Vuelta a Espana - Blazin' Saddles: Hell's Roundabout

Eurosport - Thu, 03 Sep 23:01:00 2009

It had already been a treacherous day in atrocious conditions by the time the peloton approached one last roundabout on the outskirts of Liege.

01/09 chute vueta - 0

And then, all hell broke loose.

"That's huge! Absolutely enormous!" cried Eurosport commentator David Harmon - and he wasn't talking about the size of Blazin' Saddles' pa- (cut by Eurosport-Yahoo! censors).

That's not the first time BS has been silenced. Yesterday he was lambasted by one Irish fan for having a pop at the monotony of the Dutch countryside. BS also saw a couple of his 'jokes' end up on the cutting room floor - one about Michael Jackson (too close to the bone) and another about ("That's enough of that" - Eurosport-Yahoo! censor).

Well, the events of Tuesday's stage four of the Vuelta have hardly made things easier for everyone's favourite / most reviled (delete as appropriate) light-hearted / unfunny (delete as appropriate again) cycling scribe.

Already in the course of the wet and windy afternoon we had witnessed the whole gamut of crashes - from Gerald Ciolek's tarmac smash to Jakob Fuglsang's over-familiarity with the back of a parked tanker (maybe he just heard that petrol prices are on the rise?).

But what of the spectacular spill that floored the grand majority of the bunch in Liege and saw - unsurprisingly - only the Columbia train remain near-intact on their way to delivering a routine win for Andre Greipel?

How to make light of such a ghoulish accident? Well, blame it on Denis Menchov for starters. For rumour has it, the Rabobank rider was 100 per cent to blame. Hard, given the Russian's absence from the race... but not in the light of comments never made at the finish line.

The Vacansoleil rider - so much for a sunny holiday, huh? - whose slip brought down the field supposedly told a team-mate: "Everything was fine before my mind switched to Denis Menchov and the mere thought of him sent me flying to the ground. Besides the rest of the peloton, I just don't know what came over me."

Lucky thing for the remaining riders that day five of this bizarre race is in fact a rest day as the peloton gets transported back to the country which is supposed to be hosting the event.

BS hears Vino was amongst the riders to need hospital treatment on completion of the stage. Let's hope he doesn't resort to his tactics of 2007 to keep the blood flowing to all the right places.

Follow Blazin' Saddles throughout the day on www.twitter.com/saddleblaze.

Watch stage five of the Vuelta a Espana LIVE from 3pm on Thursday September 3 on British Eurosport (Sky 410 / Virgin Media 521); Also available on your PC via the Eurosport Player - click on the link under the picture to subscribe

Felix Lowe / Eurosport

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  1. With all the border crossing now evident in the major­ tours we will soon be watching the annual;­ Italian-organised Giro d'Europa in May, the June­ Swiss-organised Tour de Europa, July's Tour de­ Europa organised by the French who will, no doubt, then­ be able to hail a 'home winner' again, and we­ will round off the year with the Vuelta a Europa­ organised by the Spanish who are likely to have won a­ few of the non-Spanish organised versions as a warm-up­ for their their own. Why, even the Tour of Britain­ might be exported entirely to the Continent where we­ would finally get total co-operation on road closures­ and a few decent hills to challenge the Kings of the­ Mountains.
    Just think of it, Paris-Roubaix could be­ exported to Ireland and raced over the 'Giants­ Causeway'

    From studmarked, on Thu 3 Sep 12:50PM

  2. Greipel's big thighs and no teeth (if you look at­ the photo on the finishing line) certainly took my­ attention away from the carnage left behind at the­ roundabout!

    From Liz S, on Wed 2 Sep 11:40PM

  3. I'm shocked there wasn't more crashes. The­ conditions were miserable. The riders looked like they­ were finishing a cyclocross race. Fitting I guess since­ they were in Belgium. I'm glad they will now be in­ Spain. This is definitely my favorite of the major­ tours. Good hard racing and a pleasure to follow with­ all the nice hotels, great food, and lots(and I mean­ LOTS) of pretty women. Viva La Vuelta!

    From tomas.americano, on Wed 2 Sep 6:28PM

  4. Vino pushed the Galicia rider down and then denied all­ knowledge of the incident.

    From istoleyourbicycle, on Wed 2 Sep 12:27PM

  5. If Holland and Belgium pay enough money, what´s the­ problem?
    It´s not the Tout, but it´s the Vuelta, you­ know.

    From Mike, on Wed 2 Sep 11:09AM

  6. They are racing in Holland and Belgium because sponsors­ demand it. If you are making bikes and almost every­ Dutch and Belgian are riding bicycle you want them to­ see the name of your firm. Logic.

    From zorangrubic85, on Wed 2 Sep 11:03AM

  7. What on earth is the tour of Spain doing in Holland and­ Belgium,did they get lost? I know the big tours­ regularly cross borders into neighbouring countries,­ but Holland and Belgium are not neighbours to Spain.­ They are nowhere near, would someone please explain­ this? Doesn't Spain have enough roads of its own to­ race on?

    From lenanjak, on Wed 2 Sep 9:37AM

  8. More worrying was the physique of Greipel - displayed­ in full glory (those white bibs are a BAD idea) whilst­ cleaning himself up waiting for the podium­ presentation. David Harmon referred to him as­ 'chunky'..............he looked more like a­ weight-lifter!!!

    From pedro118118, on Wed 2 Sep 8:45AM

  9. Apparently it was so bad, 5 riders needed blood­ transfusions just to make it to Spain!

    From Michael M, on Wed 2 Sep 7:53AM

  10. Unconfirmed reports claim that Vino was heard to­ exclaim "bloody hell!" in fluent English,­ which would make for a refreshing change from fluent­ bullshít.

    From CR, on Tue 1 Sep 11:59PM
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