Giro d'Italia 2015 Stage 7: Grosseto – Fiuggi 264 kms

[SafeBet]

Re:

??
It's not necessarily wrong but it is definitely dirty.

How so?
Take any sport (bar soccer, maybe) and you'll see: when someone's injured, you attack him.

A boxer with a wound on the face, you punch there.
A CB with a broken arm, you throw there.
A basketball player injured on the ground, you run the fast break to play 5 on 4.
A tennis player with cramps, you make him run more.

That's sport. You attack your opponent's weaknesses. Because you want to win.
Fair play is a stupid concept. If you play by the rules, it's fair enough.

 

[arvc40]

Re:

There's nothing dirty in exploiting your opponent's weaknesses. It's the basis of the sport, of any sport actually.
If I'm Astana, I surely test Contador's conditions in the last 30 kms.

Visconti will be eager to wear pink today and he's in monster shape. So yeah, Movistar cuold play a big role today.
I'm also expecting Kung to give it a go.

Just a shame when it takes injury or illness to exploit an opponent. Let's face it, most riders are watching for Contador to move and then they follow.

 

[Arnout]

Re:

??
It's not necessarily wrong but it is definitely dirty.

Let's just do lab tests then, fairer way of determining the winner.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Well I guess opinions differ, I wouldn't like Alberto exploiting a rival's crash either, funnily enough a Sky fan agreed with me.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

??
It's not necessarily wrong but it is definitely dirty.

Let's just do lab tests then, fairer way of determining the winner.

Wow, talk about blowing things out of proportion....

 

[arvc40]

Re: Re:

??
It's not necessarily wrong but it is definitely dirty.

How so?

Take any sport (bar soccer, maybe) and you'll see: when someone's injured, you attack him.

A boxer with a wound on the face, you punch there.
A CB with a broken arm, you throw there.
A basketball player injured on the ground, you run the fast break to play 5 on 4.
A tennis player with cramps, you make him run more.

That's sport. You attack your opponent's weaknesses. Because you want to win.
Fair play is a stupid concept. If you play by the rules, it's fair enough.

Once again, says a lot that normally they would only have guts to watch and follow. Same as on stage 5. Its all about marking Contador

 

[Arnout]

Re:

Well I guess opinions differ, I wouldn't like Alberto exploiting a rival's crash either, funnily enough a Sky fan agreed with me.

This is your problem, you're always including team/rider politics in your judgment.

 

[Electress]

Re:

There's nothing dirty in exploiting your opponent's weaknesses. It's the basis of the sport, of any sport actually.
If I'm Astana, I surely test Contador's conditions in the last 30 kms.

Visconti will be eager to wear pink today and he's in monster shape. So yeah, Movistar cuold play a big role today.
I'm also expecting Kung to give it a go.

It isn't dirty, and it is not cheating, but I think it is pretty unsporting. Since cycling has a code of respect for the leader's jersey, I think there might be the view that neutralising the day in a three week race does not come at real cost to the other GC contenders, and hence is the 'right' thing to do. Saturday, all bets will be off.

I'm not sure I would want to 'win at all costs' - but then, there's a reason I'm not an elite sportsman! And if any teams do put the hammer down, I think they would be inviting a certain amount of ill-feeling. Maybe they wouldn't care.

 

[arvc40]

Contador attacks because he is trying to win. Simple. Not many like him.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

??
It's not necessarily wrong but it is definitely dirty.

How so?
Take any sport (bar soccer, maybe) and you'll see: when someone's injured, you attack him.

A boxer with a wound on the face, you punch there.
A CB with a broken arm, you throw there.
A basketball player injured on the ground, you run the fast break to play 5 on 4.
A tennis player with cramps, you make him run more.

That's sport. You attack your opponent's weaknesses. Because you want to win.
Fair play is a stupid concept. If you play by the rules, it's fair enough.

Well as I said I guess it's a matter of opinion, personally I would understand it but it would definitely make me dislike Astana and Sky even more.

 

[DBotero]

Rain and some strong winds expected later Cycling News ticker.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

Well I guess opinions differ, I wouldn't like Alberto exploiting a rival's crash either, funnily enough a Sky fan agreed with me.

This is your problem, you're always including team/rider politics in your judgment.

Okay then sure

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

There's nothing dirty in exploiting your opponent's weaknesses. It's the basis of the sport, of any sport actually.
If I'm Astana, I surely test Contador's conditions in the last 30 kms.

Visconti will be eager to wear pink today and he's in monster shape. So yeah, Movistar cuold play a big role today.
I'm also expecting Kung to give it a go.

It isn't dirty, and it is not cheating, but I think it is pretty unsporting. Since cycling has a code of respect for the leader's jersey, I think there might be the view that neutralising the day in a three week race does not come at real cost to the other GC contenders, and hence is the 'right' thing to do. Saturday, all bets will be off.

I'm not sure I would want to 'win at all costs' - but then, there's a reason I'm not an elite sportsman! And if any teams do put the hammer down, I think they would be inviting a certain amount of ill-feeling. Maybe they wouldn't care.

I agree Electress, maybe dirty was not the right word, I meant "unsporting".

 

[wirral]

The convention here is the pointless bickering generally occurs after the stage has finished. Cyclingnews sets aside a 2-hour window starting around 10 minutes after the stage finishes specifically for that. Non-bickerers generally leave at that point.

 

[Miburo]

Re: Re:

??
It's not necessarily wrong but it is definitely dirty.

Let's just do lab tests then, fairer way of determining the winner.

Wow, talk about blowing things out of proportion....

LOL fleur, you gotta admit that sounds funny coming from you

Anyway contador survived first 15km, pretty good sign.

 

[Electress]

Fair play is a stupid concept. If you play by the rules, it's fair enough.

Well, that's a pretty depressing view. I think it does still matter how you play the game.

 

[Flamin]

Re:

Well I guess opinions differ, I wouldn't like Alberto exploiting a rival's crash either.

That's because Contador has won countless gt's, in great fashion. So in his case, it would leave more of a bad taste in the mouth than when someone like Porte or Aru, who never even won a gt, did it.

 

[jens_attacks]

forzza visconti/bardiani!

and alberto to have no problems plz

 

[BeagRigh]

Break takes the stage by 20+ mins, peleton has a rest day (as much as 250+km can ever be a rest day), Pirazzi in Pink this evening

 

[DFA123]

Definitely not unsporting to try to put Contador in trouble today. Crashes are a normal part of racing. Contador could have hung back five seconds behind the sprint trains and rolled in safely. Of course he would have risked losing a few seconds if there was a split in the peloton, but by trying not to lose any time, he put himself in a more dangerous position - that's the normal risk/reward process of racing that every cyclist has to assess.

It's unlucky of course, but how long do you neutralize a race for to let a contender recover? One stage, until the rest day? What if Astana/Sky had already targetted this stage as one to make hard in order to put rivals under more pressure for the weekend. Should they scrap those plans now just because Contador is carrying an injury?

 

[SafeBet]

Bandiera (Androni), Boem (Bardiani), Mihaylov (CCC) and Dr Negri (Nippo). Very weak break and the peloton is letting them go.

 

[Rollthedice]

Imagine this stage to be tomorrow's stage. You think nobody who aims for GC should attack because Bertie is unwell?

 

[jaylew]

Re:

The convention here is the pointless bickering generally occurs after the stage has finished. Cyclingnews sets aside a 2-hour window starting around 10 minutes after the stage finishes specifically for that. Non-bickerers generally leave at that point.

Uh, you sure you're talking about this forum?

 

[Jaunty Monty]

Re:

Normal protocol for the other teams should be to ignore their opponents injury and carry on as normal (same in other sports). For all the other teams know the rider could be exaggerating the extent of his injuries. How many times have we seen tennis players apparently struggling and getting treatment only to miraculously recover.

If it was a pan flat stage and all of a sudden there were crosswinds are we expecting the other teams to soft pedal. It would be an opportunity to put time in all rivals not just the one that is injured.

If the rider does show weakness they should attack to exploit it. How do they know if the weakness is down to the injury or them just being on a bad day.

If someone crashes and the race isn't yet on then ease up to let them rejoin the peloton. Beyond that going easy on an injured opponent isn't fair play its just plain dull for the spectators.

 

[Beacon Hill]

Re: Re:

There's nothing dirty in exploiting your opponent's weaknesses. It's the basis of the sport, of any sport actually.
If I'm Astana, I surely test Contador's conditions in the last 30 kms.

Visconti will be eager to wear pink today and he's in monster shape. So yeah, Movistar cuold play a big role today.
I'm also expecting Kung to give it a go.

It isn't dirty, and it is not cheating, but I think it is pretty unsporting. Since cycling has a code of respect for the leader's jersey, I think there might be the view that neutralising the day in a three week race does not come at real cost to the other GC contenders, and hence is the 'right' thing to do. Saturday, all bets will be off.

I'm not sure I would want to 'win at all costs' - but then, there's a reason I'm not an elite sportsman! And if any teams do put the hammer down, I think they would be inviting a certain amount of ill-feeling. Maybe they wouldn't care.

I agree Electress, maybe dirty was not the right word, I meant "unsporting".

Wouldnt go so far as to say i was a rabid Sky fan. I do however like to balance things out as i think they get a rough deal here. Just think Contador deserves a little respect today. If the race breaks up because another team forces it, then Astana and Sky have to follow. I would be disappointed if they forced the issue. Saturday? Now thats a different ball game altogether