I've read accounts that said "Ocana, who was riding a very light bike, crashed...." This never made any sense to me, since aquaplaning, even assuming such a thing were possible on a bicycle, would have to do with total weight of bike and rider (though Ocana was a little guy as well). I could see how a bike with less stable handling characteristics might contribute, though at some point, as you say, the rain is so hard that the type of bike hardly matters. It is interesting, though, that Merckx, descending at an equal pace in the same torrential conditions, managed to avoid a crash.
Regards,
Jerry Moos
-----Original Message----- From: Chuck Schmidt [mailto:chuckschmidt@earthlink.net] Sent: Wednesday, April 11, 2001 2:36 PM To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Subject: Re: [CR]Teledyne questions and appeal
Moos, Jerry wrote:
>
(snip)
> One wonders if the Speedwell handling was unstable in the
> rain and if this contributed to Luis Ocana's famous crash while pursuing
> Merckx on that rainy mountain descent in the Tour the France.
There is a film clip of the crash in the movie La Course en Tete and it was raining in torrents. Wouldn't have matter what bike he was on. After he didn't make a turn and hit a rock wall, someone else (Agostino? anyone remember?) came along and crashed at the same place hitting Ocana.
Chuck Schmidt
South Pasadena, California
spring yesterday, winter today...
http://www.velo-retro.com (Campy Timeline, reprints and T-shirts)