2011 Tour de France Stage 1: Passage du Gois - Mont des Alouettes 191.5 km

[jobiwan]

Kind of unfair that the guys in the first group who lost time in the final hill are awarded free time in the GC, while the guys who were dropped from the second group aren't as lucky. There's really no fair solution to this.

Rules are rules, however fair or unfair they may be.

(And yes, I am fully aware that if Andy had been switched with Contador that I may not have been so supportive of these rules )

Hindsight is 20/20 you know!

 

[No_Balls]

Contador seemed very resigned. A bit worrying his body language. How did baby and gesink get that time? Cuddles should be pretty annoyed. I'm more and more impressed with geraint Thomas overtime I see him.

You can´t judge based on body language. Might as well trying to preserve energy although i won´t be surprised he´d felt it today.

 

[Bye Bye Bicycle]

Can we officialy stop calling riders by stupid names like baby, Clentador and other stupid unfunny things that makes this forum look like a fool forum (which it probably is if you read non-clinic posts)?

Corrected you there.

 

[The Hitch]

Almost forgot that part. ASO does NOT!! want to have AC lose this tour on the 2nd of August. Right or not that is pretty much their nightmare scenario, add that to the french public and I fear that fairness might not be the first thing on the judges mind.

So other riders should be punished because Contador was in their group?

HITCH are in France now???

Can you help us push some people off their bikes to even things out?

Madrid isnt in France

They neutralized it!!!!!!!! Everyone after Gilbert gets +6 seconds.
I think this sucks big time!

Could someone ban this troll.

If you look at post history it is clear this post was not an "oops i misread mistake" but a deliberate troll.

 

[Ramira]

Roundup of how it looks now for the favourites (if I miss some tell me):

6 seconds:
Evans
VDB
Kloden
Taaramae
Horner
Martin
Schleck F
Schleck A
Cunego
Vinokourov
Leipheimer
Brajkovic
Karpets
Basso
Wiggins
Gesink

1 minute 20
Samu Sanchez
Contador
LL Sanchez
Uran

1 min 55
Danielson
Hesjedal
Kreuziger
Porte
Vande Velde

The real losers today are clearly Garmin, Contador and Samu Sanchez

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

unpredictable sh*t is what I like about this sport.

 

[Andy99]

can someone explain to me why those not in the front group when the second crash occured got 0:06. and if so who were those riders.

Second crash was on the front group wasn't it?

The real winners were those who missed both crashes yet got dropped in the final run in.

Cadel/geraint et al in reality lost out as they had actually opened gaps behind them...

 

[hrotha]

There is a good solution and that's give everyone +6. The riders dropping now will drop anyway.

That's not a good solution and you know it. The 3 km rule is there for a reason. The second group lost time fair and square (it might be reasonable to give them the time they were losing when they were caught up in the second crash, but that's all).

 

[valentius borealis]

So what would be fair? Giving the second group the sam 6 seconds? But they made a mistake. How about giving them the 38 seconds or whatever it was they were behind the front group at the time of the seconds crash?

I was thinking the same thing. If it's proven that the second group were held up, the time lost as a result of that should be taken into account. Looking at the results, I see that Thomas de Gendt and Vasil Kiriyenka went down from the 3rd group on the road in the last 3 kilometres.

 

[jobiwan]

Roundup of how it looks now for the favourites (if I miss some tell me):

The real losers today are clearly Garmin, Contador and Samu Sanchez

Especially since they'll both lose more time tomorrow.

 

[dlwssonic]

who were the gc riders who werent in the front group before the second crash but got awarded the same time. its pretty unfair too.

 

[mewmewmew13]

So what do we think, will Greipel lead out Gilbert to the foot of the climb and sling him up it?

You called that one!

 

[jobiwan]

Contador to attack in the Massif Central now? That'd be fun to watch.

 

[Midnightfright]

Why? they crashed inside the 3km mark. Rules are rules.

Ohh it was within the 3k marj. Fair enough, my bad. Makes things a bit more clear. When u hward gesinks make had broke I was instantly worried he had another unlucky GT crash

 

[luckyboy]

The fairest thing to do would be for riders to get the time they finish in.

 

[Ramira]

So other riders should be punished because Contador was in their group?

Of course not, I don't say it's right either. Just throwing out some things that might be going into this decision without giving any judgement on their merit.

That being said yea I do believe losing time for Samu and Contador is right. You get stuck behind a crash in the finale you lose time it's like that in every single stage race I've ever seen. Is it fair? No. Is it cycling? Yes.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

You called that one!

I for one really like Greipel.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

I was thinking the same thing. If it's proven that the second group were held up, the time lost as a result of that should be taken into account. Looking at the results, I see that Thomas de Gendt and Vasil Kiriyenka went down from the 3rd group on the road in the last 3 kilometres.

They're more likely to have been mechanicals caused by the earlier crash - takes a few mins to get serviced so they ride on into the 3k.

 

[Arnout]

Contador to attack in the Massif Central now? That'd be fun to watch.

** edited by mod ***. And slam Cancellara's mouth shut so he cannot whine.

 

[Ferminal]

Greipel gets +6s, when he would have lost a minute in that final km (without the crash).

 

[c&cfan]

if contador needed\wanted a challenge, he will have one.

if andy loses this tour, he will never win. andy is obligated to win.

who must fell pressure? contador (he won pretty much anything he entered this year) or andy (he won )?

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

So other riders should be punished because Contador was in their group?

unfortunately I suspect ASO don't really care about the other victims.

 

[Captain_Obvious]

So lets see. What happens if Contador does manage to make up the lost time today, and goes on to win the tour. After having done a Giro?

Would be something, no?

 

[dlwssonic]

Standing Team Time Gaps
1. OMEGA PHARMA - LOTTO 14h 04' 45"
2. BMC RACING TEAM 14h 04' 48" + 00' 03"
3. TEAM LEOPARD-TREK 14h 04' 51" + 00' 06"
4. HTC - HIGHROAD 14h 04' 51" + 00' 06"
5. TEAM RADIOSHACK 14h 04' 51" + 00' 06"
6. COFIDIS LE CREDIT EN LIGNE 14h 04' 51" + 00' 06"
7. LAMPRE - ISD 14h 04' 51" + 00' 06"
8. SKY PROCYCLING 14h 04' 51" + 00' 06"
9. KATUSHA TEAM 14h 04' 51" + 00' 06"
10. PRO TEAM ASTANA 14h 04' 51" + 00' 06"
11. MOVISTAR TEAM 14h 04' 51" + 00' 06"
12. QUICK STEP CYCLING TEAM 14h 04' 51" + 00' 06"
13. TEAM EUROPCAR 14h 04' 51" + 00' 06"
14. TEAM GARMIN - CERVELO 14h 04' 51" + 00' 06"
15. LIQUIGAS-CANNONDALE 14h 04' 51" + 00' 06"
16. FDJ 14h 06' 05" + 01' 20"
17. RABOBANK CYCLING TEAM 14h 06' 05" + 01' 20"
18. SAUR-SOJASUN 14h 06' 40" + 01' 55"
19. AG2R LA MONDIALE 14h 06' 40" + 01' 55"
20. VACANSOLEIL-DCM 14h 07' 54" + 03' 09"
21. EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI 14h 09' 27" + 04' 42"
22. SAXO BANK SUNGARD 14h 09' 43" + 04' 58"

saxo and euskatel start as the first and second tomorrow. talk about insult to injury. rabo and liqui start early tomorrow. great advantage to bmc and leopard.

 

[ferryman]

Contador to attack in the Massif Central now? That'd be fun to watch.

How much fun is Stage 4 going to be now No prisoners