2016 Tour de France, Stage 21: Chantilly → Paris (113km)

[hrotha]

As a rider, you can give a water bottle to a rival without hurting your own chances and while staying competitive. It's sportsmanlike to do it.
You can't provide this sort of mechanical assistance to a rival without taking yourself out of contention. It's collusion, it goes against the spirit of the competition and it must be avoided.

I think the difference between the two scenarios is pretty obvious.

 

[sienna]

Re: Re:

It in no way should be a black and white issue. Anything that stops races being decided by mechanicals should be applauded. Yes the Clarke Porte situation was collusion but what exactly is wrong with that?

I agree. And I wouldn't call the Porte - Clarke thing collusion. It of course happened because they were fellow countrymen but I see nothing wrong with that. People these days berate on these sort of stuff too often, portraying such harmless things as diabolical nationalism. ''Can't have that!''

It was inconsequential.

It's what we Aussies do.

 

[sfjkwaz]

I have an issue with GC riders (Froome this year) being allowed to advance on an teammate's bike. The GC riders are already protected by their teammates throughout the entire race and draft off of their teammates as needed. When they go down or have mechanical problems they should have to wait for the team car to bring a replacement bike. The leaders' team cars are strategically position anyway. If Froome would have waiting to swap bikes, his final time would have reflected him going down and damaging his bike, as it should. The call to take the finish time early is another issue I really wasn't in favor of. He still would have won the TDF. I still think Froome should have had to remain in place as opposed to running on foot and advancing without his bike. Froome is an awesome rider and deserved to win the TDF, but I had issues with these incidents.

 

[Cannibal72]

I have an issue with GC riders (Froome this year) being allowed to advance on an teammate's bike. The GC riders are already protected by their teammates throughout the entire race and draft off of their teammates as needed. When they go down or have mechanical problems they should have to wait for the team car to bring a replacement bike. The leaders' team cars are strategically position anyway. If Froome would have waiting to swap bikes, his final time would have reflected him going down and damaging his bike, as it should. The call to take the finish time early is another issue I really wasn't in favor of. He still would have won the TDF. I still think Froome should have had to remain in place as opposed to running on foot and advancing without his bike. Froome is an awesome rider and deserved to win the TDF, but I had issues with these incidents.

I didn't realise there was still a Rene Vietto fan club.