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The Luckiest Man in the Peloton

Posted on 25 June 20107 August 2018 by cosmo

I’ve been doing a little video work on some sprinting footage ahead of the Tour de France. I’ve looked through the Cavendish crash more times than I care to remember, but I still cannot get over the break Juan Antonio Flecha catches as the race just dissolves in front of him.

Here’s a quick video analysis to brighten up your Friday:

(right-click for iTunes download, tap for iPod/iPhone/iPad)

thoughts on “The Luckiest Man in the Peloton”

  1. Pingback: Juan Antonio Flecha, luckiest man in the Peleton – Bunch Riding
  2. Frank says:
    25 June 2010 at 1:59 pm

    Nice catch! I had completely missed that.

    Reply
  3. Timothy Day says:
    25 June 2010 at 2:05 pm

    Good call, Cosmo!

    Reply
  4. j says:
    25 June 2010 at 2:17 pm

    Looking a bit closer, doesn’t it seem like Cav’s front wheel snaps just before coming down? I mean, it’s likely that is what provoked the crash. Of course everything is broken after the crash, so it might have gone unnoticed to many.

    Reply
  5. Don says:
    25 June 2010 at 2:45 pm

    Clearly I’m out of the loop, because I thought Flecha was still with Rabobank. That’s why I kept my eyes on the Rabobank rider (far right of the screen at 0:38, far left in the bird’s-eye at 0:42) who also earned some admiration. He may not have been lucky enough to get around the crash, but it’s pretty fun watching him lock up the rear wheel while body-englishing away from bodies and bikes on the left side of the road. Any idea who that was?

    Reply
  6. onlyontuesdays says:
    25 June 2010 at 2:57 pm

    The generous helping hands of the cycling Gods… Doubtful
    Seasoned skills of a talented professional cyclist…. May be
    Keeping you’re head up and not being next to Cav…Helpful
    Off season Ninja Skills and Bear Wrestling classes….Definatly without a doubt!

    Reply
  7. EDnl says:
    25 June 2010 at 2:59 pm

    First Rabobank man was Óscar Freire.

    Reply
  8. chris says:
    25 June 2010 at 3:38 pm

    Is it just me, or that finish crazy narrow for a field sprint? What is this, the Giro?!

    Reply
  9. Erik says:
    25 June 2010 at 4:17 pm

    That did brighten my Friday. Thanks.

    Reply
  10. Bryan says:
    25 June 2010 at 7:15 pm

    I’ve never seen an arrow fly like that.

    Reply
  11. Philonius says:
    25 June 2010 at 8:10 pm

    Check out this picture:
    https://www.cyclingnews.com/races/tour-de-suisse-upt/stage-4/photos/126000
    it clearly appears that Haussler’s wheel impacts and puts the taco to Cav’s front wheel. Smackdown city.

    Reply
  12. Pingback: It’s been a long time | Musette Musings
  13. Arjan Hulsebos says:
    26 June 2010 at 2:16 pm

    I hadn’t caught that, either, but come to think of it, I’m sure that if Flecha was still sporting the Rabo colors, he’d be somewhere on the bottom of the pile-up. After switching teams, he suddenly has the breaks going his way. Finally.

    Reply
  14. Chris Little says:
    27 June 2010 at 8:15 am

    Flecha was the only thing I watched when this video first did the rounds. It’s still hard to believe.

    Reply
  15. Skippy says:
    28 June 2010 at 2:49 am

    Looking forward to seeing Jaffa at TDF ! Hope his luck continues to hold up.

    Reply
  16. rainbow says:
    28 June 2010 at 5:59 am

    Luck had noting to do with it, if you rely on luck, you’ll go down every time. It sure looked liked chaos and string theory unravelling behind when Flecha looked back , but mostly it was intuitive skill unknown to the conscious mind, exhibited randomly to create one’s own skin saving moment.
    Luck is what happened to Boonan, he had enough luck to run over the Cavendouche, and he must savour the brief pleasure of squashing ones nemesis whilst he misses out on the three weeks of the biggest event of the year watching the dirt mouth blow off stage after stage.
    Haussler had bad luck, noting intuitive could save him there, he just has to live with the disappointment of not smashing The douche and listen to him reiterate that he’s the fastest sprinter on the planet and no one should challenge him cos they’ll go down.
    “Hate the Douche”

    Reply
  17. Arjan Hulsebos says:
    29 June 2010 at 5:16 am

    “Cavendouche”, nice one. I don’t like him, either. Even to British standards, he’s pretty arrogant. And I do think he caused all the mayhem.

    Reply
  18. Gareth says:
    29 June 2010 at 9:25 am

    As per Don, I thought Freire did an awesome job of staying upright.

    Reply
  19. Osteo says:
    6 July 2011 at 2:20 am

    Nice interpretation. That crash screwed Haussler up big time. See how hard his head hit the bitumen!?

    Reply
  20. cyclingsky says:
    6 September 2011 at 3:05 am

    Cycling has gotten increasing popularity, the importance of
    suitable cycling clothing has become clearly. A quality pro cycling jersey for cycling is critical for casual and regular riders.

    Reply
  21. Hanswurst says:
    1 November 2013 at 11:16 am

    definitely the luckiest man in the peloton
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXoJlPLVpb0

    Reply

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About the Author

a headshot of Cosmo Catalano

Best known for his How The Race Was Won® video series, Cosmo Catalano began blogging about pro cycling from a bike shop in 2005. Between then and now, he's designed cycling infographics, built cycling web apps, and supplied cycling content to print and broadcast media, all in the name of backing up his near-endless criticism with proof that it can be done better. He complains about cycling on Twitter at @Cyclocosm.

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