re: 2020 Tour De France, UCI WC, Giro, Vuelta: The Offcial Thread

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She let up before the right turn (still on the left side) as standard but then caught the rail and it was over... Was so sudden. I’ve always been taught to hug the inside but I’m not a professional cyclist.

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She was setting up for what in the car and motorcycle world we call a late apex turn. It is most often used on motorcycles (also called squaring off the turn) because you have less lean angle which gives more stability and traction in the turn and you can get upright quicker and on the gas quicker. It also maximizes momentum. These are all things important on a bike too.

The bottom line is something upset the stability of the bike whether is is one of those inexplicable high-speed wobbles, poor brake modulation or a mechanical failure or she simply overcooked it. I don't think she was going too fast at turn in. I think if it was a brake issue with the front only application (clear she is not on the rear brake) it wouldn't have cause such a fast oscillation though I know some disagree.

I would never second guess the braking skills of a World Champion/medal-winning cyclist but I am pretty sure if it were me and I was having a front braking issue I would have been dragging the back brake at some point before impact, it wasn't that quick. I will say I am an unconventional road bike braker in that I use FAR more rear brake than front and I don't have the WC TT skills to go through that turn without both hands on the bull horns.


Man I was thinking our sleuthing skills would be spent on who in the World Tour was doping and how versus this horrible question.

I just did a quick check of YT and the only person offering an opinon on the crash is Durianrider and much to my chagrin* he agrees it is a speed wobble caused by have the weight shifted by being in "the horns". I call the lower bar the bull horn and the upper bar the aero extension but he is an Ozzie so everything is backwards.


* Durianrider agreeing with me makes me think I am wrong, he is a bloviating moron on most things so when we agree on anything I second guess myself.