Contador to swap wheels with Aru on stage 11

[bladerunner]

There is a way to give the UCI jury a little more work and even things up a little in the GC battle : Just ask Contador to swap front wheels with Aru at the start of stage 11 and we'll be back on more or less even terms. What a show of sportsmanship that would be. I very much doubt it BUT if Contador & Aru swap wheels it will make front page headlines WORLDWIDE and the GIRO organisers will be MOST HAPPY to get all the extra attention. And the UCI will have to come up with yet another little rule to dampen the proceedings AGAIN.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

I'm sorry that Porte and Clarke didn't know the rule too, but it is a rule and the penalty is correct. Contador and Aru are by no means beholden to even it up (btw, does that mean Landa gets rosa? Astana probably don't want to defend the jersey when they have Contador's team doing all this work early in the race).

 

[Bushman]

But then Aru and Landa also has to swap wheels or it would be unfair. And then Visconti and Caruso. And then Atapuma and Trofimov and so on. Not that simple.

 

[Dog]

The jury is made up of Italians and Spaniards. They probably won't even be punished.

 

[LeindersGains]

They wouldn't.

This Giro was always supposed to be a two-man battle. Aru vs. Contador.

 

[the sceptic]

Re:

They wouldn't.

This Giro was always supposed to be a two-man battle. Aru vs. Contador.

I agree. Porte has no buisness being up there. He should be a bottle carrier for one of these two at best.

 

[LeindersGains]

Aru and Porte should also dislocate their shoulders. Just out of sympathy with Contador.

 

[LeindersGains]

Re: Re:

They wouldn't.

This Giro was always supposed to be a two-man battle. Aru vs. Contador.

I agree. Porte has no buisness being up there. He should be a bottle carrier for one of these two at best.

The guy has wheelsucked (and sucked) for the entire first week. Seeing him winning would have been a disgrace.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

This reminds me of the Renshaw DQ in the 2010 Tour. After that, people pointed out examples of where people had been ejected from races for headbutting and where people had been ejected from races for recklessly endangering riders by driving them to the barriers - both things Renshaw did in the space of about 5 seconds that day - and still it was claimed as a terrible injustice against Renshaw.

People have pulled out prior examples such as Shpilevsky in Hainan and even Romain Sicard, a French GC leader in a French race, being penalised for taking a wheel from an opposition rider. And yet it's still unfair when it happens to Richie. It's not ideal as a situation, and it sucks that we're having to talk about it, but the precedent is there. While the rule may not be fully known about, it is pretty clear in its wording that mechanical assistance must not be given to members of opposing teams, and following from those prior examples, it is hard to argue that the penalty is not the correct call, disappointed though we may be.

 

[The Hitch]

Re: Re:

They wouldn't.

This Giro was always supposed to be a two-man battle. Aru vs. Contador.

I agree. Porte has no buisness being up there. He should be a bottle carrier for one of these two at best.

I didn't see anyone give Valverde back his 10 minutes in the 2013 Tour or his 2 minutes in the 2012 Vuelta, or countless other riders on countless other occasions, why should Porte get back his time on this occasion?

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Re: Re:

They wouldn't.

This Giro was always supposed to be a two-man battle. Aru vs. Contador.

I agree. Porte has no buisness being up there. He should be a bottle carrier for one of these two at best.

I didn't see anyone give Valverde back his 10 minutes in the 2013 Tour or his 2 minutes in the 2012 Vuelta, or countless other riders on countless other occasions, why should Porte get back his time on this occasion?

#JusticeforAlejandro!

 

[Inquitus]

Aye but it's ruined the race and much like we talk about Schleckgate, this will always cloud the victory of whoever wins, much better if the winning was done on the road not by the clearly incompetent Comms.

 

[The Hitch]

Re:

They wouldn't.

This Giro was always supposed to be a two-man battle. Aru vs. Contador.

I agree. Porte has no buisness being up there. He should be a bottle carrier for one of these two at best.

Aru and Porte should also dislocate their shoulders. Just out of sympathy with Contador.

Lol, funny comments

 

[Escarabajo]

I thought this thread would be close by now!!

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Re:

Aye but it's ruined the race and much like we talk about Schleckgate, this will always cloud the victory of whoever wins, much better if the winning was done on the road not by the clearly incompetent Comms.

It's not ruined the race YET. We'll see how Porte reacts first. If he sulks like Evans in the '09 Vuelta and rumbles around to a nondescript 3rd never getting any closer to the front than he is now, then sure, it ruined the race. But if he goes full fury mode at the perceived injustice, like Cavendish in the 2010 Tour after Renshaw's ejection or Sella's 18 minutes or however much it was in 2008, we could be in for a ride.

 

[sir fly]

Re: Re:

Aye but it's ruined the race and much like we talk about Schleckgate, this will always cloud the victory of whoever wins, much better if the winning was done on the road not by the clearly incompetent Comms.

It's not ruined the race YET. We'll see how Porte reacts first. If he sulks like Evans in the '09 Vuelta and rumbles around to a nondescript 3rd never getting any closer to the front than he is now, then sure, it ruined the race. But if he goes full fury mode at the perceived injustice, like Cavendish in the 2010 Tour after Renshaw's ejection or Sella's 18 minutes or however much it was in 2008, we could be in for a ride.

The rage can be productive only if the ability is superior (Cavendish). We all have (reasonable) doubts Richie has any superior ability to Contador. Otherwise, the fury is destructive.

 

[lemon cheese cake]

Should be the back wheel as Aru has Campag, and Contador has Shimano.

 

[Metabolol]

Astana and Tinkoff are too smart . They would fake an illegal wheel change.

 

[King Boonen]

Re:

Should be the back wheel as Aru has Campag, and Contador has Shimano.

11 speed so doesn't matter.

 

[The Hitch]

Re:

Aye but it's ruined the race and much like we talk about Schleckgate, this will always cloud the victory of whoever wins, much better if the winning was done on the road not by the clearly incompetent Comms.

lol what?

By that logic doesn't absolutely every GT winner of the last 2 decades have a cloud over the victory? There was always someone that crashed out, got a mech etc. Porte is actually far better off than most. He is still in the race. He is 3 minutes down with all the high mountain stages and ttkm still to come.

What if Porte cracks on several mountain stages and comes 8th. Is there still going to be an asterix next to the winners name that says - rider who turned out irrelevant lost some time on an early stage.?

 

[Angliru]

Re:

Aye but it's ruined the race and much like we talk about Schleckgate, this will always cloud the victory of whoever wins, much better if the winning was done on the road not by the clearly incompetent Comms.

Two fine examples incompetence, one by a rider and another by the rider's management doesn't and won't sully the winner or eventual winner in my eyes. In this case it's unfortunate but it's rare that allcontenders in a grand tour reach the final stage unscathed and without misfortune.

 

[hrotha]

To be fair, in the very unlikely case that Porte finishes within 2 minutes of Contador, I think that would actually sully Contador's victory to some extent. But above all, it would make Porte look like a moron.

 

[Velolover2]

Close this thread. We can already have the "Porte Penalised" thread to discuss it.

 

[carton]

Re:

Close this thread. Pigs will fly the day that Contador swaps wheels with Aru in order to satisfy the chest-pounding demands of Sky fanboys.

FTFY

 

[greenedge]

Re: Re:

They wouldn't.

This Giro was always supposed to be a two-man battle. Aru vs. Contador.

I agree. Porte has no buisness being up there. He should be a bottle carrier for one of these two at best.

The guy has wheelsucked (and sucked) for the entire first week. Seeing him winning would have been a disgrace.

Or does it mean the others weren't just strong enough to drop him.