Giro d'Italia: Stage 2: Alba - Parma 244km

[Mrs John Murphy]

I just hope that this year the podium girls remember to put on their pants before stepping up to do their duties after last years 'incident'.

 

[La Pandera]

What complete nonsense. Petacchi VERY CLEARLY deviated from a straight line, and forced Cav to check his sprint.

Despite checking his sprint twice, cav was clearly faster that Petacchi, and would have easily beaten him if the sprint had been contested clean.

HTC had every right to protest, though it was unlikely that the result would be overturned - because even though Petacchi changed lines, it was debatable how dangerous the move was.

Bunch sprints are inherently dangerous but in this sprint I didn't see anything that Petacchi did that obstructed Cavendish. The final move was more like a feint in boxing, very subtle still leaving Cav ample room to continue his sprint.
Has there been a time where Cav gave credit to anyone for actually beating him? Boo-to-the-hoo! Sprinters have to be prepared to manoveur at a moments notice. I agree with the judges' decision not to penalize Petacchi.

 

[La Pandera]

+1 however history shows any protest HTC makes always gets rejected & any protest against them gets upheld

Yep HTC is always getting picked on. Its an international conspiracy.

 

[Buffalo Soldier]

haha cav...

 

[benpounder]

Tyler has exactly the same look on face like he used to have it, when he was still rolling out of that transitions-garage.
That reminds me of being happy about the fact, that this campaign is finally over.

Well, as this photo shows, sometimes he does have a different face:

The Garmin-train somehow blew up today.
It looked really good - then they were suddenly gone and in parts, like the Milram-trains in 2009.

Yes, they/he did. Sadly, for I do root for Tyler.

[myedit]photo of finish at stage 3 2009 Tirreno-Adriatico. Note the talent in the photo. Also note that this was a classic sprint finish in that all sprinters were without support at the end - mano-a-mano.

 

[La Pandera]

It seems he's calmed down now. Cav's twitter


"Phew, calmed down now. I'm always disqualified for every little move, but this is not Petacchi's fault. It's the fault of the jury or......teams who have a prejudice against me. So I'm sorry to Pettachi for taking my frustration out on him. What happened today is sprinting.......and that's why I love it. Its about tactics aswell as power. Lets bring back oldschool sprinting! Congrats to a great champion today.And amazing ride by @htchighroad today again. Absolute legends. So happy to keep the Maglia Rosa in the team. Love you guys."

So when he's calm he's still whining! How is it the fault of the jury if he feels "what happened today is sprinting"? Either he's still steamed or he's naturally a poor sport.

 

[La Pandera]

hmm cavendish is a bit of a bad loser...

More than a bit. Is it so hard for him to show some class?

 

[La Pandera]

What damage?

Pettachi swerved then played all ingenue. Cav complained, then calmed down.

Anyone who believes Cav wouldn't be disqualified for that needs to put down the kool-aid. Fortunately he normally wins through physical ability.

I think I missed that part where he calmed down. I'm gonna give him the benefit of the doubt and say he's still steamed over not winning one of the few sprint stages at the Giro available to him. Then I'm going to say grow a pair and stop whining like an adolescent.

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

It looks like Petacchi's move surprised Cavendish. If you look closely, Alejet jumps less than a second before Cav makes his move. Clearly, Cav jumped left, expecting to use Renshaw's position to block anyone on his wheel. Cav looks right as Petacchi is passing Renshaw on the right, and loses the hole shot. Petacchi then does what Cav just tried to do, namely, used the fading Renshaw in a blocking move. Yes, he did drift further left than needed, and if Cavendish had been closer, it could have caused a wreck. However, Cav never looked to stop pedaling flat out, and in fact, the only "bobble" came when Cav was on Petacchi's wheel, just before Cav made his final move.

That's what it looked like to me too from the arial view. Cav never stopped or hesitated his pedaling motion because AJ, who had drifted back left, was completely ahead of Cav (even if by just a few cms). Well played out tactically by AJ ftw.

Cav did have a bit more speed in the final meters, so if he races smarter he should get a win. This really shapes up to be a nice battle.

 

[barn yard]

that was better than watching andrew and albert hug and caress each other up the tourmalet

 

[pedaling squares]

Just saw the footage... Petacchi of all people cutting clear across an entire lane and then back again. Yeah, it's fun to see Cav get all wound up but yeah, AleJet should have been relegated for that move.

 

[Anonymous]

I try to like Cav, but dang he makes it hard. "The whole world hates me and wants to see me lose and will cheat to do so and not relegate a guy I think needs to be relegated, and I am just SOOOOOOO MAD that I am going to tweet about it!"

Caven****** is an appropriate nickname many times.

 

[abbaskip]

I think as most unbiased, rational people have said (including Cav himself surprisingly): It isn't so much that the sprint was so bad from Petacchi - it wasn't great, but wasn't terrible. Sometimes would have been DQed, often not. But if it was the other way around, I think 95% of the time Cav would have found himself DQed, and would have received loads more negative opinions from cycling fans and the press.

Cav has said himself he is happy with the result, but wants consistency, which I can completely understand. Tall poppy syndrome, people love Cav bashing, and looking for excuses to bag him.

 

[Kwibus]

So when he's calm he's still whining! How is it the fault of the jury if he feels "what happened today is sprinting"? Either he's still steamed or he's naturally a poor sport.

Cavendish certainly is a bad loser. The same reason why I love the guy. Did you see his face when they put on his pink jersey and when the girls kissed him? I'm happy the guy is a bad boy. Spices things up a little.
He's an ' you either hate him or love him' guy.

I do think he has a point though. If he would've done what Petacchi did today we would've had 3-4 new threads about Cav being an idiot and he probably would've been DQ'd as he has the reputation. He shouldn't whine about it, but then again I love a bit of drama.

 

[Lanark]

I think as most unbiased, rational people have said (including Cav himself surprisingly): It isn't so much that the sprint was so bad from Petacchi - it wasn't great, but wasn't terrible. Sometimes would have been DQed, often not. But if it was the other way around, I think 95% of the time Cav would have found himself DQed, and would have received loads more negative opinions from cycling fans and the press.

Cav has said himself he is happy with the result, but wants consistency, which I can completely understand. Tall poppy syndrome, people love Cav bashing, and looking for excuses to bag him.

Or maybe it's not that at all, and he just reaps what he has sown. Petacchi has (or at least used to have ) the reputation of being a gentleman, sure he has made his mistakes (like in Turkey), but overall, people know he is a fair sprinter, who doesn't risk the lives of his competitors just to get a win. People give him the benefit of the doubt, and Petacchi has earned that (even without that this wouldn't be nearly enough for a DQ of course)

Cavendish and HTC in general don't have such a good reputation, and largely by their own design. Cav is a hothead, a daredevil, who, when things don't go his way, has been known to make some less than great decisions in the past. Now that's no reason to DQ him for small offences (although I really don't believe Cav would be DQed for this, outside of that one sprint in the 2009 Tour, which everyone thought was b*ll****, in all other cases the jury decisions were fair), but it does show why people are quicker to blame him when it's a judgement call whether he made a mistake or not, it has nothing to do with tall poppy syndrome (the sprinting greats of the pasts like Cipollini and Petacchi were never put under this kind of scrutiny, why is that? They won a lot as well, but noone saw any reason to 'bash' them), but all with his own behaviour in the past.

 

[Ninety5rpm]

Or maybe it's not that at all, and he just reaps what he has sown. Petacchi has (or at least used to have ) the reputation of being a gentleman, sure he has made his mistakes (like in Turkey), but overall, people know he is a fair sprinter, who doesn't risk the lives of his competitors just to get a win. People give him the benefit of the doubt, and Petacchi has earned that (even without that this wouldn't be nearly enough for a DQ of course)

Cavendish and HTC in general don't have such a good reputation, and largely by their own design. Cav is a hothead, a daredevil, who, when things don't go his way, has been known to make some less than great decisions in the past. Now that's no reason to DQ him for small offences (although I really don't believe Cav would be DQed for this, outside of that one sprint in the 2009 Tour, which everyone thought was b*ll****, in all other cases the jury decisions were fair), but it does show why people are quicker to blame him when it's a judgement call whether he made a mistake or not, it has nothing to do with tall poppy syndrome (the sprinting greats of the pasts like Cipollini and Petacchi were never put under this kind of scrutiny, why is that? They won a lot as well, but noone saw any reason to 'bash' them), but all with his own behaviour in the past.

If the person (and his reputation) is a factor in deciding whether the behavior in question was appropriate or not, that's a big problem, and the epitome of ''unfair''.

The only consideration should be the behavior itself, without regard to who engaged in it or his reputation, judged against an objective standard.

 

[blackcat]

Or maybe it's not that at all, and he just reaps what he has sown. Petacchi has (or at least used to have ) the reputation of being a gentleman, sure he has made his mistakes (like in Turkey), but overall, people know he is a fair sprinter, who doesn't risk the lives of his competitors just to get a win. People give him the benefit of the doubt, and Petacchi has earned that (even without that this wouldn't be nearly enough for a DQ of course)

Cavendish and HTC in general don't have such a good reputation, and largely by their own design. Cav is a hothead, a daredevil, who, when things don't go his way, has been known to make some less than great decisions in the past. Now that's no reason to DQ him for small offences (although I really don't believe Cav would be DQed for this, outside of that one sprint in the 2009 Tour, which everyone thought was b*ll****, in all other cases the jury decisions were fair), but it does show why people are quicker to blame him when it's a judgement call whether he made a mistake or not, it has nothing to do with tall poppy syndrome (the sprinting greats of the pasts like Cipollini and Petacchi were never put under this kind of scrutiny, why is that? They won a lot as well, but noone saw any reason to 'bash' them), but all with his own behaviour in the past.

only ever seen Cav move once, and that was with Hushovd @Tour last year, he was dq'ed, cost him green, and he has about 3 lengths on everyone else, so he was silly to box Thor intentionally.

Cav is about the fairest sprinter I have ever seen. Mcewen on the other hand...

 

[blackcat]

Because he believes Cav looks like Frodo, because he saw a diffrent sprint than you did, or because he saw xenophobic explanations for Ale-Jet not beiing disqulified? Like "this is Italy". I'd agree on the first one.

hgh makes Frodo look like Frodo. big head. bigger than 5 years back.

Hats off to frodo, cos heads too big. head gets squashed