The other video shows bidons. First black and white (or silver) then the red coloured ones. Close up of one after the crash looks like Bahrain McLaren colours. So appear to have jumped out of the cages and rolled down the hill.

By Eck, how bloody unlucky.

Consensus is the bottles bounced out, bump in road just before the zebra crossing. You can see it as the motorbikes and cars cross it. Momentum would have thrown the bottles forward.

Where are the Giro daily highlights being shown? I’d assumed it would be ITV4 but cant see it!

@oikeith, it’s on Quest/Quest HD at 19:00.

You would have thought they could design bottles and cages that kept the 2 items together when on the bike

You would have thought they could design bottles and cages that kept the 2 items together when on the bike

They go for stupid lightweight shite that weighs 5g less than conventional cages and saves 1/10th of a second when getting the bottle out.

Result – they bounce out all the bloody time but the riders don’t care cos they just whistle up the car and the mobile fridge arrives next to them.

I’m sure your right but you would thought a rideR safety requirement would be imposed on teams

I’m sure your right but you would thought a rideR safety requirement would be imposed on teams

You know all the articles around Paris-Roubaix listing specialist kit, cobble-specific modifications etc?

In all of those, there are pics of bottle cages with bits of grip tape or sandpaper or occasionally bits of bar tape wrapped around them to hold the bottles in tighter. It’s all bollocks – any standard cage and bottle works fine. I’ve never lost a bottle in anything other than a crash including in races like the Three Peaks CX and numerous cobbled city centre circuit races, cobbled sportives etc.

But they insist on using these special light-touch bottle cages that then need extra measures to hold bottles in securely on rough terrain or, on normal roads, will just bounce out on potholes. As usual it’s the same “marginal gains” shite that leads teams to using ultralight tyres which save 0.4W or 18g over standard tyres but which puncture far more readily and then require hours of chasing back on. Just utter stupidity and brazen adherence to “marginal gains” and tradition that keep riders using this crap.

Remember these two photos from the Catania start in 2018 when times were good? Two of the best that year. Massive crowds. Giro d'Italia Stage 4 preview, course info (Catania start, mountain mid-race), broadcaster times + Stage 3 video, photos and analysis https://t.co/w5WczpIGkR pic.twitter.com/9G5yVxJQNn

— steve @ steephill tv (@steephill) October 5, 2020

the good ol’ days!

up and over today

Just utter stupidity and brazen adherence to “marginal gains” and tradition that keep riders using this crap.

Not disagreeing about the silly bottle cages etc. but do wonder if they’ve done a sort of cost/benefit analysis of the tyre thing, e.g. chances of puncture weighed up against likelihood of a quick repair and tow back into the peloton? How much sillier and lighter are the pro tyres versus a standard production tyre?

I’m still convinced electronic gears are a false economy, who was it on Liege Bastogne Liege drifting to the back frustratedly kicking a rear mech that was in ‘crash’ mode? 😀

didn’t MS do over half of last years TDF without a puncture ? think it worked out @ about 16,000 miles between the 8 riders.

Can anybody remember the old water bottles that had a push-on lid? Apparently the pro peloton preferred those because if you rode over one the lid would pop off and the bottle deformed. With the more modern screw on lids the bottle doesn’t deform and the rider is more likely to crash. I don’t know if anybody still makes the old push-on lids but the bottles that were scattered on the road were screw on lids………….

Elite bottles apparently offer a ‘blow off’ which means if you ride over them the bite valve will immediately open.

My experience is that the bite valve is hard to enough to open when riding, which has frequently resulted in my giving myself a cold facial when the valve eventually does pop open and sprays everywhere…

Thomas has abandoned the race. Fractured Hip.

Thomas is out with a fractured hip unfortunately.

Thomas is out with a fractured hip unfortunately.

He has got to be up there with Richie Porte as one of the unluckiest riders ever to set wheel in the peloton.

He has got to be up there with Richie Porte as one of the unluckiest riders ever to set wheel in the peloton.

Yes, but he did get a minor consolation prize a couple of seasons ago.

He has got to be up there with Richie Porte as one of the unluckiest riders ever to set wheel in the peloton.

I don’t know, at least G has won the tour.

Re. bottles, certainly the Elite bottles do have a blow-off where they open if you ride on them. For G’s crash though it was more that it slid away from under him than it having water in it.

Shit news 🙁

another crash caused by a loose bottle.

Just seen that. wtAf?

Switfy been down too, doesn’t look happy.

Really feel for G there – he does seem to have more than his fair share of crashes, but that one was pure bad luck.

Bora want to split the peloton.

oh that all looks a bit greasy!

flipping eck, wet polished basalt flagstone road !!!!!

that was fun 😀

Noooooooo

Sagan beaten by microns !

might have snatched it with a 30 mil tyre ! 😉

not being outdone by bottles, helicopters now want in on the action.

I am okay. Only some small cuts on my fingers. Not really sure what happend but out of nowhere the barriers flew into our group. For now my thought are with my teammate Luca and hope some good news will arrive soon🤞#giro @ZabuBradoKTM pic.twitter.com/blR2o1Ncy7

— Etienne van Empel (@etiennevanempel) October 6, 2020

lumpy bumpy

https://cyclingtips.com/2020/10/a-simple-bottle-cage-rule-couldve-prevented-geraint-thomas-giro-crash/

Back on the subject of water bottles…

impressive!

Back on the subject of water bottles…

Dr Hutch has suggested camelbacks, the team cars having trailing refuelling hoses a bit like the RAF have for mid-air refuelling…………

Ganna may well be the biggest guy I’ve seen win a stage of that sort in a long time.

{quote]Dr Hutch has suggested camelbacks, the team cars having trailing refuelling hoses a bit like the RAF have for mid-air refuelling…………[/quote]

I’m sure Camelbaks got banned because they were actually more aero. Pop one under a jersey and the bulge in the back irons out the disrupted airflow off the back of the helmet.

However I’m not sure I can be bothered trawling through the UCI’s rule book to find out if I’m right or not!

Some TT bikes have tried things like bladders in the frame with a tube coming out the handlebars/stem but they’re incredibly fiddly.

Did Quest drop the ball today or was it just my Sky box? Only recorded the last 3km of the stage ☹

worked for me on eurosport

(check yr PMs 🤐 )

Your sky box I reckon, my recording worked.
Pretty impressive stuff from Ganna, so good it almost made Wiggins look interested.