Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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Well said, "mulebeatsdrum"...have you seen the roadside spectator's camera footage of the motorbike slamming up the rear of poor Viviani from SKY?! Freaking frightening, & once he's freed himself you see him grab his sternum, but thankfully it was only bruised & not fractured. You can see it if you Google "Roubaix pileups send several riders to the hospital" on VeloNews. Might not have seriously damaged his sternum but I can guarantee that his shorts are ruined after that shock!
On the plus side, what an absolute freak of a rider Super Sagan is!! "Ghisallo" is spot-on re: his skills becoming an inspiration for young riders to acquire similar abilities, just as Cadel Evans did from his mountain biking days (MTB World Champ' 2 years straight). It's just the same with the best Aussie Grand Prix/Moto GP riders (& those from many other nations as well), who all plied their 'trade' in motocross before moving onto the bitumen, becoming supremely confident sliding the rear & pulling off some other pretty crazy skills on the dirt.
You know when you are blasting about the lanes with the club and you think, "yeah, I'm fast"? And then you see how fast they are banging along the cobbled sectors with riders nipping in and out and all hell breaking loose, and then think "I'm slow." That just happened to me.
at 1:47 another example of a motorbike nearly hitting a downed rider
It appeared Sagan pulled out of his right pedal while pulling his rear wheel up, causing him to dive forward and to the left, as you would expect. Bunny hopping is an excellent skill for every racer to master. Sagan is inspiring many young cyclists (and some old ones too) to work on handling skills, which is great.