The cycling calendar has flipped from one-day classics season over to stage-racing season, and as the manner of racing has changed, so too have the highlights. Valiant solo moves like the one Remco Evenepoel used to stun the field at Liege-Bastogne-Liege are out, replaced by impressively consistent efforts from riders like Ethan Hayter. The lowlights have also changed, from Yves Lampaeart's horrible Allez Opi-Omi! moment, to whatever the hell Eduard Prades did yesterday in Greece.
Prades, a Catalan cyclist who's been grinding the Spanish scene forever and has actually enjoyed some later-career success, thought he won the opening stage of the International Tour of Hellas on Tuesday. He put his thumb in his mouth as he crossed the finish line—a classic cycling victory salute—and put his hands up, only to tumble straight off his bike and onto his ass. That's a rough way to win, or rather, it would be if Prades actually won. Kiwi rider Aaron Gate had taken the stage victory 1:46 before the pack crossed the line, which Prades clearly did not know.
Upon closer viewing, it seems like Prades's saddle wasn't attached very tightly, and once he sat up and put the full weight of his butt onto it, the whole thing buckled and slipped off backwards. How could have he thought he was sprinting for the win? "When I looked at the TV bikes, the support cars, and the way our group was heading, I had the feeling that we were riding for the win," he said. "I thought that the leading group had already been caught, but it turned out that I had misjudged that."
At least he was in good spirits after the double self-own, joking, "At least I have a photo that I really wanted for my son." Just don't show him the video and you'll be good.
