2020 pro-cycling / Tour de France thread
 

I’m not going to post the video, as i saw it live on TV and it was horrifying, but there was one of the worst crashes I have ever seen in cycling today.

Fabio Jakobsen, the Dutch national champion, was forced into the barriers by his compatriot Dylan van Groenewegen in a high speed downhill sprint.

Jakobsen went head over heels off his bike, his helmet came off mid somersault, and he collided with a combination of the barriers, a photographer and the scaffolding that supports the finish arch.

I nearly posted at the time that I thought he might not make it, but didn’t want to be melodramatic. However, he is in a medically induced coma with severe head injuries and had to be resuscitated a number of times before being moved to hospital.

Very sad chain of events, totally the fault of van Groenewegen dangerously squeezing Jakobsen out, and hopefully he can pull through.

I haven't seen the images, yet. Groenewegen already disqualified, might possibly be suspended, but his story should be minor for now. Mixed reports on Jakobsen's situation, some say he's 'fighting for his life', others that his situation is 'stable'.

Fabio Jakobsen fighting for his life after crash, says doctor who treated him - Cycling - Eurosport

Severe cranial injury, broken palate (crushed larynx? Edit - no, it’s a broken lower jaw) and heavy blood loss :(

Eurosport bill themselves as ‘the home of cycling’ and is a source I trust to make sure that their source is credible.

Fwiw, I'm going by the leading (Dutch) sports reporting tv/radio channel NOS. That was the latest from about 30 minutes ago. NOS isn't the best source for cycling stuff (their race reporters are amateurs compared to the Belgians), but they're not as horrifically bad like CNN in making wild assumptions before checking facts through actual sources. usually I get my cycling news from the Belgian Sporza, but they have no updates, despite that Jakobsen rides for a Belgian team.

I have no desire to watch this, but it's amazing these situations don't happen more in sprints. The race doctor statement sounds really bad, sadly doesn't sound like much hope of a good outcome here reading between the lines.

Btw Alex, Eurosport can't be viewed in the US (it literally says "Eurosport is not available in your region" on the homepage and linked article)

The link works for me

Dunno what to tell you. It's the same for me on my work laptop (on VPN that puts me in the PNW), cellphone and here on my desktop. Maybe a west coast thing.

Loaded for me too (east coast)

Yea. It was a no go for me. Interesting.

Sounds like Eurosport is doing some wacky geolocation. Anyway, apologies from taking away from the thread and the serious topic.

The team statement does sound a little more hopeful - no brain or spinal injury detected so far.

Just came to post a more encouraging update this morning which seems to echo many of the articles from late last night

Tour de Pologne organisers 'feared the worst' for Jakobsen after stage 1 crash | Cyclingnews

Not saying there was no individual blame or anything, but as is often the case i think anopther issue is again a larger one. For one the sprints are inherently insane and punishment for offenses seem erratic (sometimes decently harsh, but not always) and for another this finish in particular is ludicrous with the downward trajectory involved and thus having even higher speeds. Too often you have organisers go for the spectacular finish, sometimes for mere visual effects.

Hope he comes out somwhat ok ...

The Tour of Poland has been the most dangerous race in the World Tour since it got added to it. Yes, what Groenewegen did was horrible, but the effect is much worse because of this race is terribly organized. This incident reminded me why I had trouble watching bunch sprints in this particular race in the past.

A couple of encouraging updates about Jakobsen being successfully woken from his coma, including this one.

Fabio Jakobsen to be brought out of induced coma this afternoon - Cycling Weekly

But if the facial injuries reported here are correct... OMFG. All facial bones broken, and all teeth lost? JFC

Not mentioned in that article is the shattered trachea (I had to look this work up, it sounds much more medical in English). It's unimaginable how big the impact on his face must have been on that crash.

Not sure how to share Twitter here:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1293954703794077697

Criterium du Dauphine and get hit by a hailstorm. Looks painful.











Thank you.

I'd post a thumbs up smiley, but I don't know how to do that either.

A thumbs up for blocked content?
:crazy:

It's just that your ISP or country hates you. :p

Last I checked, I didn't live in China, Russia or Turkey. It must be on the hosting end not wanting to share things with people in a friendly country. Eh, so be it. I've seen pictures of the riders stuck in that hailstorm. :)

Interesting final stage today. Seems the French are just profoundly unlucky.