The 2012 Tour of Elk Grove - Photos 7, Men's Pro and Crash Scene

This is where the cyclists turn back on to Elk Grove Blvd from Tonne and head west (toward the finish line) again. This can be a dangerous turn as you will soon see. I was located in the median, between the 2 lanes on Elk Grove Blvd at the Tonne Road intersection for the photos on this page.

It can be hard to get photos from the side, like this, because, even though the camera freezes the action, the riders are actually moving very fast here.

Another view of the riders turning on to Tonne Road from Elk Grove Blvd. In addition to the crowd noise when the riders go by the sound of their tires on the pavement is actually pretty loud. Even though I am not a racer myself, I am really into biking and I thought that this event was pretty exciting.

This is where I was shooting photos (with my camera on continuous release mode) as the lead rider (above) crashed on this turn. I really felt bad for this guy. Not only was he in the lead when he crashed but he got hurt and was taken out of the race.

I didn't actually get the shot when he was going over the handlebars (which my friend saw) but the photo above is where he was leaning way over on the turn just before the crash. I'm not sure if he even had control at this point.

You can see where he is down at this point on the lower left side of the photo above. Since my camera was on continuous shutter release mode, this was just a split second after the previous photo.

This is right after the crash. One of his teammates was there to help immediately.

 

This is a very short time later after more help arrived. You can see that he is still shaken up and bloody. It was sad. I don't know the extent of his injuries.