(Photos © J. Maus)
There was some great racing action at the Laughing Planet Cafe/Cirque du Cycling event on Mississippi Avenue on Saturday. The heat tested the racers, but the crowds more than made up for it.
Speaking of crowds, racer Samuel Nicoletti (Gentle Lovers) might have gotten a bit carried away by their loud roars on the finishing straight. He had a small lead over Quinn Keogh (Rubicon-ORBEA/Lance Armstrong Foundation) and raised his hands in the air to celebrate. The only problem was, he did it a bit premature and Keogh nipped him at the line. Check out the photo series below to see the reactions of both racers as it happened…
Congrats to Quinn, Samuel, and all the racers for putting on such a great show.
See my full photo gallery from the race and read a full report from Pat Malach at Oregon Cycling Action.
I like this quote from Nicoletti: “Everyone always asked me why I never threw my arms up,” he said. “I was going to do it this time.”
From: http://oregon.cyclingaction.com/2010/keogh-steals-cirque-du-cycling-win-at-the-line/
The story I heard was that the race umpire wasn’t watching at the finish line, and declared Nicoletti the winner. Commissioner Bud Selig refused to correct the result, in spite of video evidence to the contrary.
Exceptional finish line photo series. Well done!
Sick bike throw!
It wasn’t the race official that made the incorrect call. It was the race announcer. The race officials immediately scored the correct rider using the finish lynx picture. Check out a copy of that picture at http://oregon.cyclingaction.com/ The difference was less 10,000 of a second.
The final picture says it all. What an awesome race and finish.
I spoke with Sam after the race. He was a little bummed, but basically he said “what can you do, it was a great close race.” A lesson learned indeed.
Great job to Quinn for getting back in the race after crashing, and sticking with it all the way to the end!
It was a great day for bike racing!
Is that a codpiece on his shorts?
I saw the aftermath of what looked like a gnarly crash. Is everybody OK?
Everyone is recovering. We still have 1 rider in the hospital with multiple fractures
Served.
I was at the race and saw the pile-up right as it was happening. I was looking the other way when I heard a loud bang that I assumed was somebody’s tire blowing. I turned around and saw a lot of riders going down. I thought it was just bad luck to have a tire blow at that particular point with the pack coming around the turn, but a quote on the Oregon Cycling Action site says that a spectator threw something into the pack. If that is the case I hope they can somehow determine who that person was and charge them with assault. It is beyond disgusting that someone could do something like that- especially after the previous incident with the tennis ball.
What was especially concerning was how long it took medical help to arrive. It was obvious from the beginning that it was a bad crash and at least one rider was seriously hurt. It took a couple of minutes before one guy with a first aid shirt went trotting over and he didn’t do much other than clear people back from the prone rider. It took quite a while before any real medical staff arrived and started tending to him.
It looked grim, especially when they immobilized him and strapped to the gurney. I hope it was nothing more serious than some broken bones and that he recovers fully.
great job to the Quinn’r for pushing through to the line, great race and a great finish!
regarding the speed of medical response, I thought it was quick and appropriate. There were at least 3 physicians from the crowd that were there within seconds, and race first aid was there shortly later.
Seth- it’s good to hear that there were physicians in the crowd helping out. From our perspective right where the course turned right on Failing, it looked like it was just concerned folks from the crowd gathered around. I still think it took too long for the first guy in the red first aid shirt to get there. Regardless, I hope the rider wasn’t hurt too badly.