Stickybottle

English newspaper criticised for Tweet on Croatian cyclist at Tour

Posted on: July 11th, 2018

This is The Telegraph’s take on Croatian rider Robert Kiserlovski crashing out of the Tour de France.

 

The Telegraph newspaper – the voice of middle England – has been criticised for suggesting a Croatian rider crashing out of the Tour de France might be a good omen for the World Cup.

England were playing Croatia tonight in the semi final of the World Cup in Russia.

And when the Telegraph’s Tour de France stage 5 report was Tweeted; the ‘good omen’ reference was made.

Many Twitter users replied by voicing their  disappointment and disgust with the sentiments expressed.

Robert Kiserlovski (Katusha-Alpecin) crashed out of the Tour early on today’s stage, which was won by Peter Sagan (Bora-hansgrohe).

Kiserlovski hit a central reservation in an incident that also involved Gianni Moscon (Team Sky).

However, while the young Italian was able to continue, the 31-year-old Croat was forced out of the race.

His team initially suggested he had a suspected broken collarbone. News of a confirmed diagnosis was awaited at the time of writing.

But the Telegraph’s social media staff apparently seeing his crash as something that may bring fortune on England’s football team tonight did not go down well with those who replied.

We’ve included some of the replies below. Despite the criticism, the Tweet is still published, having been posted before lunchtime.

At the time the comment was shared it was believed Robert Kiserlovski had been hit by a race vehicle. And his condition was unknown other than his being forced out of the race.

The Tour de France has since denied any vehicle was involved in the crash.

 

Twitter users were not happy…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Where did the name come from?

A stickybottle, put simply, is the knackered cyclist’s best friend. As a rider is being dropped from a group, the team manager or support worker in a following car holds a bottle out the window to hand it up. As the handover is taking place, the rider grabs the bottle tight, as does whoever is handing it up, enabling the rider get a good tow and push from momentum of the car. It’s known as a stickybottle because it appears neither the rider nor the person handing it up is able to take their hand off the bottle; it looks stuck to their hands. But please don’t try this at home. We’ve been slyly cheating this way all our lives; it takes a while to perfect.

©2018 Sticky Bottle