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news
Tyler Farrar (picture Jens Herrndorff).JPGTyler Farrar borrows fan's shoes and bike to finish Tour Down Under stage
Dimension Data’s Tyler Farrar borrowed shoes and a bike from a fan to ensure he completed today’s Stage 3 of the Tour Down Under to stay in the race.
With his team car and neutral service support already up the road, the American, left bloodied and scarred by the crash, gratefully accepted the offer of help from 42-year-old New Zealander Anthony Tooman, reports Adelaide Now.
The assistance contravened a UCI rule that says that “riders may only receive technical support from the technical personnel of their team or from one of the neutral support cars or else from the broom wagon.”
However, the commissaries decided not to sanction the American, who finished the stage on the De Rosa bike 13 minutes 7 seconds behind winner Simon Gerrans of Orica-GreenEdge, because of exceptional circumstances.
Mr Tooman, who went to the end of the stage in the broom wagon, said: “We could see him on the side of the road and asked ‘do you need a wheel?’ and he said ‘nah, a wheel is not going to cut it.’
“Then it went to ‘well, what pedals are you running?’
“He was on Speedplay and I was on Shimano, and as soon as that was decided it was just ‘well you might as well just take everything’.
“Then the next question was ‘what size shoe are you?’
“He was a size 43 and I’m a 44, so we swapped shoes, he jumped on my bike, we gave him some water and seeya later.”
After the stage, Farrar’s team tweeted: “A big thanks to the spectator who lent Tyler Farrar his bike today. Tyler would be out of the @tourdownunder if it weren't for you mate! ;)”
The crash happened with around 20 kilometres left as the group approached the Corkscrew Road climb, with Farrar only noticing around 5 kilometres later that his derailleur had broken.
In a blog post on The Peloton Brief, Farrar said: “In 14 years as a professional this was the first time I’ve ever had this experience.
“I couldn’t stop saying thank you over and over again. He saved my tour. I really didn’t want to come to Australia to do 2.5 days of racing. It’s a pretty cool look into how nice people in Australia are.
He added: “He’s gonna love his new Strava record on Corkscrew now. Thanks man!”
Dimension Data have given Mr Tooman a full set of team kit for his help, and he later posted a picture of it to Instagram.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
Latest Comments
- Spangly Shiny 1 hour 46 min ago
Hear, hear: not just a boomer here but a retiree also. C3a, you are bang out of order.
- Backladder 4 hours 33 min ago
Totally agree, it is confusing, do they mean it was three times as many as before or was it up by three times as many so actually 4 times as many?
- hawkinspeter 4 hours 40 min ago
I've noticed previously that it can take a couple of hours for the post to show up in the forum posts section, but if it's not appearing at all,...
- wtjs 4 hours 48 min ago
Unable to trust it... My solution to this problem began a few years ago- just get another one when they're cheap and light enough
- Dnnnnnn 19 hours 46 min ago
The CUK members' own stories about their travels in the mag make me wonder whether road.cc could built up a bank of readers' favourite routes? It...
- Hirsute 22 hours 5 min ago
There is no way on that terrain the wheels would clog up.
- TempleOrion 23 hours 11 min ago
No. But do you think Trump is? 🤡💩🤣
- chrisonabike 1 day 31 min ago
Was a stocking-filler type thing but always handy - reflective spoke straws. (They're not reflecting as I turned the flash off.)
- hawkinspeter 1 day 4 hours ago
Dont forget Linford Christie
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12 comments
My nephew is a Cat A racer in Adelaide, and is always picking up incredible bikes for a fraction of the price we'd pay in the UK. He says it's because the local Mamils spend up big, get bored, and then buy the next new thing. The overall market is smaller so these near new top spec bikes go for a pittance. He has a hugely enviable stable of bikes as a result....
When I was down there last year his local high street had an ultra-high-end Mamil bike shop, and a low-end shop selling basic kid's bikes and low-end first bikes. Nothing in between, and seemingly nothing made locally, bar a few very new custom builders. There's a very active club riding scene because of the Adelaide Hills which are right behind the city and abound with 400-500m climbs and descents.
The bike is a De Rosa Protos, with a discreet paint finish, is made in Italy, can be made to custom geometry spec and is the same frame the Nippo Fantini team ride on. I noticed a picture with Farrar off the bike afterwards and almost admiring it, it is reputed to be the stiffest frame on the market. I wonder what his Cervelo felt like afterwards.
Aside from the mess over wheels and bike rules why haven't the UCI banned that haircut yet? Reminds me of the question - 'How you you fit a man's ponytail under a helmet?' 'Easy. Cut it off.'
I didn't fight in two world wars to have to watch long haired hippies - some with silly beards and vulgar tattoos - riding in the pro peleton.
No wonder Tyler's so accident prone. Maybe he can't see where he's going.
I'm guessing no one did. I'm also guessing that if you have to worry about that now, you have far too much time on your hands.
Please please please stop these autoplay video ads. Brutal.
use an adblocker, subtle advertising is ok, but if it rammed down my throat I hit the culprits in the wallet.
Australians and New Zealanders (particularly the former) get a lot of grief here for their attitudes towards cycling but in my experience to a man they are all proper nice guys/girls (unless you confuse an Aussie for a Kiwi or vice-versa). Way to represent the antipodes, mates.
Also, that seems like a DeRosa King XS, right? Just above the UCI weight limit, then. Would've been fun if it was a bit below it.
Double post
Bet he wished he had picked up an electric assist bike
So Porte gets penalised for taking a wheel from another rider last year but Farrer is OK to take a bike from the general public?
Also, is it possible for Tyler Farrer to ride a bike and not crash? I wonder if he falls off his seat with the same regularity.
Great story - please the officials practised a bit of common sense. Eugène Christophe must be spinning in his grave at the though of how easy modern day riders have it!
I hate speedplays as well, although this seems to be a pretty drastic means of getting out of wearing them. Bloke was 40+. No surprises, "Vets is where all the good stuff is". I am in the same glasshouse. Australians (and I am one - just don't live there anymore) seem to have a prediliction for overpriced Italian bikes - when I visited at Christmas, I saw a far higher proportion of Pinarellos, Bianchis, Colnagos than in the UK. Seems marginally unfortunate given most (all?) of the frames begin their life closer to Australia (in Taiwan or China) than Italy.