It’s a fair decision to DQ him IMO on the basis of the rules stand and that the racing on previous rounds has been soooo close. Down to hundredths on some stages. that move could have resulted in a change of position.

He knew what he was up to – RR can put the bike wherever he likes in reality.

But if Rude skipped it and then Moir crashed out in one of the next day’s stages he could still have won

You can’t skip a stage and still win. Miss any stage for any reason and you’re a DNF

Was a real shame not to have seen a final round fight out.

The person to blame for that is Ritchie Rude.

No pictures of octopii in smutty attire riding bikes. This place has changed.

His excuse was that he was within the tapes so thought he was ok. The lines on the grass suggest there was far more than two riders that hit the line, so maybe he thought if everyone else is doing it he also should?

Unlike with his last rule infringement, I’m inclined to believe that he thought it was OK because there was no chance you were getting away with it unnoticed in that finish field. I would say that even if it wasn’t against the rules, it wouldn’t be within the spirit of the race because it’s very obvious what the gates are for.

Rules are rules, good on EWS for enforcing them and well done to Matt Stuttard for being outspoken on it.

The lines on the grass suggest there was far more than two riders that hit the line

Maybe the line was left from riders on practice runs, rather than just on the race run itself.

If it was in the briefing, then he has no-one to blame but himself for, at best, not paying attention, and, at worst, thinking he could get away with it because he’s too big a name to be DQed at this point in the season.

I was a bit curious about this so read his comments about the line not being well marked, and then watched the video.  It was super clear he was the wrong side of a gate and why they were there.  If this was his first race then maybe not but for an experienced rider it was completely clear

Maybe the line was left from riders on practice runs, rather than just on the race run itself.

Very possible, and the EWS 100 too. My point is he may have seen those lines and thought if others are doing then I will too. An explanation rather than a defence.

I’m in a much more lenient camp.
Put the riders between tape for the whole season and then spring some poles on them at the last round seems idiotic. Just tape the poles as well. All it needed was a little bit of tape from each pole to the ground in a diagonal. They managed it with the first pole.

I would have given him a 10sec penalty for each gate and let him continue and taken it on the chin as an organiser that I messed up.

Put the riders between tape for the whole season and then spring some poles on them at the last round seems idiotic. Just tape the poles as well. All it needed was a little bit of tape from each pole to the ground in a diagonal. They managed it with the first pole.

That’s how I feel about it.

Rules is rules but it doesn’t help that the organisers introduced this ambiguity. One extra bit of tape would have removed all uncertainty.

I would have given him a 10sec penalty for each gate and let him continue and taken it on the chin as an organiser that I messed up.

that sort of penalty for an accidental cutting might be fair (say he’d slid wide on the left turn and cut the right by accident). However this move was premeditated, you can see the extra speed he goes into the turn at and there’s no change in line, he absolutely fires it through that gap. If not a DQ then a BIG time penalty to ensure no possible win or big points haul.

as an organiser that I messed up

Technically it was the UCI that imposed the penalty, not the EWS

Interestingly, there were British Cycling commissaires there. I thought they had nothing to do with enduro but there was one at the start of a stage on Friday practice giving us a telling off for being there past the end of the time when we were allowed to practice that stage.

The organised did not mess up, the rule book has provision in it for the use of flags in this way. This was not someone thinking it was cool, or making stuff up on the fly, it is part of the rules, that all competitors must know and follow.

There were briefings, questions and answers, communication and guidance, and only 2 people chose to ignore that vs everyone else who raced who understood and followed the rules. No sympathy from me at all for the DQ, there is no room for RR to complain or point to any inconsistency in interpretation.

Organizers didn’t mess up, they clearly stated tape was for public and gates were the course. If they had messed up more than two people would have made similar mistakes in looking for the optimal lines

AlexSimon
Full Member

Just tape the poles as well. All it needed was a little bit of tape from each pole to the ground in a diagonal. They managed it with the first pole

See, I totally agree with that but I don’t think it makes that much of a difference here, I just reckon they should learn from it and do it like this in future. In this particular case it was practically in the event village, if they thought it was worth sending out a group message to tell all the team managers then it wouldn’t have taken 10 minutes to nip up with some tape and a pole and sort it beyond any doubt.

But, that’s all kind of notes in the margins.

but what doubt really was there? Nobody with half a brain thought the gates were in that field for decoration. At best, the two of thought they were being fly and would get off on a technicality – unfortunately it just turned out that they hadn’t been paying attention

that’s all kind of notes in the margins.

Yep, and the title in bold at the top of the page is that one of the sport’s dominant racers has confirmed himself as a cheat.

No benefit of the doubt this time.

mashr
Free Member

but what doubt really was there? Nobody with half a brain thought the gates were in that field for decoration.

There was enough doubt that they send out a group message to all the teams, remember?

There was enough doubt that they send out a group message to all the teams, remember?

Sometimes it’s helpful to (re)state the obvious especially when the implications are significant, that doesn’t mean it’s not obvious.

The ambiguity (compared to the rule book) came from the fact that there were both tape and poles at the same time. Then some of the poles were taped and others not. Tape even lead into the pole area.

So it’s
Between the tape
Between the tape
Between the tape
Between the tape
Between the tape even though there is a pole as well
Ignore the tape for a sec

There looked to be fairly significant stretches of the stage that weren’t event taped at all. I assume the riders had no issue there.

Surely the ‘gates within a wider taped area’ has been done before?

There are lots of images of no tape, wide tape and gates on Enduro races out there. This must be something the competitors are used to, both because of the rule book and first hand experience of oddities in taping.

It’s the pro athletes job to be aware of all these things and stick to them. And the rules are not to be bent – even if they are not ideal.

Technically it was the UCI that imposed the penalty, not the EWS

Interestingly, there were British Cycling commissaires there. I thought they had nothing to do with enduro but there was one at the start of a stage on Friday practice giving us a telling off for being there past the end of the time when we were allowed to practice that stage.

EWS is a UCI sanctioned race, which is why it was the UCI commissaire who officially imposed the penalties, after discussion with the Race Director.
However they were simply following the EWS rulebook, which states the penalty for deliberately cutting the course is disqualification, so there was no discretion available to the penalty applied.

The BC commissaires were there to assist (UCI will often use national commissaires to assist at international events) and gain information as BC is looking at re-integrating enduro into the official disciplines they sanction.
I had a good chat with one of the commissaires, and there is work going on between the involved organisations to try and develop a consistent approach and rules for enduros.

He has previous form I believe on a few things like this – as does IIRC a few others like Maes

Maes been cutting corners? Did I miss something? Or is this Maes who had to serve a drugs ban after taking a standard drug combo from a doctor didn’t realise one of them was a prohibited substance?