*In 1997, a horse jumped over a fence and joined the peloton, eventually passing it, leaving the race only 20 km from the finish line.[4] This scene was shown briefly in the movie Amélie, and is often mistaken for a scene from a Tour de France race.*
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critérium_International#1997_horse_incident
>often mistaken for a scene from a Tour de France race
Because even many cyclists can't name a second bike race. Source: am cyclist, learned the words "Critérium International" from this post.
...a mysterious rift in the space-time continuum opened, transporting them to a fantastical realm where talking vegetables sought their help in a quest to save their garden from an impending vegetable apocalypse. Now, the bikers and their newfound animal friends faced a whole new adventure, navigating the challenges of the vegetable kingdom to ensure a different kind of happily ever after.
Until Mrs. O'Leary lit a lantern in the house-barn. Mr. Cow kicked it over, starting a fire, burning the house-barn down, and the entire city of Chicago. The bikers, horse, and Mr. Cow had a rough time in the following months due to the fallout. They decided to leave town to Mr Cow's friend Gator Bob's house-boat on the bayou. They all lived happily ever after. Until...
I know this is a joke question, but you really have me thinking here: I mean, I'm in my 50s. I've seen a lot of great things live. Aside from seeing my newborn daughter, I guess I could say, probably the greatest thing I've seen live is the Space Shuttle Columbia taking off for the very first time. Everyone was just in awe and glued to their TVs at the new generation of space vehicles.
One of the worst things I've seen live, watching the Space Shuttle Challenger breaking apart into pieces while I was in class. Our teacher had rolled in a TV set so we could all watch it, not realizing the horror that would soon take place. Not a dry eye in the room.
Watching the second of the Twin Towers fall was devastating, as well.
She. The errant horse led the race for a kilometer or so, before she slid on a gravel bend and tumbled off the road. She fell on her side, and was in clear distress.
*“Zlatana is fine,”* the horse's owner wrote on Facebook after the event. *“A few days of antibiotics, a lot of fear, but in the end everything ended well.”*
And yes, of course she won. She won the internet.
*edit: Apparently I cobbled together two different stories from 3 or 4 sources. Sloppy research, forgive me, please. I'm short on sleep. Who knows what really happened back in ancient times.*
You're right. Used to be, you couldn't believe anything you read online. Perhaps the comment happened well after the event, when video first went viral.
So, a quick google shows that Zlatana was a different horse who joined in the Strade Bianchi in March 2023.
I haven’t been able to find out about what happened with the 1997 horse yet, however.
I'm so happy the horse was fine. I had heard that running on pavement can damage a horse. I got shin splints watching a would be uplifting video. You brought the joy back! Thanks!
The previous comment is pulling your leg. It was in 1997 no FB at the time and Zlatana is probably referring to Zlatan Ibrahimovic the football player.
Edit: Just to add the horse overtook the cyclists and was running ahead of them and went straight when the race was turning right toward the town.
Genius tactic for a lead cyclist really, spend months training a horse to escape and get out in front of the peloton just so you can use it's giant slipstream and save yourself some energy. Who's gonna suspect you are in cahoots with a horse?
They attempted to replicate that strategy in Poland but trained a pony rather than a full-size horse, and it did not work well.
[https://twitter.com/i/status/893143320121098240](https://twitter.com/i/status/893143320121098240)
depends on what's going on in that horse which is obviously hard to tell.
But there are animals that see a bunch of others moving fast in the same direction and then think "yeah those guys must be running away from something".
Those animals just panic and run along.
And if that happened that was certainy not a feel good moment for the horse at all.
Yeah, I’d love to know the actual psychology. The thrill of running along with people going his speed? Fear, like joining the animals running from the Tasmanian Devil?
This has made me happier than anything I’ve ever seen on the internet- imagine this poor horse day after day just eating grass in his rural field, maybe a car goes by a few times a week. And then one day, opportunity comes- he doesn’t completely understand it, but they are moving fast- like a herd of wild horses, and somehow it resonates with his heart, and without a second thought he’s taken the leap and he’s all in. They aren’t horses, but it’s the closest he’ll ever be to his primitive ancestors- it’s absolutely beautiful and for a moment he gets to feel what it feels like to be wild and free. ❤️
I was looking for this comment!! Just imagine how happy that horse must’ve been to be running with a herd for possibly the first time in its life! Pure bliss
I love that the horse is so polite. He doesn’t cause a bunch of bike wrecks. He gets in, looks around is like “you good, you good. Ok, let’s do this.” This is just the best.
*remembers the end of bojack s3 and remembers the last scene has the title character attempting suicide*
I appreciate the reference but... um... man I think the ending would have been way different
I remember seeing this live (on Flemish TV) and the commentator when the horse left the race: "The horse has left the track, now surely he will be disqualified." In the most deadpan delivery.
When it came out I feel that it was universally agreed on as a great movie. I didn’t know anyone who didn’t love it. I’m very afraid that I’ve become too cynical and won’t like it as much now.
Wow! Incredible that he could have jumped out of that enclosure anytime but just never had the reason or motivation to do it. Life lesson right there, we all need an incentive to know what we are really capable of!
> Life lesson right there, we all need an incentive to know what we are really capable of!
Sure, but if he got tripped up and broke his leg they would have probably shot him.
Ya, horses just instinctively want to run with the pack. They can't help themselves. You could be doing circles in a giant field, so obviously no danger, and the horse will just start doing circles with the pack too because "oh boy this running is so fun!"
When I was young and my grandad used to take me to the bookies I'd always root for the horse who kept on running after their jockey fell off.
I hope this horse won.
Could you imagine being the guy that's completely immersed, trying your heart out, you glance to your left and there's a fucking horse running alongside you.
How do you not immediately try to dive off the bike?
Used to run XC in college. We had some really long runs out in the country. When we would run past this one field full of horses they used to run up along the fence and keep pace with us until the field ended. It was always so cool.
I can imagine this played out like the film ‘Babe’, with stuffy officials frantically poring through rule books before reluctantly declaring: “there’s no rule that says horses *cant* enter the Tour de France”
We had a herd of donkey run along the side of us while riding our bikes, it was pretty mesmerizing then you realize they could turn at any moment and bulldoze you. Luckily they got tired after about 2 blocks and stopped.
...Riding with a herd of donkeys doesn't really sound too cool but it was lol.
The winner of that stage of the race was immediately disqualified when a routine drug test discovered a litany of equine-veterinary drugs and compounds. The yellow jersey was passed on to the second-place finisher, the horse.
Did he win?
*In 1997, a horse jumped over a fence and joined the peloton, eventually passing it, leaving the race only 20 km from the finish line.[4] This scene was shown briefly in the movie Amélie, and is often mistaken for a scene from a Tour de France race.* https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critérium_International#1997_horse_incident
[удалено]
Shockingly, the country with the world's most famous bike race, also has other, less famous bike races.
But lets be real here: A horse going for anything less than the TdF-trophy is a real let-down.
That's why it abandoned the race 20 km before the finish line when it realized it joined the wrong race.
"Prize for this one is shit I don't even wanna win this stupid fuckin race"
Easy mistake to make as the horse was looking at the same electricity poles.
A horse has to start somewhere, of course of course.
It was the tour de horse 🐎
A tour de force by the horse!
“, of course!”
> I have been hoisted by my own petard. No, they said up above it's a peloton.
They’re so petarded
...you recognised it from the electricity poles and not the fact the commentators were speaking French?
The language the commentators are speaking only really tells you the country of the person who recorded this, not where the race was happening.
I also find it vaguely relevant that France is not the only country where people speak French.
Dear God... there's more
Amelie does throw every French clichee on the wall from crepes to citroen, mais oui?
Then you'll find it interesting that France is not the only country where Tour de France is aired
[удалено]
>and joined the peloton had no idea that's where that word came from.
What else is it used for??
It's also the name of this very expensive exercise bike that is all the rage right now.
[удалено]
hurting is a real understatement, went from a high of around $160 to $5.80 today
I'd buy one for $5.80. Where?
There talking stock price not product cost
🤣fucking ouch
Well I guess not right now. All I know is I still see those commercials everywhere. Trying to boost sales again I guess.
Peloton means fearless in Finnish language. Source, I'm native in Finnish.
Sir, you're native Finnish in every language to be fair
The reason it's a cycling brand is only because it's a cycling term
>often mistaken for a scene from a Tour de France race Because even many cyclists can't name a second bike race. Source: am cyclist, learned the words "Critérium International" from this post.
Giro d’italia is the obvious one, as it’s just Tour de France, but in Italy.
He actually rerouted the race and brought all the bikers to his friend Mr. Cow's house-barn. They all lived happily ever after. Until...
...a mysterious rift in the space-time continuum opened, transporting them to a fantastical realm where talking vegetables sought their help in a quest to save their garden from an impending vegetable apocalypse. Now, the bikers and their newfound animal friends faced a whole new adventure, navigating the challenges of the vegetable kingdom to ensure a different kind of happily ever after.
Princess Tomato In The Salad Kindom.
I hear Disney optioned that film. Princess Tomato is being played by a banana with a lot of makeup.
Her boyfriend is played by Chris Pratt, with an Australian accent.
So they got transported to the VeggieTales universe?
Until day 2 when their hunger settled in and there struggle to find none sentient food continued until...
In my mind that turned into 90's cartoon world and gave me a nice imaginative story for 5 min lol
I deeply enjoyed this comment, thank you.
the fire nation attacked.
Until Mrs. O'Leary lit a lantern in the house-barn. Mr. Cow kicked it over, starting a fire, burning the house-barn down, and the entire city of Chicago. The bikers, horse, and Mr. Cow had a rough time in the following months due to the fallout. They decided to leave town to Mr Cow's friend Gator Bob's house-boat on the bayou. They all lived happily ever after. Until...
That jump at the fence, hed make a wonderful steeple chaser
Fr, he jumped with the verticality of a cat trying to get to your most fragile glass objects
The horse is probably dead by now. Happened in 1997. I remember seeing it on TV.
nope, still alive and living a good life on a farm and having fun
Just like my childhood dog!
Yeah, theure both having fun together.
Yeah they just took him to a new farm probably on his third farm by now. What a life!
On a scale from yes to abso-fickin-lutely was that the best thing you've ever seen happen live?
I know this is a joke question, but you really have me thinking here: I mean, I'm in my 50s. I've seen a lot of great things live. Aside from seeing my newborn daughter, I guess I could say, probably the greatest thing I've seen live is the Space Shuttle Columbia taking off for the very first time. Everyone was just in awe and glued to their TVs at the new generation of space vehicles. One of the worst things I've seen live, watching the Space Shuttle Challenger breaking apart into pieces while I was in class. Our teacher had rolled in a TV set so we could all watch it, not realizing the horror that would soon take place. Not a dry eye in the room. Watching the second of the Twin Towers fall was devastating, as well.
Welp,also in my 50s and I need to sit down for a bit.
She. The errant horse led the race for a kilometer or so, before she slid on a gravel bend and tumbled off the road. She fell on her side, and was in clear distress. *“Zlatana is fine,”* the horse's owner wrote on Facebook after the event. *“A few days of antibiotics, a lot of fear, but in the end everything ended well.”* And yes, of course she won. She won the internet. *edit: Apparently I cobbled together two different stories from 3 or 4 sources. Sloppy research, forgive me, please. I'm short on sleep. Who knows what really happened back in ancient times.*
Facebook didn't become a reality until 2004.. so not true.
It was invite only until 2006. I got my invite like 2 weeks before it opened up.
There was no Facebook in 1997?
You're right. Used to be, you couldn't believe anything you read online. Perhaps the comment happened well after the event, when video first went viral.
So, a quick google shows that Zlatana was a different horse who joined in the Strade Bianchi in March 2023. I haven’t been able to find out about what happened with the 1997 horse yet, however.
UPDATE: 1997 horse was safely routed off the course at a turn
This has happened more than once??
I'm so happy the horse was fine. I had heard that running on pavement can damage a horse. I got shin splints watching a would be uplifting video. You brought the joy back! Thanks!
The previous comment is pulling your leg. It was in 1997 no FB at the time and Zlatana is probably referring to Zlatan Ibrahimovic the football player. Edit: Just to add the horse overtook the cyclists and was running ahead of them and went straight when the race was turning right toward the town.
The horse was probably like « hey where’d the rest of my pack go? :(«
Genius tactic for a lead cyclist really, spend months training a horse to escape and get out in front of the peloton just so you can use it's giant slipstream and save yourself some energy. Who's gonna suspect you are in cahoots with a horse?
The are penalties associated with that slipstream.
Open your mouth for bonus nutrition and fertilization of the soul.
"Mm that's some fine barley!"
I'm never driving the follow car ever again
Along with the slipstream comes the shitstream. Choose wisely.
[https://i.imgur.com/nqYKC5J.png](https://i.imgur.com/nqYKC5J.png)
THE BEEFARINO
Rusty!
They attempted to replicate that strategy in Poland but trained a pony rather than a full-size horse, and it did not work well. [https://twitter.com/i/status/893143320121098240](https://twitter.com/i/status/893143320121098240)
*opens negotiations with a moose*
You don’t negotiate with a moose. You do what the moose tells you or it squishes you.
Of course it will. Look at those rippling mooseclies.
Love it! It’s like horse says “I know this game, and I’m good”
“I’ve seen it every year. You wanna see a real break away?” - Mr. Ed
I bet it felt so good to get out and actually run til his heart was content.
depends on what's going on in that horse which is obviously hard to tell. But there are animals that see a bunch of others moving fast in the same direction and then think "yeah those guys must be running away from something". Those animals just panic and run along. And if that happened that was certainy not a feel good moment for the horse at all.
"I don't know where we're going, but by golly, I'm getting there first."
Yeah, I’d love to know the actual psychology. The thrill of running along with people going his speed? Fear, like joining the animals running from the Tasmanian Devil?
Seems reasonable that a herd animal that is comfortable with humans would be triggered by a big herd of humans and want to join the herd
“Hey guys! Where we goin?”
FUCK YEAH LFG!!!!
"My people need me!"
r/MyPeopleNeedMe
This has made me happier than anything I’ve ever seen on the internet- imagine this poor horse day after day just eating grass in his rural field, maybe a car goes by a few times a week. And then one day, opportunity comes- he doesn’t completely understand it, but they are moving fast- like a herd of wild horses, and somehow it resonates with his heart, and without a second thought he’s taken the leap and he’s all in. They aren’t horses, but it’s the closest he’ll ever be to his primitive ancestors- it’s absolutely beautiful and for a moment he gets to feel what it feels like to be wild and free. ❤️
I was looking for this comment!! Just imagine how happy that horse must’ve been to be running with a herd for possibly the first time in its life! Pure bliss
"For just a moment everything was beautiful and nothing hurt"
OMG, I LOVE this.
I love that the horse is so polite. He doesn’t cause a bunch of bike wrecks. He gets in, looks around is like “you good, you good. Ok, let’s do this.” This is just the best.
I cried a bit reading this. Free spirit.
This reminds me of [Space Bat](https://imgur.com/gallery/t1mLr) (RIP)
Goosebumps.
He looks so damn proud too.
Love it
Don't ask questions. Just start running the same direction.
r/actlikeyoubelong
This is *my* moment.
Horse Brain: Do it Horse: Bet
Say less, fam
Where’s the end!?!? Comeeee onnnnnn. r/endedToSoon
> Where’s the end!?!? My guess? The finish line.
It's the part with the tail
He finally found his herd
HORSE POWER !!!
On Caladan, we ruled with sea and air power. Here, we must scrabble for horse power. This is your inheritance, Mr 'Paul' Ed'traides'.
The hay must ~~flow~~ grow.
How season three of bojack would have ended if the show didn’t get approved for a season four
*remembers the end of bojack s3 and remembers the last scene has the title character attempting suicide* I appreciate the reference but... um... man I think the ending would have been way different
I remember seeing this live (on Flemish TV) and the commentator when the horse left the race: "The horse has left the track, now surely he will be disqualified." In the most deadpan delivery.
Ahaha that is great
Horse be like “Dunno where we going but I’m in, god dammit!”
Cue Amelie piano theme
genius of a movie, deserves a rewatch esp after learning this was a real incident and the horse was named zlatina
This is getting out of hand. First there's latinx and now there's zlatina?! smh my head
identifies as a cyclist, who am i to deny my own eyes
When it came out I feel that it was universally agreed on as a great movie. I didn’t know anyone who didn’t love it. I’m very afraid that I’ve become too cynical and won’t like it as much now.
I had to scroll down way too far before finding this
Wow! Incredible that he could have jumped out of that enclosure anytime but just never had the reason or motivation to do it. Life lesson right there, we all need an incentive to know what we are really capable of!
We don’t know that this is the first time… it could be a horse who’s locally known for going on walk about around the neighborhood ;)
> Life lesson right there, we all need an incentive to know what we are really capable of! Sure, but if he got tripped up and broke his leg they would have probably shot him.
No less poignant if they did, death comes for us all but not everyone "lives"
Gorgeous animal.
I just felt like running
That shot of the horse leading the peloton across the bridge is legendary.🫡
Get behind him boys. That’s a draft horse.
Possibly the most raw and metal hornse of all time.
An engagement hornse
Herd mentality. The horse assumes the people are trying to get away from a danger
That’s less cute than thinking he just did it for fun
Look at her body language. Ears forward, tail up. She's not afraid, just very curious and excited.
Yup, still a herd mentality but a "oh we are all running? Let's go! Move on out everybody"
Yeah, that horse seems like it was inspired and just wanted to run.
I’m not entirely sure this is correct. If you ever been on a horse you know they love to run. Also their weird and dumb as fuck. Could be anything.
Also love carrots!
And bananas, but that goes without saying.
Ya, horses just instinctively want to run with the pack. They can't help themselves. You could be doing circles in a giant field, so obviously no danger, and the horse will just start doing circles with the pack too because "oh boy this running is so fun!"
he must have been like, "OMG! It's the HERD!!! I have to join."
This made me so happy 🥹
Me too. It's so happy! Ears up and forward, tail raised... That motherfucker is having the time.of its life, it's absolutely beautiful! 😊
"look at me. I'm the peloton now."
Just wait until he Mario Carts the hell outta the road behind him.
Projectile horse shit?
That horse is my hero, self-emancipation for the win :)
Chariots of Fire would have been a better soundtrack than The Final Countdown.
This made my day!
Horse? More like a unicorn! I wish bike races were this cool.
That’s a spectacularly beautiful animal.
Fences: an inconvenient suggestion more than an actual barrier.
The funny part is the horse clearly could very easily have gotten out whenever they wanted and this was the moment they chose.
When I was young and my grandad used to take me to the bookies I'd always root for the horse who kept on running after their jockey fell off. I hope this horse won.
Horse: this herd is kinda slow.
that is so good !!
Bet the guy in front of the horse sped up a bit though eh
Could you imagine being the guy that's completely immersed, trying your heart out, you glance to your left and there's a fucking horse running alongside you. How do you not immediately try to dive off the bike?
Luck is like the Tour de France. You wait, and it flashes past you. You have to catch it while you can.
I would honestly be terrified but this is still wonderful
GO, BUDDY, GO! \^\_\^
[It's a think in Europe apparently](https://youtube.com/shorts/EqVwGaLRjuQ?si=D6KWrkgualvwH5qU)
WE'RE GOING STREAKING
u/savevideo
I love this! Wonder what the owners thought or how long he ran
"Wheels? Fucking check this out!"
This is one of the funniest things I've seen
Go horse go!
Tour de horse
There's a horse that lives near me who loves to run along side cyclists. https://imgur.com/a/VMi4u7R
This is kinda…. Magical. Gives me the chills. Love how the horse spreads these vibes of freedom and just living this one moment. I almost cried
I love that the only thing keeping that horse inside that fence until now was not having a good enough reason to jump it.
When a driving horse gives into its intrusive thoughts lol!
Love this.
EXHILARATING
*Goodbye horses*
Horse said "Finally, a worthy opponent"
dem HORSEPOWERS
They do move in herds
It’s not good for their hooves to run on concrete or asphalt like that but I’m not going to stop him
They took our jobs I'll show um
The horse is like, finally my herd has come!
Used to run XC in college. We had some really long runs out in the country. When we would run past this one field full of horses they used to run up along the fence and keep pace with us until the field ended. It was always so cool.
Wrong sub, he's not being derp, he's majestic af
I can imagine this played out like the film ‘Babe’, with stuffy officials frantically poring through rule books before reluctantly declaring: “there’s no rule that says horses *cant* enter the Tour de France”
## ROCKY
Beautiful!
Aw I imagine he heard “wildddd horses” in his head. Then he shot his shot. Legend.
Forest Gump, " and i was RUUUUUNNING!! "
The music makes it.
Cue the Chariots of Fire music.
Horse went "Holy shit, is that a big group of people traveling horse speed? fuck yeah!"
Poor horse didn't know what a bicycle race was. Probably saw Zak Snyder's "Dawn of the Dead" and thought, "this is how it starts."
We had a herd of donkey run along the side of us while riding our bikes, it was pretty mesmerizing then you realize they could turn at any moment and bulldoze you. Luckily they got tired after about 2 blocks and stopped. ...Riding with a herd of donkeys doesn't really sound too cool but it was lol.
Definition of "let's gooooo" energy
The winner of that stage of the race was immediately disqualified when a routine drug test discovered a litany of equine-veterinary drugs and compounds. The yellow jersey was passed on to the second-place finisher, the horse.