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?
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]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. [/i]
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 ([url= http://road.cc/content/news/19678-have-you-seen-andy-schlecks-specialized-tarmac-sl3 ]story here[/url]) - 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
[i]Hushovd gained more pts today [/i]
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 ****ers 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.
[i]There is a long history of not attacking if your rival falls. It goes back a lot longer than advertising, sponsors etc. [/i]
Don't mention that to Robert Millar, he's got an entirely different point of view on that matter.
MartinGT: this clip here 🙂
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. [s]Harden the **** Up[/s] there wil be [b][i]no[/b][/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.
Top bananas for giving Schleck the chance to get back on.
Big mistake not competeing for the line. If I were a fan in Spa I'd be jolly pissed orf.
But controversy sells papers. Look forward to tomorrow, I don't think the race directors will be so understanding ... 😈
I know that the poster boy is getting the blame, but you need to consider the impact of Iván Gutiérrez* as well. He was telling everyone to sit up as well.
* i won't laugh if you have to google him 😆
Whatever farce was going on behind, Chavanel had laid his cards on the table and made his move early on. He was committed long before they started messing about. He did a fantastic ride, as he does every year.
I really hope that the magic of wearing the yellow jersey can work for him.
SB
yeah, chavanel's ride was great. chapeau!
Mleh.
It's a group of people who ride bikes as a career, who get treated like performing monkeys, on short contracts, who appreciate more than most that injury can equal loss of money, loss of a contract for next year and who decided to protest in the only way they can about the choice of route and the danger it posed.
Look through the glamour, look behind the cameras, watch the faces of the guys who ride in last in the Classics, look out of the window when it rains in March and go ride 200kms...
... Then remember who's paying your wage, and get on with it.
I thought it was pretty shambolic, and Cancellara's team self interest gave the impression of a bit of a "brotherhood" moment. I agree with Backsted and Roche on eurosport - it's racing, they should have raced. Let's hope they don't get scared by the Pavee tomorrow!
...so a sizeable portion of the peloton (about 60 according to Brailsford) take a spill and you guys whinge like girls that they express their disquiet in just about the only effective way they can?
These guys aren't amateurs you know, they know how to ride bikes without falling off.
The collective spirit of the peleton is something special about pro racing, and there have always been patrons calling the shots and laying down the rules.
there gonna walk up the cobbles tomorrow because its to dangerous
I wonder how many bikes are written off each year in the TDF. There must have been thirty or so just yesterday!
"...so a sizeable portion of the peloton (about 60 according to Brailsford) take a spill and you guys whinge like girls that they express their disquiet in just about the only effective way they can?"
As Backstedt said, it rains on the tour, it rains in other cycle events. Pro cycling isn't and never has been a fair weather sport. Today wasn't a protest, it was about Saxobank ensuring their riders still had a chance at GC. Cancellara was a sole if loud and respected voice who managed to convince the peloton to hold back.
If riders think it's too dangerous, let them individually slow down. Let the folks who are prepared to take the risks reap the rewards.
I have read it is likely at least 2 riders will withdraw from the race with injuries from today. If they had continued the race on such a dodgy surface and more riders were wiped out with serious injuries, it would end up with pretty much no race at all to watch for the next few weeks and where then would the spectators and sponsers be? Worse, someone could have died in a crash as the conditions were apparently so bad. I think the guy was right to ask for the race to be adjusted.
but, the conditions at the finish were fine. Dry, straight, so i'll sa y it again, why no sprint? Chavanel took the risks, he stayed on his bike
Actually Chavanel took very few risks and was losing time on the descent.
Enough of them felt unhappy enough to feel that upsetting loads of IT blokes was a risk worth taking.
They are not paid to entertain. They are paid to do a job, which is to work for the team.
Caceralla had to wait up otherwise his main man would be miles behind in the GC and could have possibly lost any chance of winning / top 3.
As for the non-sprinting at the end I initially thought it was boring but seeing that there was a petrol spill I think its justified. Alot of riders went down and got injured so a neutral finish imo was alrite.
Hopefully that is the end of it though and they just get on with it, if its a protest for today they shouldn't even enter the tour, if they cant ride on cobbles...well there not so pro are they!
Waiting for the peleton to regroup because of a crash - fair enough its the sporting thing and that happens all the time
Not contesting the line. Bollocks.
However, this is just part of the TDF spectacle. Its this sort of thing that makes it fun. Bring it on.
It wasn't that long ago that Chavanel was almost hated by his own countrymen for his huge payroll and lack of major wins. That's been a long time coming.
Feel sorry for Hushvold.
Don't have a problem with what they did, all sports need a 'working' relationship between the sportsman, teams and officials.
Better that than situations where the riders are pushed into corners, and take 'dangerous' risks, eg drugs.
b r - good to see they mince more than me in the wet 😕
[i]These guys aren't amateurs you know, they know how to ride bikes without falling off.[/i]
As was pointed out to me Menchov stayed up so it can't have been that tricky ;0)
They are not paid to entertain
Yes they are. That's the job of a professional sportsman, to entertain the followers in one way or another. They failed miserably yesterday apart from chavanel
Chavanel wrote himself off on that decent last year... I think so fair play to him. I also agree that its only the second day of the tour and after the monumental crashes on the first day and then this yesterday they do need to be a little careful as they wouldn't have any riders left by then end.
We also need to take into consideration that one of the motorbikes crashed too. If the following line of support cars had hit the diesel at speed it would have been carnage. Not great to watch but I kind of agree that they did the right thing.
As was pointed out to me Menchov stayed up so it can't have been that tricky ;0)
Exactly! There is no better test. 😀
Roll on today's stage! It should be a belter. Someone better have filled in the cracks in that Pavee though.
Farrar is apparently starting today to hit the cobbles with a fractured wrist!
Here's the theory:
"It all started when Lampre rider Francesco Gavazzi crashed out of the breakaway on the Stockeu. A TV motorcycle then crashed while avoiding hitting Gavazzi, and the bike spilled oil on the road. The oil had time to run down the hill by the time the peloton came through a few minutes later, setting off a dangerous domino effect that saw over 60 riders sliding across the road."
The motorbike only crashed because the Gavazzi crashed. The bike went onto the grass verge & unsurprisingly dropped it.
From that moment on it was madness because all riders were arriving on the scene of the crash blind & in such a situation it just escalates. They were always going to crash because they had to brake hard to avoid hitting the obstacles.
There was no excuse for not racing, but Fabian is a pro & gets his intstructions from one of the most cynical (but very successful) team directors out there.
Not sure what to make of it really. I think oil or whatever on the roads and half the field going down are exceptional circumstances and all this "are they afraid of a bit of rain?" stuff is a bit daft, as is speculation about basically neutralising any stage where someone falls or struggles. Sure tricky conditions is all part of bike racing, but oil on the roads isn't (or you could argue it isn't). Brailsford and a couple of others better placed than us to know what went on don't seem to have too much problem with it.
That said, I do think they could have picked it up again and raced when everybody was back together- I don't see that the likelihood of more crashes was any higher at that point than it would have been before.
That's the job of a professional sportsman, to entertain the followers in one way or another.
I think you're confusing sportsmen and circus performers. 😉