The Cycling Thread

[Marty]

He should be, IMO. Disgusting. Race clean, ffs. So fucked up. No need to throw an elbow whatsoever.

Cavendish was only competing for stage wins and the green jersey. Sagan is a GC contender at this point.

A contender to wear yellow for a couple of days, yes, but Sagan's one weakness is the steepest mountain stages. He would never have worn yellow in Paris.

Bora have protested, of course, but I don't think it'll be rescinded.

 

[nightgoat]

Cavendish was only competing for stage wins and the green jersey. Sagan is a GC contender at this point.

Sagan is many things, but he is not a Grand Tour GC contender. He would have lost 20 minutes at least today.

 

[absolute bobbins]

ITV TdF coverage has a lot to answer for, I've seen far too much of Ian Botham's feet

 

[nightgoat]

ITV TdF coverage has a lot to answer for, I've seen far too much of Ian Botham's feet

Imlach and Boardman are a very good presenter/pundit duo, and David Millar is a good co-commentator. Ned Boulting just isn't a commentator. If you could combine ITV's presenters with Eurosport's commentators it would be perfect. Just need more Jens Voigt.

Not at all surprising to see Sky in full on Sky mode on the climb today, or Thomas reverting back to domestique mode and relinquish yellow. Seems everyone underestimated Aru's attack though. Porte wasn't as great as everyone was expecting him to be, and BMC totally cooked themselves. Not going well for Quintana to be losing time already. Dan Martin's looking great though, hope he can keep it up and get a podium spot, even with a very un-GC team around him.

 

[absolute bobbins]

Imlach and Boardman are a very good presenter/pundit duo, and David Millar is a good co-commentator. Ned Boulting just isn't a commentator. If you could combine ITV's presenters with Eurosport's commentators it would be perfect. Just need more Jens Voigt.

Not at all surprising to see Sky in full on Sky mode on the climb today, or Thomas reverting back to domestique mode and relinquish yellow. Seems everyone underestimated Aru's attack though. Porte wasn't as great as everyone was expecting him to be, and BMC totally cooked themselves. Not going well for Quintana to be losing time already. Dan Martin's looking great though, hope he can keep it up and get a podium spot, even with a very un-GC team around him.

The coverage is fine, it's just Ian Botham's feet. On a 70 inch tv in the office... it's just wrong

 

[nightgoat]

The coverage is fine, it's just Ian Botham's feet. On a 70 inch tv in the office... it's just wrong

What's Ian Botham doing on there?

 

[Bus-Conductor]

Gutted for Cav, broken shoulder. But that's a really odd disqualification. Sagan's elbow, whilst the movement of it is questionable, clearly does not cause the crash as Cav is already on the way down. Yet Demare cut across Bouhanni to far greater extent than Sagan did Cav, yet he has had no punishment whatsoever.

The elbow is perhaps unsportsmanlike, but if they're going with the endangering another rider line they've got the incident mixed up. Seems like the initial demotion to the back of the field and a 30" penalty was ample punishment, but it's wholly inconsistent that the French stage winner receives nothing for what is ultimately the same offence.

It's not known yet whether Degenkolb will be able to start tomorrow, he had a nasty looking crash as he was behind Cav and went straight over the bars. Hopefully he'll be ok.

Completely agree, the elbow is just an instinctive self preservation reaction, not a malicious "take the fucker out" one. Cavandish has always liked the argy bargy and puts himself into tight situations. To not punish the French stage winner at all for what was a far bigger misdemeanour is bollocks.

 

[Spurger King]

Saw a cyclist get a proper kicking today. The path through the park is split into a pedestrian lane and a cycle lane, so being a typical cyclist this **** was riding at speed in the pedestrian lane.

I was sat chilling out in the sun about 30 yards away so saw the whole incident unfold. This twat flew around the corner exiting the park (in the wrong lane) and knocked a girl clean off her feet, injuring her leg. The cyclist also came off. Unfortunately for this prick, the girl's boyfriend happened to be a beefed up meat head who reacted by punching the cyclist in the face, followed by several hard kicks to the stomach. A few people came over to break it up, but not before the boyfriend landed a few more punches.

The cyclist got back on his bike and rode past me with tears in his eyes. Just I was almost feeling sorry for him he then sped up, flew across a crossing, and forced an elderly lady to literally leap out of the way.

Anyway, I don't condone violence, but can't say it wasn't satisfying to watch. Too many cyclists behave as if they're untouchable and above the law. They really need to be registered, insured, and fully accountable.

 

[nightgoat]

Completely agree, the elbow is just an instinctive self preservation reaction, not a malicious "take the fucker out" one. Cavandish has always liked the argy bargy and puts himself into tight situations. To not punish the French stage winner at all for what was a far bigger misdemeanour is bollocks.

That's not to say that Sagan was completely without fault though, but it does seem he was penalised because of the injuries sustained rather than because of his actions. Does that mean if Cav had been fit to start the following stage Sagan would still be in the race? But very inconsistent that the French national champion received no punishment - and it was looked at.

I think Cav's reputation, for what it's worth, proceeds him though. There were times where he got a bit lairy quite easily, but not for several years now. He was taken out on the first stage in 2014 in similar circumstances but no punishment of any sort was given to anyone. Bouhanni won a stage in Paris Nice last year despite being elbowed during the sprint yet was demoted himself for supposedly deviating from his line. Seems you take your luck what mood the commissaires are in.

That just about every comment from ex-pros has been saying it was harsh to DQ Sagan shows they've got it wrong.

 

[aussiespursguy]

That's not to say that Sagan was completely without fault though, but it does seem he was penalised because of the injuries sustained rather than because of his actions. Does that mean if Cav had been fit to start the following stage Sagan would still be in the race? But very inconsistent that the French national champion received no punishment - and it was looked at.

I think Cav's reputation, for what it's worth, proceeds him though. There were times where he got a bit lairy quite easily, but not for several years now. He was taken out on the first stage in 2014 in similar circumstances but no punishment of any sort was given to anyone. Bouhanni won a stage in Paris Nice last year despite being elbowed during the sprint yet was demoted himself for supposedly deviating from his line. Seems you take your luck what mood the commissaires are in.

That just about every comment from ex-pros has been saying it was harsh to DQ Sagan shows they've got it wrong.

I agree. I was really shocked to see him binned to be honest. On the Australian coverage the next night Robbie McEwan (who knows a bit about the dash to the line and is also very friendly still still with a lot of people still involved with the tour) suggested it may have also been to do with a previous incident in the earlier sprint. There was argy bargy going on in the intermediate. Really tough call all the same.
One thing is for sure. We will have a new Green Jersey winner come the end of the tour.
Looks like Quintana may be cooked after riding the Giro. Aru looks strong and knows what it takes to win a Grand Tour. Dan Martin looking strong as well. Still think its Froome's to lose. Not sure he would have wanted to be in yellow just yet though.

 

[nightgoat]

I agree. I was really shocked to see him binned to be honest. On the Australian coverage the next night Robbie McEwan (who knows a bit about the dash to the line and is also very friendly still still with a lot of people still involved with the tour) suggested it may have also been to do with a previous incident in the earlier sprint. There was argy bargy going on in the intermediate. Really tough call all the same.
One thing is for sure. We will have a new Green Jersey winner come the end of the tour.
Looks like Quintana may be cooked after riding the Giro. Aru looks strong and knows what it takes to win a Grand Tour. Dan Martin looking strong as well. Still think its Froome's to lose. Not sure he would have wanted to be in yellow just yet though.

I don't think that was Sagan's fault. The aerial footage showed a gap between two FDJ riders which he was following one of the sprint trains through (Lotto Soudal, I think). Looked like one of the FDJs touched a wheel with someone as he starts leaning into Sagan and then goes down.

Perhaps they needed a bit of controversy to take attention away from the new three second rule on bunch sprints not working...

 

[aussiespursguy]

We are going to get a split here!



Edit: Nope....i was wrong!
Perfect opportunity for a team to split the peleton gone begging!

 

[Marty]

Talking of splits, how the hell can they call Kittel ahead of Boasson Hagen in that finish? That looks like an exact dead heat to me...

 

[aussiespursguy]

Talking of splits, how the hell can they call Kittel ahead of Boasson Hagen in that finish? That looks like an exact dead heat to me...

Yep. Going to bed but i couldn't split them on the photo they showed.
Guess i'll wake up and another controversy will have happened!

 

[nightgoat]

Talking of splits, how the hell can they call Kittel ahead of Boasson Hagen in that finish? That looks like an exact dead heat to me...

6mm apparently! They must have some really exact close up as the photo shown looked a dead heat.

 

[aussiespursguy]

Seriously, try to pick a winner here.

 

[Marty]

Seriously, try to pick a winner here.

View attachment 31176

I don't get why they have to pick a winner when it comes down to less than a hundredth of a second.

 

[aussiespursguy]

Cracking stage so far. Split after split. Great aggressive riding today. Great to watch.

 

[nightgoat]

Demare's in serious danger of missing the time limit here.

 

[aussiespursguy]

Demare's in serious danger of missing the time limit here.

Was just coming in to say the same thing. This has been quick. I think he is stuffed.