Looks broken.

Nope. The bike in that photo has number plate ends in 7. Not AC's bike.

The photo I posted has a number plate (and thus his primary bike) that ends in 1 for the team leader- AC.

Maybe I posted the wrong link both times, but they said on the broadcast that the crash was caused by hitting something in the road and wasn't caused by a broken bike. And the cracked frame that you posted was caused when the bike fell off the car. I am just going off what they said on the broadcast and stuff I saw on Twitter.

I thought spare bikes normally do not have numbers on them.

I believe contador crashed on his own #31 bike by hitting a pot hole, then roche lent him his McLaren as he tried to continue to ride on. He then stopped for the medical team to help bandage his knee which is the picture you see with the McLaren on the side of the road. That's my latest understanding.

I believe contador crashed on his own #31 bike by hitting a pot hole, then roche lent him his McLaren as he tried to continue to ride on. He then stopped for the medical team to help bandage his knee which is the picture you see with the McLaren on the side of the road. That's my latest understanding.

That makes sense. So is the bike that jmh posted the bike he was riding when he crashed or was it the one that fell off the car like they said on the broadcast?

shall we bring back this goodie? especially pertinent given that the rider given a score of "9" just got popped

How those failures occurred, though, is not entirely clear.
Specialized, Tinkoff-Saxo’s bike sponsor, initially denied reports that Contador’s bike had broken at all, either resulting in or as a result of the crash, or via some other externality. The company first stated that a bike had fallen off the roof of a car. That story was then amended — it still involved a car, but instead stated that Nicolas Roche’s bike had been run over earlier in the stage. This broken bike was the start of the rumors, it said.
“We have spoken to Alberto’s brother as well as his personal mechanic (Faustino Muñoz) and the mechanic who was at the scene (Rune Kristensen), and contrary to some early, unconfirmed reports, frame failure was not involved in Alberto’s incident today. Nicolas Roche was involved in a separate incident today and while his bike was laying on the road it was run over by a car causing it to break, potentially giving rise to the initial inaccurate reporting,” the original statement read.
But the photos do not lie. Contador is #31, and his race number is on the broken frame. The Roche incident relayed in this statement may be entirely factual, but it is clear that Contador’s bike broke as well.
Specialized later corrected itself again, stating that Contador’s bike that had been run over as well. A source within the team who was present at the scene of the crash explained that Contador’s mechanic, Faustino Munoz, grabbed his backup bike off the roof, then, seeing the condition of Contador, rushed to his aid, leaving the bike against the team car. The team car drove off and crushed the bike. Photos were taken, and the broken bike story took off.
The alternative potential explanation, of course, is that Contador’s bike broke on impact with a large pothole.
Contador crashed when he hit a hole in the road, according to representatives from his Tinkoff-Saxo team and riders who were nearby.
Movistar’s Alejandro Valverde said he saw Contador’s bars slip, which caused him to crash. “I saw him [Contador] crash right in front of me. His handlebars slipped when he hit a pothole,” Valverde told Spanish radio. “I realized at the feed zone that he abandoned.”
A direct impact with a large pothole could cause a compression fracture in his frame at the aforementioned points, though it is unlikely. His fork or head tube would likely fail first. These frames are not designed to hit solid objects (and the back side of a pothole is a solid object) at 40 miles per hour; most top-level, lightweight frames would likely fracture under such stress.
The likelihood of Contador’s frame breaking before the crash, causing his crash, is close to zero. Munoz is one of the best mechanics in the world; Contador’s bikes are pampered, and Specialized has, historically, designed reliable carbon fiber frames.
The timeline from the crash onwards is now clear.
Read more at http://velonews.competitor.com/...#vtUifKfrrX34z10s.99

According to the company’s team liaison Giampaolo Mondini, the rider fell on a straight road when he was descending at speed. “He was trying to take some bars from his pocket, the tarmac was irregular and he lost the control of his bike and fell,” he told CyclingTips.
“What happened next is that the team car tried to get recover position and get up to him, passing all the other team cars in doing so. The road was really narrow and the second bike on the roof ended up touching those on the Belkin team car. It was going pretty fast and the frame broke on top of the roof due to the impact.

Who other than former U.S. postal guys?

Today Nibali showed the dominance he had at last year's Giro. Unless he crashes, this one's over. //

And how did that give the yellow to some other team so they can do all the grunt chasing work out for ya?? His team was front and center even though he gave up the yellow yesterday, and i think i could feel him saying WTF and just get it back since we have to do the work to protect it or his place either way. I agree at this point it is his to lose, no one showing they can climb with him except of course the guy that just quit the tour.


You know who has really stepped up is Porte. Guy hired to be second banana and now kicking all the other captains asses. If one assumes that each team had a top GC guy, then he is doing about 15 places better than he should be, and not counting all the other LT's on the other teams too..I like his chances for a podium..