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Hoogerland got knocked sideways by a passing French television car, and sent Mach 10 into a barbed wire fence upside-down and rolling over the front of his bike. The video has already been posted here on DC. This is a clearer version off Youtube.
To say it was ugly would be a vast understatement. It was damn lucky no one was killed.
Image source: http://sports.yahoo.com/sc/gallery/im:urn:newsml:sports….
The crash was with such force and velocity that he took out a fence post. The wires tore into his flesh, and damn near tore his pants completely off as well. Dude had every right to pack it in right there and get properly stitched up. No one would have thought any less of him for doing so.
Not our boy. No, he gets up. And he rides it in. He finishes. And, for his efforts, he takes the polka dot jersey and is awarded the most combative rider award with Juan Antonio Flecha. I believe this is the first time the award has ever been presented to two men at once.
Image source: http://sports.yahoo.com/sc/gallery/im:urn:newsml:sports.yahoo,getty….
Yes, real men cry. Good on ya. You are one tough son of a bitch.
Today, Johnny Hoogerland is a hero.
(Note: In no way to I mean to minimize the toughness of Flecha with this post. He got drilled to the deck and rode it in as well. I think he would have done well on the stage, and it’s a shame to see it end that way. I’m a big Flecha fan for his spring exploits these past few years. I just had to give Hoogerland a lot of credit for what he went through today.)
Update: I really like this photo and felt it needed to be included in this post. Not the subject matter, but the way in which it conveys the emotion of the moment. Damn powerful stuff. I never knew much about the man they call the The Bull from Beveland before today. I am impressed by his character.
Image source: http://sports.yahoo.com/sc/gallery/im:urn:newsml:sports.yahoo,getty….
As for the driver of that car:
Tour organizers later called the driver’s actions “intolerable” and banned the car and its driver from the rest of the race.
http://sports.yahoo.com/sc/news?slug=ap-tourdefrance-hoogerland.
Update two: Video of the jersey presentation. Everyone wants to shake Hoogerland’s hand. And listen to the applause. Everyone there knows what was witnessed today.
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Holy shit !! The jackass in the car misjudged that tree.
Wish he had hit it.
Bet wishes to all the bikers.
Tough. As. Nails.
I can’t remember a Tour with this much carnage. Of course, remembering yesterday is sketchy.
That driver should be banned for life from driving in/covering any bike race.
A rest day is well deserved for these guys.
Johnny Hoogerland is the best! Tuf guy…see horrible picture of his leg here http://estaticos02.marca.com/albumes/2011/07/10/un_tour_accidentado/1310319828_extras_albumes_0.jpg
Hard as nails indeed. Time to make Hoogerland has a posse decals.
I DID NOT NEED TO CLICK THAT ! ! ! That tear under his knee… Fuck me with a rusty barbwire fence. AND he finished…?
Fuck I’m soft.
Like teddy-bear soft.
Like a 19 year-olds labia soft.
Like ‘I had too much mexican last night and now Im stuck in the bathroom’ soft.
Fuck, I’m soft.
The guy has balls of titanium, and then some, most would just want to go home, nurse their wounds and hug the family, this guy probably did that, but had a stage to finish first. Grade A baller, no other words for it, hard as a hard thing…..
Oh shit. I read it wrong.
He finished ??
Total. Fucking. Baller.
I’m gonna go cry like a big girl now just thinking about him.
i want for a world where driving a motor vehicle is truly a privilege. those are some badassed bikers… hoogerland, flecha, legends.
the tdf is turning into a soap opera.
Soap opera?
drama.
He gets a couple of superficial scrapes and he’s a hero? WTF? Look at his injuries, they’re not serious.
I thought only victims were heroes…when did this change?
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UmKQviiAtkk/ThoiWCNL1KI/AAAAAAAAFMQ/9j7vJUt7hUc/s1600/fszaz.jpg
Not serious but to continue on after full speed slamming in to a barb-wired fence is still baller in my book.
Harland , you are a douch bag .
Argh. Hating the fucking keyboard on this laptop. Posted premature.
That image I got from “Burt Friggin’ Hoovis”. Whoever the fuck he is.
http://doucheblogcycling.blogspot.com/
not serious?
The guy got 33 stitches
Stitches are overrated. I’ve had a shitload of them in my life.
If it’s a bleeder, it’s serious. Just a gash/cut ? Eh, not so much.
Still. The shock of that accident would have blown me out of the race. Of course I’m old and fat now. The shock of my last cable bill almost blew me out of the race. So take all this with a grain.
All props to Hoogerland either way.
Harland: you’re an arrogant twat!
Johnny Hogerland smacked into a 4 x 4 fencepost which cracked under the impact. And he got tangled up in a shitload of rusty barbed wire.
I know that I would have cried for my mama and waited for an ambulance to arrive.
Most of his cuts are half an inch deep,plus the impact of the fall.
I respect the man deeply!
Rob
He still got the balls to go trough al the hussle at the finish, even in that pain.
I realise that most of you don’t understand Dutch but in his comments on Dutch TV he showed mercy for the driver of the car (Whilst half of Holland wants to lynch that guy) and he refuses to file an official complaint…………
He’s from Zeeland, our toughest province and he made up for all of them.
Us benne de zeeuwe!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Most of the d-bag blower comments here indicate some brother’s never have crashed on the road, nevermind having it happen at 30mph and include a barb wire fence.
Ok. Back to my lazyboy & gray’s anatomy.
I’ve had those kind of injuries. Not that many at one time, and certainly not all cycling related. But I’ve been slammed and cut up pretty good in my time. That Hogerland feller is one tough sumbitch. I’d a packed it in, even back in the day when I was almost as tough as I thought I was.
Wait. What? He hit a fencepost so hard he CRACKED it?
Damn.
Jeeze.
Damn.
I think I’ll get another beer and try not to think what that must have been like.
Golly.
The scrapes and cuts are the least of concerns. Its the deep contusions and other injuries under the skin that you can’t see that do the real damage. Thats the shit that he will be feeling tomorrow and linger through the rest of the race. To minimize this would seem to indicate you have never properly crashed a bike. on the road. in a race at a high speed. Let alone into a barb wire fence. The only thing missing was for him to step on a rake and have it whack him in the face.
And on top of all of that, he showed more class than I can remember seeing in some time. Maybe not a hero in the pure sense, but an admirable guy for sure.
All of you seem to have forgotten that they were in the leading break and got screwed out of a chance to go for the win.
I have crashed in a race at 30mph and cried like a little girl when they were cleaning me up. There was no thought of finishing.
These are the Hardest of MEN!
For sure, Ti-blanc’s yellow jersey today was unnoticed.
But during the rest day today, this is to be continued http://bit.ly/oUQclu
Hit by a car. Thrown thru a barbed wire fence, breaking a post. Losing most of your pants (which is now posted by The Sun). And getting nasty gashes (not scratches) from butt to inside joint of your knee.
Anyone ever get a deep paper cut on the webbing between their fingers? Imagine 100 times worse… some areas are very sensitive, especially when you’re rotating them by moving forward the pedals. Plus salty sweat is running into your wounds the whole time.
That guy endured much more pain to get back on his bike and finish than Voeckler did in his legs on the last climb. And why wasn’t Hoogerland and Flecha given the same time? Oh right, events like these are run by zombies with no feeling.
Mmm, I know a better way to punish that driver and it’s as violent as the crash he caused. It requires the use of car 800 and a rope tied from the back bumper to the driver, who will be behind his car.
After looking back and shaking their heads like ‘damn sucks to be you’, Voeckler and LLS just keep going, pushing harder. Why the fuck they didn’t hold up n wait to see if the two victims were dead or able to rejoin? Voecklers yellow jersey is heavily stained
Flecha was robbed— the stage win was his.
Highlights of this stage on British TV (ITV4) had a scene where they caught up to the car and driver that caused the accident.
The French TV reporters car was backing into a parking space for press vehicles after the race. All the occupants were shielding their faces. The driver was…wait for it…a young women!
Maybe there is a reason former pro’s who actually raced the Tour are hired as drivers?
What a fucking baller.
After reading the other comments, I totally have to agree with Cadel Evans. I would totally be ready for a fucking rest day. This years tour looks to be a bloodbath. I think the yellow jersey might belong to whomever is able to keep from getting killed out on the road.
Yohnny Hoogerland is like cycling Jesus Christ.
jhonny je bent geweldig,als ex sportman weet ik wat je doormaak,maar laat ons je moreel steunen,je kan het hou de bolletjes trui vast,wij kruisen de vingers dat je verder kunt strijden .
sportive groeten geert&marie-rose
Johnny is our hero.
He’s been on the attack in 3 stages now, winning the mountain-jersey twice (not bad for a guy that comes from the Pays-BAS). Then he gets smacked into the barbed wire at 60 km/h by a complete lunatic, breaks a 4×4 post in his fall, gets back on his bike in minutes (after being untangeled from the barbed wire and getting a new pair of pants) and finishes the race while a doctor on a motorcycle fixes up his cuts.
Then after the podiumceremony (mountain jersey and most attacking rider)he even humbly talkes to the media first before going to the hospital to get 33 stitches.
And today he’s back on the bike: http://twitpic.com/5oipd1
Johnny you’re our absolute hero of the year!!!!
Luctor et Emergo proud Zeeuw!
I don’t want to seem to be supporting the driver or denying Hoogerland of his guts to get back into the race. But I am going to fully congratulate Voekler on his bike handling skills. He was able stay upright and ride it out in the grass. It looked like Hoogerland grabbed way to much frontbrake and then went over the bars into the field. I’m not sure there was much else he could have done with Flecha laid out infront of him though. Glad to see him back on the bike today, a brand new polkadot jersey will give anyone a boost.
TripleF – You dumb, insensitive b#tch, looks like your brains are in your fake breasts. F#uck off. Same to you Judi, you know what you can do with your single finger, shove it up your arse. Weaker parasites like you would have pulled out of the race.
Irv, go back and watch the footage again. Voeckler clearly signalled to Sanchez and Casar to ease up. They soft-pedalled until it was clear that Flecha wouldn’t catch back up.
@HR #37 – how about I shove it up YOUR ass ??? WTF did I do to you?
Don’t let it get to ya, Judi. Some folks musta been beat somethin’ awful by Dad or Mom to be so sadistic.
@hr
Not sure what you’re crying about. I’ve already admitted I would have folded like a french lawn chair after a crash like that. The guy is a total baller for continuing. I just hope he doesn’t have any deeper injuries as pirata mentioned.
And those boobs ain’t fake. Her name was Melanie. Worked with her 5 years ago. I never got close to her but those puppies are 100% natural according to a couple co-workers who dated her.
So piss off.
BTW… the 4×4 inch post Johnny broke in his fall was made of concrete… and no broken bones.
That’s a real Zeeuw from a time when our ships were made of wood and the men of steel.
@brooka The way he was launched, he must have hit Fletcha’s bike as well. That can’t be just from braking.
I do agree with you that Voeckler deserved the yellow Jersey. Hoogerland had made a deal with him that Voeckler wouldn’t sprint for the mountain points and in return, Hoogerland would help him stay in front of the pack. A gentlemen’s agreement that Voeckler honored (he did 80% of the work in the breakaway)
When it became clear that Hoogerland and Fletcha wouldn’t be able to stay with the breakaway after the crash, he rode for his Jersey and rightfully so.
found out there on the webs:
Also, in regards to this year’s tour, is it more dangerous? You might be surprised. From Cyclocosm, complete with standard deviations:
Thanks to Gold Man for the find.
@Harland – dude, I got hit by a car at 15 mph/24 kph, and hit the ground almost exactly like Fletcha did, and I couldn’t ride for a week from the hemotomas. I’m glad I didn’t have a barbed wire fence in my way These guys were doing 37.5 mph/60 kph. That they got up and finished the stage is remarkable.
@TriplF – You need to search the web for some of the later photos. Johnny lost a LOT of blood.
Granted French TV apologized for the incident, but how does saying “oops, sorry about that” make up for the 16 minutes they lost, the potential of winning the stage, and their injuries and loss of performance through the rest of the tour?
Yea. I take back my earlier snide remark about stitches. Saw a pic of him last night where he was way bloodier.
Surprised the team director or doctor didn’t make him stop. He was messed up.
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It was awful indeed! Both are brave guys. I agree with FeltFan, an apology is not enough. Those guys were at the front, they lost chances that day, and they will be hadicapped maybe for the rest of the tour. There will be limitations for the cars in this Tour and in future ones… but I keep on thinking that the TVchannel should be punished by a fine -a huge one- or something like that… something that really hurts for them. No one is going to give these riders the lost effort and time and possiblilities back.
The driver is a woman
http://www.spitsnieuws.nl/sites/default/files/imagecache/article_image_node_main/Schermafbeelding%202011-07-12%20om%2014.28.04.png.crop_display.jpg
The post Johnny took out is being auctioned for charity!
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/post-that-stopped-hoogerland-to-be-auctioned-for-charity
next time he gets hit by a car, the cars going to go flying into a barbed wire fence