2012 Vuelta a España: Stage 4:Barakaldo-Estación de Valdezcaray 160.6 Km

[Cimber]

Valverde fuming at the Sky bus:

 

[guncha]

It looks like that it is normal not to wait for the race leader after he has crashed. However, Valverde didn't wait for Evans when he won his Vuelta. Valverde just paid back his debt...

 

[Shardi]

No it's bad sportsmanship to take advantage of another riders crash to gain time on them. Nothing wrong with taking advantage of echelons if a split occurs.

But they attacked before the crash, no? To me that argument sounds like schleck & co's new and aknowledged grand tour racing-protocol.

 

[hrotha]

I would be interested to see what it show,s and if anyone was to blame rather than what in F1 the stewards would call a racing incident?.

The F1 comparison is very apt, seeing as how Movistar accuse Sky of pulling a (Roberto) Ferrari.

 

[cineteq]

Has anybody here who has seen the crash have an opinion? I'm a Contador fan, so I may not be objective.

You can't make much out of the footage of that crash
http://www.rtve.es/alacarta/videos/...-se-ve-envuelto-caida-peloton-vuelta/1511048/

- Valverde blames Sky for being negligent in trying to form an Echelon, thus causing the crash of Sarmiento and the rest. Btw, Erviti got 5 stitches.

- Purito wanted to stop when Intxausti let him know that Valverde was down. He said he doesn't critizice Sky, but he thought it was the right thing to do.

 

[roundabout]

Bradley McGee ‏@Bradley_McGee
#teamsaxobanktinkoffbank in crash with Sorenson losing some skin. Noval managed to land ON Nicki so he is fine! Other boys ok + AC moves up.

Ouch poor poor Nicki

He may have been the one who was the first to fall. Looked like a guy in a blueish jersey anyway.

 

[Cimber]

You can't make much out of the footage of that crash
http://www.rtve.es/alacarta/videos/...-se-ve-envuelto-caida-peloton-vuelta/1511048/

- Valverde blames Sky for being negligent in trying to form an Echelon, thus causing the crash of Sarmiento and the rest. Btw, Erviti got 5 stitches.

- Purito wanted to stop when Intxausti let him know that Valverde was down. He said he doesn't critizice Sky, but he thought it was the right thing to do.

Why did Katusha chip in then?

 

[LaFlorecita]

But they attacked before the crash, no? To me that argument sounds like schleck & co's new and aknowledged grand tour racing-protocol.

Apparently the crash was caused by team Sky, probably because they suddenly moved forward with their whole train.

 

[peacefultribe]

Alberto attacked right when Valverde was closing the gap, so I'm not sure what new friends he's getting that way

I did notice that. Don't think it was intentional. Alberto has that way of doing things where people see the action in a negative way. I hate bringing up Chaingate.....we've all rehashed that one too many times. More like that stage in the tour where people blamed him for chasing down Vino. I believe that he was just trying to gain time, but everybody saw it as screwing over his team mate.

 

[El Pistolero]

funny, just 4 months ago you were ferociously arguing that Phil was innocent until proven guilty.

What a rider you dont like winning a few races can do to principles, eh,.

Vino and Rebellin aren't (ex-)dopers?

 

[hrotha]

You can't make much out of the footage of that crash
http://www.rtve.es/alacarta/videos/...-se-ve-envuelto-caida-peloton-vuelta/1511048/

- Valverde blames Sky for being negligent in trying to form an Echelon, thus causing the crash of Sarmiento and the rest. Btw, Erviti got 5 stitches.

- Purito wanted to stop when Intxausti let him know that Valverde was down. He said he doesn't critizice Sky, but he thought it was the right thing to do.

I can't see any signs of a violent swerve in that footage. A chopper view would be good.

 

[icefire]

It looks like that it is normal not to wait for the race leader after he has crashed. However, Valverde didn't wait for Evans when he won his Vuelta. Valverde just paid back his debt...

Again with Sierra Nevada 2009? Can't you remember that Samuel Sanchez had been dropped earlier in the climb and the race was on well before Evans puncture?

What Valverde is complaining is that Sky riders changed lines dangerously to make the echelon and that caused the crash. It's a completely different situation. Although I doubt the race commissaires will have grounds to apply a penalty on anyone even if there's a video of the manoeuvre.

 

[alberto.legstrong]

I did notice that. Don't think it was intentional. Alberto has that way of doing things where people see the action in a negative way. I hate bringing up Chaingate.....we've all rehashed that one too many times. More like that stage in the tour where people blamed him for chasing down Vino. I believe that he was just trying to gain time, but everybody saw it as screwing over his team mate.

I think it's overblown. He gets this attention because he is consistently at the front of the race. There's probably things that happen all over the place that are far more notable that don't get any attention because it isn't the front of the race. Out of sight out of mind. If he fluffed their pillows in the hotel the night before he beats them someone would probably take issue with it.

 

[Miburo]

Sky says that they didn't know Valverde was involved in the crash, yeah right

 

[cineteq]

What Valverde is complaining is that Sky riders changed lines dangerously to make the echelon and that caused the crash. It's a completely different situation.

Exactly, that's the point.

Btw, Flecha washed his hands
http://www.rtve.es/alacarta/videos/...a/flecha-caida-sido-antes-del-ataque/1511071/

I did notice that. Don't think it was intentional. Alberto has that way of doing things where people see the action in a negative way.

Right, when he attacked it had nothing to do with Valverde, he had other riders to worry about. His team did the right thing not collaborating with Sky. Btw, Purito said Contador let him know just before the attack, he just couldn't follow this time.

 

[LaFlorecita]

http://www.as.com/ciclismo/articulo/alberto-contador-hoy-he-visto/20120821dasdascic_7/Tes

 

[LaFlorecita]

Sky says that they didn't know Valverde was involved in the crash, yeah right

They did? Lol who's gonna believe that, besides I'm sure some riders told them about it.

 

[Cimber]

Sky says that they didn't know Valverde was involved in the crash, yeah right

Lmao! , sure thing

 

[Cimber]

Sørensen in the bus after the stage + Bertie tweet:

http://yfrog.com/nxypziowj

 

[Nick C.]

What was up with the Sky rider drilling it on the front, looking back when he (presumably) hears the crash and then he and the others at the front keep going.

 

[Afrank]

Sky says that they didn't know Valverde was involved in the crash, yeah right

In the video we see 2 sky riders look back at the crash then keep going, yeah sure they didn't know . Why would they keep the pace up after the crash unless they knew without a doubt that a GC rival had been in the crash?

 

[Afrank]

What was up with the Sky rider drilling it on the front, looking back when he (presumably) hears the crash and then he and the others at the front keep going.

They saw that some guys went down so decided to push the pace and gain some time on the guys in the crash.

 

[Cimber]

They saw that some guys went down so decided to push the pace and gain some time on the guys in the crash.

Ye classy. they even caused the crash and then took advantage of it.

Sergi López-Egea‏@sergi_lopezegea
Version de la caída polémica: los Skys buscan la cuneta tocan a Sorensen que se cae, tumba a Erviti y este arrastra a Valverde

 

[Publicus]

http://www.as.com/ciclismo/articulo/alberto-contador-hoy-he-visto/20120821dasdascic_7/Tes

No idea what this says. Google translate mangled it.

 

[Forunculo]

No idea what this says. Google translate mangled it.

He saw Froome was not good today