The Roar
The Roar

Advertisement

Cyclist dirty as cobbles taken out of Tour

10th July, 2014
1

Cyclists either love the cobbles of north-eastern France or hate them with equal passion.

Simon Gerrans says he’d rather go to the dentist than race on the notorious “pave”.

And Australian Heinrich Haussler has reminded everyone he sits firmly in the former category.

The IAM Cycling team member was furious when Tour de France organisers removed two sections of cobbles from Wednesday’s fifth stage for safety reasons.

The much-anticipated stage took in several country back roads that are used for the famed Parix-Roubaix classic, regarded as cycling’s toughest one-day race.

Parix-Roubaix is nicknamed the hell of the north.

Adding to Wednesday’s challenge, wet and windy conditions made bike handling on the muddy cobbles even more treacherous than usual.

But the hell of cobbles plus miserable conditions equals heaven for a cycling hard man.

Advertisement

“I love these conditions and I’m bloody pissed off that they took (sectors) out, but that’s the way it is,” Haussler told the cyclingtips website.

“Since this stage has been released (last year), I’ve been looking forward to it and the weather conditions have come into my favour too and then they take two sectors out.

“It’s like taking two bloody climbs out for the hill climbers.

“I’ve been looking at the weather report for the past week, so I knew it was going to be (these types) of conditions.”

The stage lived up to the hype, with plenty of carnage and significant time gaps.

Defending champion Chris Froome pulled out when he crashed twice even before the first cobbled section and Italian race leader Vincenzo Nibali gained valuable time on his rivals.

While Haussler loves the cobbles, they did not love him on Wednesday.

Advertisement

In a classic case of being careful what you wish for, Haussler finished 115th on the stage, while Gerrans was 121st.

close