WTF was all that about???
How poncey, to bimble across the line because some soft swiss bloke says its to dangerous to race.
If i was a sponsor i'd be asking for a refund for today's non-race. 😡

couldn't agree more. cyclings money comes from sponsors, no spectators equals no sponsors equals no money. behaving like that makes a mockery of the sport and pushes fans away and when the fans go the sponsors will go with them. Besides that its also bloody rude to all the people who came out to watch the 'race'. Cancellara needs to get his head out of his a**se.

agreed. i'm surprised one of the smaller teams didn't just turn on the power and think sod it, i could get something out of this.

its a race. if you crash, too bad. you shouldn't expect the rest to stop.

Dave Brailsford thinks that there may have been a diesel spill or something on that stretch where they had the huge crash. So perhaps the route really wasn't safe enough for folk to be racing on.

jimmyshand – Member
Dave Brailsford thinks that there may have been a diesel spill or something on that stretch where they had the huge crash. So perhaps the route really wasn't safe enough for folk to be racing on.

Should the roads be swept with palm fronds before the passing of the almighty? No. It's "road" racing. Deal with it and MTFU!

Not pleased with what Spartacus did there.

Salad.

lord knows what they'll make of it tomorrow.

Perhaps they're out now laying carpets over the difficult bits?

He gave up the yellow jersey to ensure that the protest happened. It's not like he did it lightly. Once the Schleks rejoined they still had plenty of time to pull enough time back on Chavenel to ensure he stayed in Yellow.

There's a long history of industrial action in the Tour quite often led by one of the organisers current senior member.

when is it on TV tonight – have i missed it?

http://www.radiotimes.com/

HTH
HAND

If I was racing along at the speeds they do I would be pretty pissed off if the organisers werent looking out for my safety at all times…

DH races get cancelled for dodgy conditions too you know.

Gutted. I have £20 on Mechov @ 25/1 and if Fab hadnt slowed down the get away guys then I would be laughing now as Contador, Lance & the Schlecks all got caught up or crashed.

I can understand why Fab slowed it down, he could of also easily sped of being in his last year @ Saxo Bank. However I dont agree that they couldnt of started racing from 8k or so out.

Odd, odd day. Tommorow is going to be very interesting indeed.

It's a race, get on with it!
A dog ran out yesterday but that didn't stop them contesting the finish.
Nodody stopped when Cav caused yesterdays crash.

I broke my knee in a race 5 years ago and nobody stopped for me, in fact i heard mutterings about the fact that i was lying on the racing line with my kneecap in two peices, i was in second place at the time.

lance came of at 60kph going in a straight line, the tour head honcho fell on his arse helping a rider to his feet…i guess it was slippy, diesel and water don't mix kids, remember that

A few people are muttering its more of a protest for the stage tommorow where the big guns are shitting themselves about the cobbles.

But as boardman said, they've known the course for almost a year, nobodys making them do it.

I broke my knee in a race 5 years ago and nobody stopped for me, in fact i heard mutterings about the fact that i was lying on the racing line with my kneecap in two peices, i was in second place at the time.

Did you not finish?

it's a race, not a precesion… I was really dissappointed in the riders and particularly Cancellara for organising that to the extreme. OK, a few accidents, may have been diesel on the road whatever… regroup fair enough, let the main players get back on it… but then RACE. **** sake, if I'd been one of the spectators at the end of that stage I would have been seriously dissapointed and would ask the tour organisers for my day back and to fine the riders. Excited to see pro's blasting past in a sprint finish and getting a slow ride by. nah.

If they do it again tomorrow, I'm afraid I wont be watching the rest of the tour. Complete piss take. It's a race – you know what to expect, you've known the route for a year, you've raced on these roads before. Sort it out boys.

There's talk that it may have been deliberate sabotage since Andy Schleck's bike appears to have vanished in the confusion (story here) – someone causing a crash by pouring oil on the road then taking advantage of the mass of people, cars, motorbikes and photographers to grab a bike.

🙁

I can sort of understand Cancellara slowing down after as the race was in a mess, he wanted to wait for his team mates, but they had about 20k to race still, why didnt they start racing with 10k to go?

What happened to Cavendish ? I didn't see him fall and yet finished 10 mins behind a pack free wheeling in ! Hushovd gained more pts today and will be strong tomorrow. Not looking good for green.

Just got dropped by the main group, he doesnt like Hills.

No Thor didn't gain any points.
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/hushovd-furious-as-points-neutralised-in-spa

Hushovd gained more pts today

No he didn't, that was the point of it being "neutralised". Chavanel got his points, no-one else was awarded any.

Its great news for Chavanel though 🙂

I think they were just practising going on strike ready for when they reach France

Can you imagine the guy on the radio to Chavanel?

"Yeah, everyone else is organising a protest, they've asked if you can slow down and let them cross the line together."

😉

I thought Spartacus had more in him than that, very disappointed.

And check out Robbie hunters twitter. slagging off northern european roads etc, saying grand tours shouldn't race on them, Idiot. t

Rule number 5. Harden the **** Up

Rule No1 about the Tour.

It's about selling newspapers.

They'll sell plenty tomorrow.

Its a shame our papers over here only talk about fat overpaid **** who kick a bag of air!

There is a long history of not attacking if your rival falls. It goes back a lot longer than advertising, sponsors etc.

It made for lousy viewing but it was the right thing to do. Both schlecks, contador and Armstrong all fell, so anyone could have taken a big chunk out of all of them but its just not right to attack a fallen rider.

Ullrich v Armstrong springs to mind their Steve. Its also normally the case that the malliont jaune speaks for the pelaton.

There is a long history of not attacking if your rival falls. It goes back a lot longer than advertising, sponsors etc.

Don't mention that to Robert Millar, he's got an entirely different point of view on that matter.

MartinGT: this clip here 🙂
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbpHflmmKVM

Ullrich could have plowed on and attacked, but he waited as did all the others. Armstrong won that tour by 61seconds

I agree that no one attacks when people are down, but the after affects of the crash were over, the peleton were back together, apart from people dropped on the final climb, so why no sprint?

I see the BBC are blaming it on a petrol spill. Surely the petrol tanks of modern motorbikes are 'watertight' unless they rupture? The bike concerned seemed to be up and running pdq so nothing quite adds up!

All in favour of waiting for the regrouping but what happened after that was a farce.

I agree that no one attacks when people are down, but the after affects of the crash were over, the peleton were back together, apart from people dropped on the final climb, so why no sprint?

I bet cancellara wouldn't have done it if lance and contador were that far behind. He's gone down in my estimation. they're paid to entertain and failed massively in that respect!

Rule number 5. Harden the **** Up there wil be no[/i]…. rule 5

fixed it for you 😉

Can you imagine taking time off work, getting to the finish line 2-3 hours before the finish to get a good spot to see the final sprint… and seeing that debarcle. Get with it, its a race and it rained so some of the road got slippery. I hope it purs tommorow and we see more action.