RoadToad

oh god...I remember that one...ouch.

Bantam

Why were you shut down? It was a shame. I really appreciate the work you have done, watching Eurosport is amazing. Will you be broadcasting other races throughout the year? The Olympics maybe?

Creakyknees

Carbon bikes asplode all the time. Don't you remember this one from Georgia? It was only a few months ago.

Pro tip: always carry spare tubes.

Dizzy

Noob question - are helmets mandated in the Tour de France and if so what year did they start that? Some of these crashes, the rider doesn't have a helmet.

BananaTugger

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) sent a email to the Justin.tv staff saying they thought they saw one of their matches on a channel that Justin.tv hosted. Justin.tv tweaked out and shut down every channel that has broadcasted a Eurosport feed, as the ECB matches are show on Eurosport Live (although, no one watches ). The email must have been quite timely, as our channel was shut down with just 5KM to go in Stage 10, with over 10,000 people watching. They also deleted some of our archived events, like MotoGP, F1, IAAF Track and Field and the WRC.

All that over what turned out to be a promo that was run on Eurosport over a month ago for an exhibition cricket match that no one was going to pay any attention to anyway. The match itself wasn't broadcasted anywhere, just the promo for it. >.<

Cricket sucks.

As for the Olympics and other cycling event, we will have to see what kind of scratch we can come up with in order to get the bandwidth and servers to host and broadcast these events. We are already stretched pretty thin, which would explain the occasional drop out in the casts you see during a live TdF stream. It's hard to monitor a bunch of servers and connections and moderate up to 10 chat rooms at a time.

onion

Yes. 2003 I believe.

mcoomer

WOW! That's a faceplant there. Didn't look like he had a helmet on. If not, he's lucky to be alive.

prendrefeu

...wait, wasn't that a Saunier-Duval team rider?

grahny

Just saw it... DAMN. Nothing beats that guy hitting the road furniture in the spring, forget what race... he looked down for a second and road straight into something that just launched his bike. I'll see if I can find video of it.

EDIT: Ah, the link above, that's it!

Bantam

I was watching and I was frantically searching for another feed. No versus at the office. I could do without the chat rooms if it makes things easier. Or, is there any other way to access Eurosport broadcasts in the US?

scottmorrison99

Holy Crap! I just saw it on a replay on Vs. right after I read about it. If that sign had been a foot taller...

patentcad

See, I told you it was the worst bike crash ever. I can't believe the guy wasn't carted off in an ambulance.

BananaTugger

https://www.justin.tv/giac2008

This is our other channel. It carries the rest of our Eurosport event coverage: MotoGP, F1, WRC, IAAF, IRC, WTCC, Beach Soccer and Volleyball.

urbanknight

Geez, even with a guy standing in front of the obstacle waving a yellow flag. Goes to show that when you're tired and suffering, it's easy to lose attention.

badfishgood

+1 That was the most dramatic crash of the year.

Bantam

I'll watch MotoGP and WRC, but I'm an enormous Olympics fan, so that's what I'll be looking for shortly.

BananaTugger

We'll see what we can do.

caloso

Commentator: "Ai yai yai!" [I have no idea what language that was, but apparently that's a universal saying.]

slvoid

Speaking of motorcycles... this is the closest call I've ever seen in my life.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzKfIMbE3aQ

alanbikehouston

Steel bikes have crashed in the Tour de France at speeds of up to 60 mph. Some of those crashes were fatal. Sometimes the fork needed realignment, and sometimes the fork needed replacement. But, many/most of the steel bikes involved in those crashes had only cosmetic damage.

A couple years ago, I was at a bike shop when a guy brought in a steel bike to have to fork realigned. He and eight or ten guys had ended up piled on top of each other. Most of the carbon forks shattered. Some of the carbon frames shattered. But, he only needed a fifteen minute realignment of his steel fork.

gregf83 

So your point is that in the past steel bikes were overdesigned?

Any bike that would come through the crash today unscathed would have to have been massively overdesigned. Kind of pointless to use a bike that is stronger (and heavier) than necessary while racing.

Miguelangel

I think it was best the bike broke... it sort of saved him from the shock he would have taken if the bicycle did not...something has to break.. better off the bike than the rider..

BillyD

It was overdue.

nycphotography

Maybe they should fit them (the medians, road signs, roundy-rounds, etc) with some kind of a noise making beacon for the race, like a clanging bell or buzzer so the riders can hear that they're coming up on.

Kinda like a light house / foghorn for bike races.

yogi13

I've seen the immediate aftermath of a crash where a guy's new cannondale carbon bike (systemsix? not sure of the designations on C-dale) had the top tube and down tube severed. He swerved off a path that runs along an inlet and hit a post and wire fence. He was scraped up a bit, the bike was toast. Wish I had had a camera along to get a picture.