OK, this isn’t a sports blog, but we are following the Tour de France over at MobileCrunch, and since T-Mobile has a team this is worth reporting. The team’s smiles (right) have all but disappeared as yet another of their riders has taken a spill.
Today during the ninth stage German rider Marcus Burghardt has crashed after hitting a Labrador as it crossed the road about 50km after the stage of the stage from Val d’lsere. Fortunately neither Burghardt nor the dog were injured, and his bike was undamaged.
T-Mobile had been one of the most high-profile teams in this year’s grueling month-long cycling race, which began last weekend in London. Any chance of a T-Mobile victory has been all but diminished as three riders have already exited the race, including Briton Mark Cavendish and Australian team leader Michael Rogers. Yesterday German teammate Patrik Sinkewitz withdrew after hitting a spectator as he rode to his hotel. Sinkewitz broke his nose in the collision. The spectator was taken to a hospital, and regained consciousness late yesterday.
The Tour continues tomorrow, but for T-Mobile it seems that the race is already over.
OMG. MobileCrunch has officially hit an all time low. Is mobile 2.0 really dead?
The Video of the crash with the dog is here: http://www.untenamhafen.de/2007/07/tour-de-france-marcus
Sorry, this is the link: http://www.untenamhafen.de/2007/07/tour-de-france-marcus-burghardt.html
For T-Mobile this is a big deal, considering that the Tour de France is an event that is actually watched by viewers on mobile handsets.
The company invested a lot of money promoting a professional cycling team — a team that was considered a top contender to win the overall race. With three members out in just as many days, it is bad news for T-Mobile.
Thank you for your comments and thank you for posting the link. I’m relieved that the rider AND dog are both fine!