July 22, 2014 –Tour de France – Bikegate
When Alberto Contador crashed in stage 10, broadcasters in the United States wasted no 
time to talking about how it appeared his Specialized racing bicycle had broken.
“It looks like his bicycle has broken in half,” exclaimed NBCSN announcer Paul Sherwen to the world. Though the cameras had not been on Contador as he crashed, they did show him getting up, and they did show the broken bicycle, lying on the ground. Or did they?
Contador after his crash and before returning to Spain.
No one could exactly remember, and the next day the story changed. News casters Phil Liggett, Sherwen, Bob Roll, et al, backtracked significantly, even though a blog post from fellow Tinkoff Saxo teammate Nicolas Roche on the day of the crash initially reported Contador’s bike “broken.”
Spending a good 10 minutes of broadcast time that cost hundreds of thousands of advertising dollars, NBC retracted their earlier reporting, and interviewed two managers on the TInkoff-Saxo team, including team manager Bjarne Riis (who famously threw his bicycle while competing in the time trial in stage 20 of the 1997 TDF,) that the broken bike we (thought we had) seen cracked on the ground had actually been broken in a collision between the Tinkoff support vehicle and a Belkin vehicle.
A supporting photo was quickly added to the @Tinkoff-Saxo twitter feed.
The whole incident made one wonder what we had actually seen on television. Did we see Contador standing next to a broken bike, or was that just our collective imagination?
But Roche’s Blog post was clear in saying that Contador’s bike was broken in the first fall (apparently there was a second fall, adding to the confusion.)
“As I helped Alberto up, I noticed his bike was broken and there was a stream of blood coming from a gash just under his right knee. His wound looked pretty bad but as a rider, my natural instinct was to simply hand him my bike and encourage him to keep going.
“Take my bike Alberto! Go, go, go!”
“Nico, I don’t know if I can,” he said as he hobbled out onto the road.
“Go and see. Try it, just jump on the bike!”
“As Alberto took off gingerly on my bike, I waited at the side of the road watching what seemed like everybody in the race pass me by. There were cars and groups of dropped riders everywhere, so I held Alberto’s broken bike in one hand and waved the other one frantically in the air, afraid the team car would drive past in the chaos.”
Websites wasted no time in going after the seeming discrepancy, and parsed the entire incident with the kind of zeal that one might find in a murder investigation, though their conclusions were hardly convincing–either pro or con.
A tweet showing Contador’s cracked bicycle @JohnMacLeary.
Now the incident called “Bikegate,” has become the subject of conspiracy theorists who used reconstructed photos of video and other photos they found on the Internet to prove or disprove the idea that either Contador’s bike snapped when it hit a rock, or snapped when he crashed–or neither.
Even an expert in crash reconstruction came to the fore, concluding that the break on Contador’s no. 31 bicycle could have been caused either by a crash by Contador or by a crash of the two team cars at speed.
A tweet from Tinkoff-Saxo showing the car collision and the broken bike handing from the roof.
Either way, using photos and expert analysis, as well as sharply worded commentary from readers, British site, Road.cc concluded that the bicycle did not break when Contador crashed.
A video from Alberto Contador, the star Tinkoff Saxo rider who broke his tibia in the fall and then abandoned the Tour, was noticeably silent on the cause of the crash.
“In cycling you can’t control everything,” he says to the camera, clearly frustrated, hugely disappointed, and perhaps even angry. Because of his injury, he also says he likely will not be able to be ready for the next big race, the Vuelta a Espana.
Specialized total sales have grown to an estimated $500 million in sales (bikes and accessories,) and team sponsorships are big business. In addition to being a primary sponsor of Team Tinkoff-Saxo, Specialized also is sponsoring two other teams in the Tour right now, including Astana which is the team of the yellow jersey leader, Vincenzo Nibali, and Omega Pharma Quick Step, the team of star sprinter Mark Cavendish (who crashed in stage one,) and Michal Kwiatkowski, who is currently in ninth position overall.
Experts estimate that the sponsorship cost Specialized between 10 and 20 million dollars, though that could be on the high end. Most teams’ total operating costs for a year are about $30 million.
Most star riders don’t use standard issue bicycles, and no doubt, Contador’s was a special
One of three of Contador’s bicycles during the TDF 2014.
issue that was lighter than the kind the public can access at the bike store, though his S-Works Tarmac SL4 frame set is available from Specialized (it’s not clear if its the exact same frame.) There were three versions of the bicycle being used in the race interchangeably, all loaded with the rider’s number. (Whether there was a race chip on each one and how these might be deactivated in a quick replacement on course but the subject of while speculation.)
Specialized has recalled bicycles it manufactured in the past, mostly for cracks in the tubing. In 2013, the last such major recall in the United States, the company recalled 12,000 bicycles saying that the steerer tube could crack, sending riders into potentially life threatening face plants.
But Cannondale also issued a recall of Slice RS bicycles and frame sets in August 2012, citing possible brake-plate loosening. Trek bicycles issued a recall of all it’s Madone models, its most expensive line of road bikes, in December 2013, due to potential brake failures. Trek and Scott bicycles also recalled bikes fitted with Suntour forks built between 2011 and 2013 citing the possibility that the forks could suddenly break–a recall that affected 5,000 Scott and 120,000 Trek bicycles. Many of the recalls involved parts made by other companies contracting with the major bicycle brands.
A quick look at the top bicycle and parts manufacturers on the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission site, shows that almost all major brands have had some safety recall in the past two years.
With Specialized bicycles, the Internet is full of complaints about cracks where the seat-tube meets the bottom brackets, but In many cases the company has replaced frames under warranty.
The company has been generous, according to some users: Wrote one cyclist, “My Tarmac road bike developed a crack at just under 2 years old. My LBS phoned Spesh the following morning, a new better frame was delivered the day after and it was built up that day!”
Warranty replacement varies however. Buyers who have bought frames second hand that they later realized were cracked had difficultly getting their frames replaced by Specialized.
One rider who noticed a crack in his frame just below the headset after a ride wrote into the BikeForums.net to ask if anyone thought it was safe to ride. “I was riding in a pace line and couldn’t avoid a pot hole. I heard a crack sound but didn’t think much of it (just thought it was a rock). When I was wiping it down after the ride i noticed the crack where the carbon mends togeather.. im so pissed,” wrote KiserKm in June 2010
“It would make a nice bit of wall art but that’s about it’s only purpose in life now,” wrote back BCRider.
In June 2013, Todd769 wrote, “Specialized Allez why such crappy looking welds?!!! Why do the welds on the new Allez not look to [SIC] smooth?”
“Reducing cost and having more profit,” wrote back ToffieBoi, who did not support his statement with fact.
“How many Specialized have you seen crack in a race, ever?” posed an industry expert who is also an Olympic champion. “Maybe one.”
We’ll know for sure when Contador comes back next year, and we see which brand bicycle he is riding.