wheels


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## TurboTurtle (Feb 4, 2004)

atpjunkie said:


> and I can't tell if it is a chain reaction or each rider hitting a wet spot
> watch it in slow-mo
> bottle
> 
> ...


I watched it on Cycling.TV and it looked pretty clear that rider1 dodged a bottle on the first time down which was the start.

On the second time down they dodged a bottle and you could see it get hit and blow all over the road. The following bikes looked like they hit ice as the flew sideways.

TF


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## enemyte (Jan 31, 2006)

Right, i dont know who rider 1 is but rider 2 is pippo pozzato, as i was watching the coverage live on eurosport, he shuffled from left to right to keep in line with rider 1 (which i think is Oscar Gatto of Gerolsteiner) thus forcing Casper to shift his line on the descent.
Pippo took a back seat throughout the rest of the race, and was lucky to stay on his bike.
An injury update on Casper, he has fractured the bones of the orbit of the eye (socket?) of the face which he landed on, Marco Velo, the last on the lead out train for Petacchi broke his right collarbone, 2 ribs and tore every single ligament in his right knee. Sport hurts.


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## Einstruzende (Jun 1, 2004)

Been a terrible week in Belgium (carnage wise).

I'd hate to see the UCI try to tame down the races, however I also understand something needs to be done.


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## Mosovich (Feb 3, 2004)

*What????*



TurboTurtle said:


> How can pro teams not know enough to be able to keep their bottles in their cages??? Sometimes I'm amazed by what these pro teams do (or don't do).
> 
> Next time someone tells me something must be good/right because the pros do it, I'm goinf to remember this and think, "yea, right".
> 
> TF



It's a cobble descent. They usually have alot of bottles fly out on that descent. It has nothing to do with knowing how to keep your bottle in, it's luck if it stays in...


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## Pablo (Jul 7, 2004)

Wow. Thanks, but I kind of wish I hadn't seen that.


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## Pablo (Jul 7, 2004)

I wish I hadn't seen this either . . . https://www.pezcyclingnews.com/cgi/...ngnews.com/photos/races07/gw07/gw07-marco.jpg


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## zosocane (Aug 29, 2004)

I also think it was a touch of Casper's wheel against the Liquigas rider in front, but it was that water bottle that started the chain reaction.


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## TurboTurtle (Feb 4, 2004)

Mosovich said:


> It's a cobble descent. They usually have alot of bottles fly out on that descent. It has nothing to do with knowing how to keep your bottle in, it's luck if it stays in...


Sorry, but I know that I can make my cage tight enough to hold bottles in on an MTB on surfaces that make those 'cobbles' look like smooth road. I would think a pro team could do likewise. And of course they can; it's simply an attitude that says they don't have to and I cannot simply understand why. - TF


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## NomadVW (Jun 30, 2006)

The video link is dead now. If you didn't get a chance to see it, head to cycling.tv and watch it there


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## Rsix (Oct 18, 2005)

NomadVW said:


> The video link is dead now. If you didn't get a chance to see it, head to cycling.tv and watch it there


I couldn't find the video on cycling.tv. I'm sure it's there, but it eluded me.


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## Argentius (Aug 26, 2004)

Yeah but you probably use a "real" metal bottle cage right?

The new "pretty" ones like Tacx Taos and Elite Pataos or whatever can't really be tightened... I got some Tacx ones and they work well with Tacx bottles, but slam anything else in there and it falls out in a hurry.

Blah.

I should go back to metal cages.


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## Dwayne Barry (Feb 16, 2003)

That was my thought. Not that I know much about equipment but I assume carbon (or similar materials?) bottle cages aren't bendable like cheap metal ones and I suspect a bunch of these teams are using them.


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## terzo rene (Mar 23, 2002)

This is just another "save us from ourselves" kind of argument. If they want to be safe they can ride slower but they rarely do. Changing the courses to be safer wouldn't work either since they would just ride faster until they were at the same teetering point of the life and death precipice.

There have been just as many horrifying crashes on dead flat paved sprints as anywhere else, though there they either say that's just the way it is or blame it on some rider - generally one from a country other than Italy, Belgium or France.


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## Argentius (Aug 26, 2004)

All due respect, but, nonsense.

There ARE crashes in sprints, in the argy-bargy and what have you. But that is entirely different than something like the Kemmelberg.

That wasn't crashing based on people getting aggressive and trying to win. It was just descending on cobbles, water bottles everywhere, and the madness that ensued.

I'm not about to say what should or shouldn't be included in ANY race, but if that descent wasn't in there, those crashes wouldn't have happened. They weren't fighting for position or attacking or anything. Everyone was just trying to stay upright, but they could not.


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## den bakker (Nov 13, 2004)

Argentius said:


> I'm not about to say what should or shouldn't be included in ANY race, but if that descent wasn't in there, those crashes wouldn't have happened. They weren't fighting for position or attacking or anything. Everyone was just trying to stay upright, but they could not.


cobbles are alway a fight for position. Especially so in the end of a race as big as GW. 
These are the climbs where the breaks are made and if you are in the back at that time, the race is over (often being in the back is position 30 and worse).


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