FBD Insurance Ras 2010

emtroche

Anybody know when roy willoughby does his reports on the radio?

emtroche

Spanish team took the brunt apparently. Were drilling it on the front to catch break. Head on into jeep with bull bars.

Injuries not life threatening but still pretty shocking from what i've heard.

bcmf

ouch.....

emtroche

Must've been absolute mayhem. The race was stopped there for ages. Don't know the climb/descent but if it's anyway narrow it might have taken a while to get the ambulances up too.

shaungil

From the Lion Of Fingal

Hi Folks,
Got a call from Paddy Fitz (lead car) 4 riders taken away in the ambulance (not life threatening) 2 most serious riders were Italian & Spaniard don't know who the others are, understand a jeep pulled out from a side lane/driveway. to day's stage effectively postponed/cancelled. If I get anymore info keep you posted.

emtroche

Spanish guy lost 2 or 3 fingers as far as i know.

damoz

Terrible news. I would not speculate on here without full information. Hope they all recover quickly.

Captain Havoc

http://www.irishtimes.com/sports/other/2010/0524/1224271067960.html

Quigs Snr

Heard from one of the riders that saw it that looked like someone had lost at least one finger, possible broken leg too. Some of the bunch pretty shaken by what they saw so it cannot have been pretty. That is a terrible shame for all involved. Hopefully everyone makes a full recovery.

I am sure Robfowl will fill us in at some stage. Hate hearing about this stuff.

driveshaft

Just wondering what the position is with cycle racing. is the road officially closed by road closing order, or are the racers subject to normal traffic laws? Do the race organisers PR the route beforehand to inform locals?

I live along the route of today's stage and only heard on Saturday by word of mouth that it was due to pass.

blobbie

They had an interview with Dan Craven on 6-1 news on RTE. Basically said 6 riders ahead of him were taken out. He was 7th at the time and first to survive the scene.

Had some guy called Dignam on saying that car had pulled out after outrider passed so there was nothing they could do. Sounds like whoever it was pulled out of a field rather than a junction.

bcmf

Lads, there was indeed a lad very badly injured in the ditch. Two broken knees and a lot of cuts and bruises. One guy has allegedly lost an appendage.
Not a good situation.

emtroche

bcmf wrote: »

Lads, there was indeed a lad very badly injured in the ditch. Two broken knees and a lot of cuts and bruises. One guy has allegedly lost an appendage.
Not a good situation.

On rte news they said there was no serious injuries. Don't know where they got their definition of "serious" from.

karltimber

Hope all are ok.

I know its very very hard to organize an event like this but the advertising should have been better.
I bet if that farmer was asked - he would not have known there was any race on.
Tv, late late show, different radios shows during the day, even during mass' on sunday - just may have put a bit more awareness out there and todays incident may not have happened.

lets hope for a full recovery from the lads involved.

k

emtroche

karltimber wrote: »

Hope all are ok.

I know its very very hard to organize an event like this but the advertising should have been better.
I bet if that farmer was asked - he would not have known there was any race on.
Tv, late late show, different radios shows during the day, even during mass' on sunday - just may have put a bit more awareness out there and todays incident may not have happened.

lets hope for a full recovery from the lads involved.

k

The fact of the matter is that most of the national media in this country has little or no interest in "minority" sports. TV is more or less a non-starter.

It's promoted on local radio and in local papers. I know that todays stage was well publicized on whatever radio station is over that way.

Posters are put in shop windows in finish towns.

Advertising will stretch budgets that are already stretched to the max.

And it's impossible to notify every home along the route.

I think everything that can be done, is being done.

karltimber

very true emtroche

it's just terrible to think the incident today happened just because some-one didn't know it was on.
I suppose its very hard with a tight enough budget.

k

emtroche

Anyway whether or not the driver knew the race was on hasn't been established yet so we cant really comment on that. Either way i'm sure they were pretty shook by the crash too.

Esroh

The Ras as not on the Radar of TodayFm Sports Dep this morning
On 8.30 am Sports News we had Paul Collins telling us about a 60 rider charity cycle and to look out for them on the road but no mention of the 150+Rider Road Race with rolling road closures that as going on.
Surprised it not on AA Roadwatch Reports

Hope everyone makes a full recovery

emtroche

Esroh wrote: »

The Ras as not on the Radar of TodayFm Sports Dep this morning
On 8.30 am Sports News we had Paul Collins telling us about a 60 rider charity cycle and to look out for them on the road but no mention of the 150+Rider Road Race with rolling road closures that as going on.
Surprised it not on AA Roadwatch Reports

Hope everyone makes a full recovery

Was on aa roadwatch as far i know. Some of them anyway.

Paul Collins can be seriously patronising when it comes to cycling. I just switch off when he comes on these days.

ryan_sherlock

Bit of a funny day - I was 20th in line when the crash occured after puncturing from the break. A fair few were shock up.

Report anyway: http://ryansherlock.blogspot.com/2010/05/2010-fbd-ras-stage-2.html

Bunnyhopper

Hope everyone involved recovers quickly and that the injuries are not too serious.

Thanks for the update @ryan_sherlock. Best of luck with the rest of the race.

DirkVoodoo

Shocking news, hope everyone makes a full recovery.

driveshaft

blobbie wrote: »

They had an interview with Dan Craven on 6-1 news on RTE. Basically said 6 riders ahead of him were taken out. He was 7th at the time and first to survive the scene.

Had some guy called Dignam on saying that car had pulled out after outrider passed so there was nothing they could do. Sounds like whoever it was pulled out of a field rather than a junction.

I did see that interview alright. In fairness he had to say what he sai to cover himself. I know that particular piece of road well and it is lethal even in a car at the best of times. The road narrows into a very fast downhill into a tight right hander with a stone wall both sides. There is nowhere to go. Bad day for all involved.

ednwireland

just in case anyones wondering the only highlights listed on rte is mon 31st may

FBD RÁS, RTÉ Two, 10.30pm (W)
Highlights from this year's FBD Insurance RÁS which features 170 riders taking part in a 1,200 kilometre race representing teams from Ireland, Australia, Sweden, New Zealand, Germany, Austria, Belgium, USA, Britain, the Isle Of Man and Wales.

gmoorewest

My thoughts are with the riders. The driver too, but no matter how much media coverage there is, someone could miss it. As anyone who has experienced the Ras knows, the amount of cars, bikes, vans with flashing lights etc that preceed the race, usually for 20/30 minutes beforehand. To miss all that is difficult. As someone who lives in this area, I notice when one Gardai car goes by and people tend to see it in a country area. I've had too many near misses both on the bike and driving with the "Manoeuvre, Mirror, Signal" drivers. I hope this wasn't carelessness.

RobFowl

Injured riders all well though some will require alot of further medical intervention.

No comment about fault re the driver but never been a fan of bull-bars, IMO the organisation could have done little if anything more.

The Irish red cross in particular were outstanding today a fact acknowledged by the AE dept the casualties went to.

The Marshals, support staff from the teams mangers (one in particular) and some cyclists (out watching) were of enormous help. It took 10 to safely extract an injured rider from the bottom of a deep ditch.

A special though goes to one of the Spanish riders who although injured himself insisted on staying with his team-mates to act as interpreter and only got treated himself once they were getting X rays. He got treated (not minor either) then went straight back to interpret more (without a change of clothes) an example to us all....

trad

Some pictures (nothing too graphic) on the RTE website http://www.rte.ie/sport/cycling/2010/0524/ras_2010_day2.html

sy

Every cyclists worst nightmare,. Hope the guys make a full and speedy recovery.

Seems you are going very well Ryan, keep it up.

michaelm

Ok this may be a long shot but here goes; As a part time sports photographer who also cycles I would love to have the opportunity to follow a particular team for a day during an event like the Rás to produce a photo essay. This would be purely non commercial and I would give the team a copy of all photos taken to use in whatever way they wished - maybe to keep sponsors on board etc. All I need in return is access and perhaps transport along parts of the route to allow access and action shots. Any takers?

garminguy

i think you may have left it a bit too late!
good idea though

killalanerr

bit of a mad day yesterday not to many pics,got involved in treating some of the injured riders,have to say it was an outstanding job by all,and i would like to wish a speedy recovery to all the riders

shaungil

RobFowl wrote: »

Injured riders all well though some will require alot of further medical intervention.

No comment about fault re the driver but never been a fan of bull-bars, IMO the organisation could have done little if anything more.

The Irish red cross in particular were outstanding today a fact acknowledged by the AE dept the casualties went to.

The Marshals, support staff from the teams mangers (one in particular) and some cyclists (out watching) were of enormous help. It took 10 to safely extract an injured rider from the bottom of a deep ditch.

A special though goes to one of the Spanish riders who although injured himself insisted on staying with his team-mates to act as interpreter and only got treated himself once they were getting X rays. He got treated (not minor either) then went straight back to interpret more (without a change of clothes) an example to us all....

Well done Conor I'm sure you erned wages (if any) yesterday. Thankfully all are okay

michaelm

garminguy wrote: »

i think you may have left it a bit too late!
good idea though

I realise that and had actually given up on even suggesting the idea until I started reading Ryan Sherlock's posts and then realised that people involved in the race are actually reading/posting here. Anyway my offer is open to any team into the future - doesn't have to be the Rás.

bcmf

shaungil wrote: »

Well done Conor I'm sure you wages (if any) yesterday. Thankfully all are okay

+1

bcmf

Quick update from the 'Rob Fowl' car on todays stage.
"95km covered in the first 2 hrs.Break of 20 up the road"

Beasty

From RTE:

"David O'Loughlin has won the third stage of the FBD Rás.
O'Loughlin, of the An Post Sean Kelly team, claimed victory in the 171km trek from Carrick-on-Shannon to Oughterard.
There has been no change in the overall lead, with Dan Craven retaining the yellow jersey".

ryan_sherlock

Very hard and fast day today. The group strung out most of the day. A quick report up again.

http://ryansherlock.blogspot.com/2010/05/2010-fbd-ras-stage-3.html

killalanerr

back to talking about the racing today,supper ride by raff to keep their man in yellow

Slideshowbob

Double standards in Ras?:

In Philip Lavery's interview he admits he does not intend to complete Ras.

Isn't this unfair for guys that have to aim to finish the 8 days as opposed to PL who can blast away for 4 or 5 then pull out, albeit to compete in U23 race in Canada?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5FCLUIUSgo

Wasn't Bart Brentjens (Ex World MTB Champ) taken out of the Ras one year by the organisers when they found out he didn't intend to finish the race as he had another race looming?!?

Pinarello

A few photos here lads...;)

http://www.irishcyclingphotos.com/

Tackleberry

I posted a couple more interviews from yesterday on youtube, including Dave O'Loughlin and Kurt Bogaerts.

dinneenp

Hi,
For Galway City does anyone know where the best spot will be to take pictures? Factoring in that roads won't be closed to cars, where to stand so I'll have as few cars passing as possible?

Slideshowbob

Is Ras a rolling road closure?

Is there such a term in the eyes of the gardai / law?

Beasty

Slideshowbob wrote: »

Is Ras a rolling road closure?

Yes

Slideshowbob wrote: »

Is there such a term in the eyes of the gardai / law?

Not sure, but I presume they have powers to temporarily close the road (they certainly can do this for accidents/other emergencies)

Tackleberry

Slideshowbob wrote: »

Is there such a term in the eyes of the gardai / law?

This is a very commonly escort technique used by Gardai for anything from a national team bus to a large funeral to VIP's to the Rás.

Rolling road closure is very effective and usually very safe - as far as I can remember the last significant "civilian" car-related crash on the Rás was in the mid-90's when a South African rider had a similar mishap and smashed his leg/hip.

You'd have to be deaf, blind and ignorant not to see at least one of the lead vehicles on the Rás - there's millions!

Bluefoam

I'd like to know how this accident happened... I'm guessing he waited till the motorcade passed & then pulled out of the field. I don't believe for a minute that he was completely unaware that something was going on.

It'd be difficult not to register a motorcade passing within a reasonable distance of you.

bcmf

Did the crash not happen on a small downhill section meaning escort lead car would be a decent distance ahead of the group.

Malari

Bluefoam wrote: »

I'd like to know how this accident happened... I'm guessing he waited till the motorcade passed & then pulled out of the field. I don't believe for a minute that he was completely unaware that something was going on.

It'd be difficult not to register a motorcade passing within a reasonable distance of you.

I understand he was told to stop by the motorbike cop, he pulled in while the break passed and then assumed that was it and started off again. I don't know how far ahead the break was and how many vehicles were in between, but if he was on a blind right-hander he wouldn't have seen anything coming.

Slideshowbob

Bluefoam wrote: »

I'd like to know how this accident happened... I'm guessing he waited till the motorcade passed & then pulled out of the field. I don't believe for a minute that he was completely unaware that something was going on.

It'd be difficult not to register a motorcade passing within a reasonable distance of you.

How can you tell he was aware of what was going on?

I haven't heard that there was a motorbike marshall static at the junction he came out of.

Unfair to apportion blame til facts are known.

The driver could have done nothing wrong for all we know.

It's not beyond the bounds of possibility that the driver may have been on his side of the roads and the 4 Spanish riders may not have been (I don't want to assume anything just stating a possibility.

Anyway Alaistair McLennan was on rte radio 1 last night saying he was heading up an independent enquiry.

Point I made previously was I was asking the strength of a rolling road closure. Once the garda passes the point in question is it 'no longer closed' or does it await the event/corteigh passing? How is a civilian to etermine the completion of a rolling road closure at the point where they are located.

The point I have seen elsewhere about bull bars on the jeep bears no merit as they aint outlawed in ireland as far as I know.

Gers_punto

these guys have literally just passed through killaloe and over the bridge to ballina