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TECH NEWS
Specialized Tarmac © Saxo-TinkoffSo what really happened to Alberto Contador's Specialized Tarmac yesterday at the Tour de France?
Mondays are rarely as thrilling as yesterday's stage 10 of the Tour de France which provided fireworks, drama and intrigue as race favourite Alberto Contador was forced to abandon after suffering a broken leg in a crash on the 163km stage. But if you were on Twitter, that wasn't the really big story, all attention was focused on the cause of a photo of Contador's broken Specialized Tarmac frame. Did the frame snapping cause him to crash, seemed to be the general question that most wanted an immediate answer to.
New photo just dropped in from AFP of broken bike which is definitely Alberto Contador's - see mounted race No 31. pic.twitter.com/1xyy1ww0Ay
— John MacLeary (@JohnMacLeary) July 14, 2014
Unfortunately there were no TV cameras near Contador, instead the first TV viewers knew of the incident was when the director cut to a bloodied Contador standing at the edge of a road, photographers swarming around him and the race medic applying a bandage to a badly cut right knee. There was a bike in the ditch, but it appeared to be Nicolas Roche's McLaren S-Works team bike, and Contador limped on for another 18km on another spare bike.
In the absence of of any evidence of what caused his crash, and the emergence of a photo of what appears to be his team bike snapped clean in two, speculation ran like wildfire through the social media network. We immediately contacted Specialized who have issued this response:
“Alberto crashed on a fast and straight part of the descent. He was reaching for his pocket and the bike was swept away under him probably because of a bump or hole in the road. Alberto was in the shape of his life and the entire team had our eyes fixed on the podium in Paris and the work we would have to do to get there”. -Bjarne Riis, Director Sportif, Tinkoff-Saxo
"Teammates were first to communicate the crash to the team car via race radio. Reports from Tinkoff-Saxo are saying their team car was passing closely to a Team Belkin vehicle and bikes on the roof racks became entangled between the two cars causing Alberto’s spare bike to be broken into two pieces. When a racer has a heavy crash, a mechanic will immediately provide a spare bike as a safety and performance precaution.
"As Alberto’s spare bike was destroyed, Nicolas Roche immediately offered his own race bike so that Alberto could continue the race. With the arrival of the second team car, Alberto was provided his own, secondary spare bike. Unfortunately after riding approximately 18km with what is now known to be a broken tibia, Alberto Contador was forced to abandon the 2014 edition of the Tour de France."
As we pointed out in our report last night though - the bike in the pictures clearly has Contador's race number on it - not Roche's and unless Roche was on a spare bike he is riding a McLaren Tarmac which has a completely different paint job.
But maybe Roche can is the best person to tell us what happened - at least in that initial crash. In his Independent blog posted early this morning he sheds some light on what actually happened.
"As I helped Alberto up, I noticed his bike was broken [we assume he means crash-damaged - ed] and there was a stream of blood coming from a gash just under his right knee. His wound looked pretty bad but as a rider, my natural instinct was to simply hand him my bike and encourage him to keep going.
"Take my bike Alberto! Go, go, go!"
"Nico, I don't know if I can," he said as he hobbled out onto the road.
"Go and see. Try it, just jump on the bike!"
"As Alberto took off gingerly on my bike, I waited at the side of the road watching what seemed like everybody in the race pass me by. There were cars and groups of dropped riders everywhere, so I held Alberto's broken bike in one hand and waved the other one frantically in the air, afraid the team car would drive past in the chaos."
It seems then that Roche was there when Alberto crashed, stopped and like the dutiful domestique he is, gave the Spaniard his own bike and then stood at the side of the road with Alberto's crash-damaged bike waiting for the Saxo-Tinkoff team car. The bike Roche was holding at that point was intact, as the live footage from the race shows quite clearly. It's a bit less clear in this still, but obvious from the feed.
When the team car stopped to give Roche a spare bike, Contador's crash-damaged bike was put on the top of the car and a short while later, maybe as one team car was trying to overtake the other, Contador's other spare bike on top of the car (Contador has a spare bike on each team car, three in total) got tangled up with the Bianchi atop the Belkin team car, causing the frame to snap.
This is the frame Contador crashed on and shoe courtesy of C Desimpelaere Tinkoff Head Mech #framegate pic.twitter.com/KfOHtoTNOH
— Richard Gorman (@richardgorman) July 14, 2014
Above is what appears to be a photo of the bike Contador actually crashed on, the bar tape is covered in mud, and it's clearly not broken. The brake lever hoods are both bent around, as you'd expect in such a high speed crash. There's also no front wheel here, that presumably might have been damaged too. No, Contador came out of the crash worse, his jersey covered in mud and a broken leg. So what of the broken frame photo that did the rounds on Twitter?
@TeamBelkin helps out with Contador's bike. pic.twitter.com/nslZaVfIvj
— Richard Keeskamp (@RichardKeeskamp) July 14, 2014
The photo above does actually show a Saxo-Tinkoff mechanic untangling a Specialized team bike from a Bianchi atop the Belkin team car, backing up the claim by Specialized that this was the cause of the broken frame. It had nothing to do with Contador's crash, it was a separate incident, but because events unfolded so quickly and dramatically in the race, many were led into making their own, inaccurate, conclusions.
That version of events makes sense, but there are still questions. For instance, Saxo-Tinkoff have publicly said that Contador's second bike was numbered up, which led to confusion when pictures of it in bits emerged. But as many people have pointed out, the broken bike has Contador's timing chip on it: Logic would dictate that it's the bike he started the race on as it's unusual for a spare bike to have a transponder on. That being said, it's not impossible and pictures of the Saxo-Tinkoff cars at the start show numbered bikes on the roof. Although we haven't seen a high-enough resolution image to check whether they have transponders too.
@wjohngalloway Crappy iPhone shot from Epernay stage start. Looks like AC's bike has number on it on top of car. pic.twitter.com/sOOSUHyjDl
— Dave IH (@daveih) July 15, 2014
On top of all that our friendly materials scientist Trevor Allen has been in touch. He's currently doing a PhD on impacting carbon structures, so he feels well qualified to have a look at the aftermath...
Ignoring all comments and speculation, quite a bit can be read into the picture of the broken bike. Failure analysis like this is a widely used, and experts are regularly involved in court cases.
Two tubes of the bike have failed (obviously):
At top end near the seat tube - this appears to be a tensile failure. The failure surface is quite complex due to the joins with the ST and stays. I suspect there is a mix of join failure and fibre failure in this location all rolled into one, but the key is tensile.
At the down tube - two points of interest: firstly the tube has failed at approximately 45 degrees to its axis. Unlikely a tensile failure, and torsion would be more of a rip - I suspect that is a compressive failure. Secondly the hawkeyed will also notice that the failure interacts with the bottle cage mount. This is will act as a stress concentration, and is possibly the initiation site of the DT failure.
So - tension at the top tube and compression at the down tube.
If you load a bike with a frontal impact – i.e. a horizontal load at the front axle – then you'd get just that: the fork is a long lever arm which will compress the down tube, and because of the rotation about the head tube junction you'll get tension in the top tube with failure occurring at the areas of highest stress.
I can't see how you could drive over a bike and cause that kind of failure of the tubes (why are the wheels and bottle cages intact and the tubes not crushed?). Dropping it from above your head when getting it off the car on to the front wheel would be the right load case, but I suspect the energy wouldn't be sufficient to cause that failure; having the rider on the bike increases the impact energy significantly because of the added momentum in the collision.
If I was asked to look at that bike in my job and guess how it failed, I'd definitely say a big load in from the front. Here are three ways that could happen:
1) A massive pothole with a fistful of last minute front braking (possibly, but not so convinced) or the crash which occurred after the pothole impact or indeed a combination of the two (some damage caused through pothole impact - then said damaged carbon with some delamination hurtles into a tree/verge etc causing a snap)
2) One car drives in to/closely past in same direction another car and two bikes on the racks collide. Contador's bike is likely to be on the outside, as it's just been racked.
3) The mechanic has bike ready for Contador and Belkin drive through (i.e kind of what is in the picture), the bike gets tangled in the rack and there is a convenient tree/verge to support the rear wheel. If this was the case the man holding the bike was pretty lucky he didn't get wedged too!
I don't think the snapped bike caused the fall. Nor do I think the bike snapping in a big crash is necessarily a bad thing.
Latest update
Foto desde el coche @lampre_merida q la bici de @albertocontador se rompió enganchanda, con el coche de Belkin. pic.twitter.com/vX36iUMV3G
— Joxean Fdez. Matxin (@Matxin_) July 15, 2014
This newly emerged photo provides a much better view of how the Specialized frame snapped as a result of becoming tangled with the Belkin team car rack. You can also see the bike clearly has a race number attached, and though it's not 100% possible to confirm, it does look like there is a transponder fixed to the chainstay. This is the most conclusive photo we have yet seen that shows how the frame suffered the damage, putting to rest the speculation that the frame snapped when he hit a pothole. At least for now...
This is one of the most bizarre incidents that we can recall in the Tour de France. Given the narrowness of the roads through the Vosges though and the team car racks bristling with spare bikes, it's a wonder it doesn't actually happen more often.
So, Contador's bike didn't snap underneath him, as many thought has happened, or snap when he crashed either. Saxo-Tinkoff's official version of events raises a few further questions but there's nothing in there that can't really be explained. The damage to the bike is inconclusive: given that driving it into another car on the rack, and riding into a pothole, are both a large frontal load, you'd expect either to result in the failure we see.
We wonder what Contador will make of all the fuss, but we're sure he's got more important things on his mind. We wish him a speed recovery.
Photo credit www.tinkoffsaxo.com
David worked on the road.cc tech team from 2012-2020. Previously he was editor of Bikemagic.com and before that staff writer at RCUK. He's a seasoned cyclist of all disciplines, from road to mountain biking, touring to cyclo-cross, he only wishes he had time to ride them all. He's mildly competitive, though he'll never admit it, and is a frequent road racer but is too lazy to do really well. He currently resides in the Cotswolds, and you can now find him over on his own YouTube channel David Arthur - Just Ride Bikes.
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73 comments
+1 on that. I don't think it really adds to the confusion, though. It clears things up. If he did crash twice, it would appear that this image is of the "bad" crash (as confirmed by live television of the aftermath), and he clearly crashed on frame that wasn't broken in half. I can't fathom how he could have continued on in the race after the rumored first crash if he had crashed on the frame broken in two. That broken frame is not a "frame failure" break. That's a hit-a-stationary-object-at-high-speed (and go straight to hospital) break, wrap-bike-and-body-around-tree break, or a bike-got-hit-by-Belkin frame break. The image of the broken frame clearly is not a break resulting from bad carbon layup or improper frame construction.
I'm going to start another conspiracy. During the footage of Bertie being treated you see Riis remove Bertie's white jacket. Riis then, with his hands behind his back, appeares to re wrap up the jacket into a tighter packet, before stuffing it into a bag on the floor! It's almost as though Riis was trying to hide something in the jacket.
Yes saw that to most odd
Yet again who should trust Riis!
I am actually surprised that more bikes in the TdF aren't damaged while on top of cars.
I had one on the top of my car (my son's race bike) and managed to damage it by being a nit and driving under a car park barrier. I went to the carbon repair guy thinking I was alone in this form of idiocy and he practically makes a living out of it. Car parks, low branches, bikes being dropped, badly secured.
As I say it's surprising that it doesn't happen more often.
But who was on the grassy knoll?
What a shame, that was looking like a top controversy in the making - just what we needed now there's no doping to worry about. Here's another thought, though - just in case you hadn't spotted the culprit: If you look closely at the images when each of the big names have been dumped on the road you will see Wiggins hiding in the bushes with a catapult in his hand and a pea shooter behind his ear...
A non conspiracy theory
2 cars, 2 crashes, 4 bikes:
1. Contadors race bike
2. Contadors secondary bike also with numbers
3. Contdors third bike, no numbers
4. Roaches Bike
Initially
1. Contandor riding
2. On car 1
3. On car 2
4. Roach riding
Contadors first crash. Roach stops to give him his bike. Roach waits at the side of the road for another bike (unrelated).
1. On car 1 (stays like this until the end, the dirty bar bike)
2. On car 1
3. On car 2
4. Contador riding
Belkin Tinkov car collsion
1. On car 1
2. On car 1 (the snapped frame bike has damage caused).
3. On car 2
4. Contador riding
Contador crashes again or stops in pain. Riis gets out the first car. The second car stops with bike 3 given to contador
1. On car 1
2. On car 1
3. Contador Riding
4. On car 2
Contador Retires all the bikes are on cars.
1. Dirty handlebar bike
2. Frame broken due to car collision
3. Riden with broken leg
4. Mclaren super bike.
Case closed...
but why were mechanics ever holding the snapped frame bike on the road and why was it in 53*11 if it was on the car the whole time?
Maybe to make space on the roof rack for another bike? I'd imagine the snapped bike was a nightmare to secure.... Seemed to fit very conveniently in the boot in 2 pieces :p
Because it seems it had been pulled from the car and had to be untangled from the Belkin team car and their bikes:
pic.twitter.com/8Tz8uUNOlj
You all read the article? Only ask cos that Belkin photo is up there in the article already
What most likely happened given the facts ( conspiracy).
Facts: Contador has two crashes
There are 4 bikes:
1. Contandors race bike
2. Roaches orange McLaren bike
3. the new bike contador rides with a broken tibia, no race number.
4. The dirty handlebar bike
Crash one occurs because contador was sprinting to getting a better position in front of Gallopin but hit a pot hole. Bike 1 frame is broken by the impact.
Roache stops and gives contador bike 2.
Roache waits at the road side for a new bike while bike 1 is put on the rack of car.
Belkin and Tinkov cars go past each other with bike 1 coming off somehow. HOW? cars have wing mirrors so it's hard to believe a well secured bike could fall off or touch a belkin bike. Unless bike 1 was already damaged when put onto the car so couldn't be secured properly and had bits hanging over the side.
Meanwhile contador crashes badly on orange bike. Now we see contandor on TV, he gets on bike 3, the rest his history.
Now the PR machine at specialized go into damage limitation, they first claim the frame didn't break, then they realize pics are out so start claiming one then two bikes were run over. Finally they mock up bike 4 as a last ditch attempt to show the bike contador crashed on wasn't broken, but there was a broken bike when did that come from?
I hear you say what if contadors second bike had a race number on? Well bike 3 didn't have a number on: http://wpmedia.sports.nationalpost.com/2014/07/alberto_contador-3.jpg?w=...
"Roche was just behind and saw what had happened. He said the group was going so fast that while he slammed on the breaks immediately it took him around 50 metres to stop.
He said he ran back to Contador and as he did, saw the Spaniard’s bike was broken and blood everywhere from a gash just under his team leader’s right knee."
http://t.co/AKIXllFyhr
Surely you don't get much closer to the action than that (but don't call me Shirley)
Maybe the alien tractor beam that was pulling him along failed?
The only thing I'm surprised by in all the conspiracy theorising going on is that nobody has started complaining how much more dangerous this would be with disk brakes? Surely with how dangerous these apparently are in a crash he'd have lost the leg?
I'm not a fan of Bertie's at all, in fact ever since the 'tainted steak' issues I've liked him less, but he's a bloody hero for cycling 18k with a broken leg (and probably still a damn sight quicker than any of us could ride it intact)
With all these spare bikes, do you think they could spare me a set of those nice ZIPP wheels?
i'm no fan of sinyards tactics, but this is bogus.
all i will say, is contador's personal mechanic faustino muñoz builds all of his race machines with nokon cables. therefore, this is not his machine, or indeed a spare of his!
someone has got "creative"....
Really? Really??
Under the right conditions you can break any bike in half. I'd say a pro-level high speed descent/ditch interface is one of them. So is effectively attaching a bike to two cars and having them drive in opposite directions. Does it matter? Who cares?
Does anyone really give a s**t about his bike? The man has a broken leg! Is it right for all the closet equipment nerds/fascists to come out to air their conspiratorial ravings and obscure the fact that he's really badly hurt?
Good luck to him, I hope he has a speedy recovery. Never mind the insane heroics of getting back on a bike and attempting to ride it with a broken leg.
The guy rode HOW far with a broken/cracked leg? That's superhuman...
IF Contador's spare bike had numbers and transponders (which is highly unlikely) they are the only team in the peloton doing it. The number I could just about believe but not the transponder.
Spare bikes are set up ready to race - transponders and race numbers attached. It's also a very quick and easy way for the mechanic to identify the correct bike on the rack immediately.
As the car never crosses the finish line, the transponders never set off the detector so only that actual bike being raced gets recorded.
I'm not sure why so many people are "liking" this post. Here's a Trek team car from last Monday in Cambridge:
Note on the left Cancellara's spare "Spartacus" Domane. I saw the race one out by the bus, numbered up with power meter etc.
Every spare bike on that car had a rider's name on it (eg you can see Matthew Busche's sticker on an Emonda). So it's not as if they couldn't put a race number on. But they don't. There may be a rule about this?
Nobody would be going on about this if it was Canyon, all the Spesh haters want the bike to have snapped in two with Contador riding it so are determined to ignore the facts which disprove their theories. The snapped frame being clean on a wet day is about all the evidence you need that it wasn't the bike Contador was riding.
Hitting the nail on the head.
There would be just as much speculation for any brand, apparent frame failure is big news. I 've found the conspiracy theorists are only trumped in the rabid posting stakes as the overly defensive 'Spesh' fanboys who are sounding like the PS4 v Xbox One loons that defend their particular product like it's their mum.
There's a photo on cycling tips of Gallopin on the final climb, his bike looks spotless. so a clean looking bike isn't really evidence.
We'll never know the full truth. Specialized mixing up their stories has put paid to that.
There would be just as much speculation for any brand, apparent frame failure is big news. I 've found the conspiracy theorists are only trumped in the rabid posting stakes as the overly defensive 'Spesh' fanboys who are sounding like the PS4 v Xbox One loons that defend their particular product like it's their mum.
There's a photo on cycling tips of Gallopin on the final climb, his bike looks spotless. so a clean looking bike isn't really evidence.
We'll never know the full truth. Specialized mixing up their stories has put paid to that.
The only scenario that explains all the facts for me:
Contador crashes, Roche stops and gives him his bike (this is why we see Roche on the coverage stopped just before we see Contador injured and why Contador has the McLaren when he's being seen to by the docs)
Team stops by Roche and puts Contador's first bike on the car, gives Roche a new bike.
Further down the road Bertie either crashes again or realises he needs medical attention and stops.
Team rushes to help and en route tangles with the Belkin car, breaking Bertie's first bike (which explains the race number and transponder)
Team reaches Contador and gives him his spare bike, which he rides on with until abandoning.
No?
Or...
Contador crashes, hits something (tree/kerb whatever) which totals the frame. Roche says Contador's bike was broken at this point.
Contador pedals on for 2k on Roche's McLaren before getting his knee bandaged and receiving his actual spare bike.
He then pedals on for 18k with a broken leg before abandoning.
It's the only scenario that fits in with what Roche said happened, who was the only person there.
Roche says "His bike was broken" If it wasn't for all this talk of snapped frames we'd just assume this means not rideable (handlebars turned round, buckled wheel or something). Not a broken frame.
But it could equally mean a snapped frame...
I guess we'll never know
Hate to break it to you but there isn't a transponder on the snapped frame.
Or a broken handlebar, or a broken shifter, or a snapped derailleur, or a broken saddle.
A race leader will have at least three spare bikes split between the two cars - and it isn't difficult to put a spare race number on the second bike in order to identify it more easily amongst the spares.
So "as far as you're aware....", you're misinformed on all counts. Settle down, stop armchair commenting and let the details come out in due course.
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