he was disqualified and Jakobsen awarded the win…not that it means much at this point.
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current status from Polish hospital is that beside severe injuries in the face area (the plastic reconstruction will be needed) the all vital organs functions normally but they have to wait till morning to fully assess the status of neurological damage, as current medication make this impossible. But they are cautious-optimistic.
TdP would not have a good press after second serious accident increcent years…
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I understood that his palate was injured and that he had both cranial and cerebral injuries.
The hemodynamics (blood loss, heart) are one part, but that can be treated/supported and is actually relatively less important now. The key question is if there is (severe) and potentially long-term neurological damage.
A really bad crash. It looked terrible.
More potential good news…I also understand that he will be undergoing plastic surgery tomorrow on his face.
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The news from the polish doctors:
The patient was operated on by a team of anaesthesiologists, oral surgeons and ENT specialists until 5.30 am. The operation lasted five hours and was very complicated due to the craniofacial trauma. I know from the doctors’ reports that it went without complications. At the moment, the patient is in intensive care. Its condition is stable, it has its own pressure. He is, of course, ventilated due to anesthesia in the operating theater. I know from anesthesiologists that we are thinking about trying to wake him up from his coma today. I hope there will be no damage to the nervous system given the results of the tomography. Of course, you have to remember that he underwent an hour-long resuscitation action at the accident site, so the situation may change. The next message will contain more information
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I disagree, it looks from the overhead shot that he deliberately tried to “shut the door” on him. DG has clear road in front, right and left. As soon as he senses Fabio on his right he moves to block him instead of making it a drag race. When that happens there are only two outcomes; the other rider backs off or gets squeezed into the barriers.
The UCI need to be more consistent in penalizing riders who do this as well as handing out greater punishment, whether there’s a resulting incident or not.
Sprinters also need to take responsibility; is the win worth risking someone else’s life?
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Completely agree. You see this in so many sports where the governing bodies do not crack down on poor behaviour and as a result it is copied right from the pro level down to grass roots level.
Inactivity = Acceptance
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That crash was Horrendous
The barriers were connected together, you can see it for example with some barriers which went out on the road and pulled connecting barriers with them.
That being said, the initial speed, force and point of impact was more then enough to break through the barrier and send other ones flying. Anything with mass traveling at that speed is going to carry a hell of a punch/force.
All of this aside, this is Poland. From experience everything here is done at half measures, no one cares that planning a sprint finish downhill might not be safe or sane. We want them to go fast for the public, the spectacle and money is what matters. Everything else is just ‘meh, it should be fine, don’t worry about it, do the least amount of work required’.
On the repercussions side, it might be harsh, but acts like these, when you intentionally push someone into a barrier, should be followed up by an immediate lifetime ban from the sport. Tough, if you are a shithead and don’t care about other people’s health and life then there is no place for you in this sport - period.
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It was a grim outcome from a dangerous, albeit entirely predictable, move by Groenewegen.
Closing off routes to the line is a standard, if outlawed, practice and I think in this case the penalty will be severe.
Crashes happen in sprints and I think all the rides accept the risk. What I consider to be unacceptable is making an inherently risky situation more risky by taking unnecessary deviations in the pursuit of a win.
Time to ditch the barriers In general! Use some sort of very hard foam blocks or something in the last 100m. Safer and will keep audience at a further distance as well.
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There is very clear slow motion video on Tiz cycling of all angles.
It is not a racing accident. That implies it was without intent. He accidentally turned right for no apparent reason? It is clearly intentional. Dylan leads out the sprint, he does this far too early and Fabio is directly on his wheel. In fact, you can clearly see Fabio soft pedaling in the draft as the line approaches.
As they near the finish and Dylan begins to fade Fabio feels this and moves to pass. Dylan realizing he’s fading and feeling Fabio coming on the right moves to the right. The real critical error is here. He cannot except he is beaten and instead of just squeezing Fabio he leaves no room. They make contact, Dylan elbows Fabio… the rest is history.
Fabio had two choices, continue or brake. He chose to continue. He mistakenly trusted Dylan to not intentionally cause an accident. Dylan chose to win at any cost.
I was actually a fan of this young man. No longer. I understand the lust for victory, I understand the aggression in the final 100m. I too am a sprinter. I too am aggressive in a finish. What I don’t understand. You have to hold your line, it’s the freaking rules. If you deviate severely, you risk crashing both yourself and others.
This is a real time act of a poor sportsman. He couldn’t just lose to the better man, he chose to cheat, he chose to risk an accident. He got the accident. He may regret it for the rest of his life.
I’m not sure what the sanction should be, but it will be serious. Hopefully, it will make others think before they act in a similar manner in the future.
The lesson here to all racers, please please sprint in a straight line to the finish. Keep your fellow racers safe. Let the best man or woman win. Anything else is cheating and as demonstrated here in horrible circumstances, incredibly dangerous.
My thoughts are with Fabio Jakobsen, let’s hope he makes a full recovery. He’s just 23 years old.
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Yes, but also no. We need to do like motorsport, where there is a clear ‘this is the edge of the track’ marking, defensible space, and then the barriers. Marking could be as simple as a chalk line, and just like football, cross this line and you are out, and you will be relegated to the back of the bunch you finished in. This will decrease the amount of contact with barriers, which seems to cause the most injury in sprints.
This should also lead to re-planning where you put a sprint finish - it will require more room, and hopefully organizers realize you need sufficient space. No road furniture, no narrowing of the road in the last half km, & no long, straight, downhill run ins.
We also need (and I cannot believe I am saying this) more UCI involvement. Their lax application of off-line sprint relegations has made this commonplace and almost acceptable. They seem to only care if there is a crash.
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Wonder if lockdown is a factor here, in terms of these guys being both a little ring rusty from not having been in a bunch sprint for a long time, and also finally having an outlet for months worth of bottled up energy and competitive spirit. Can see how it would make it more likely that riders would get a rush of blood to the head and make bad decisions. Last 6 months have been a really difficult time for many people and it’s bound to have affected the mental state of some riders.
Not defending DG at all, completely unacceptable deviation and just hope Jakobsen makes a full recovery.
Horrendous crash. Groenewegen shut the door and forced him into the barriers, but that’s hardly exceptional?
Many UCI rules (even the entire rule book) need an overhaul, but making it about the behaviour rather than outcome is what sports like Rugby have done with tip tackles, contact in the air. Doesn’t matter whether you meant it, doesn’t matter if everyone comes out unscathed, penalty is the same.
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That sounds very sensible.
I also feel there have been too many different types “freak barrier accidents”, WVA massive gash last year, Cav/Sagan in the TdF a few years back and now this.
It should be a combined attack:
- Consistent rulings on leaving your line
- Improved barrier design
- Run out space from track to barrier
- No more/reduced insane downhill sprint finishes
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In fairness WVA (and Valverde the other year) were TT’s. They kinda were in their own control - WVA taking the line he took, Valverde over cooking in the wet. I think it would be a bit extreme to implement the same things for TT and climb barriers as should happen with sprint finishes.
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I agree and disagree at the same time; yes TTs don’t need to limit the speeds at the end, no improved barriers and run-outs could have reduced the effects of their crashes.
Depending on the course you wouldn’t need to implement it all but looking at all options couldn’t hurt. So top of a Giro climb just the barriers, TdF sprint finish have run-out, better designed course and barriers.
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But Im sure there can be a more creative solution for the last meters at least, some sort of damping material… In case it goes wrong anyway, even if there are clear markings like you suggested.
Ironically, it could be padding like they had on the road furniture that took out Fabio’s team mate Lampaert in Milan Torino!
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