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

[spalco]

Watching the replay, I'm changing my opinion and agree that Petacchi's win was good, at least Cavendish was never in any actual physical danger; I don't know if it was especially sporting of Petacchi, but he wasn't trying to get anyone hurt. Good on Petacchi for using his experience to his advantage but I still think people are letting their dislike of Cavendish cloud their judgement and wouldn't be that gracious if the roles had been reversed. Also good on Cavendish for being angry though, he shouldn't be satisfied with #2 and he very very nearly won anyway; I think if the line had been just 10 metres further ahead he would have overtaken Petacchi.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

However, this is Italy.

 

[Kwibus]

this tricks are pretty saddening. I think what petacchi did was worst than what renshaw did to farrar in 2010 tour. Its another one of my reasons why I dont really like sprints.

Petacchi most definately didn't do anything really bad. Imo it was all legitimate.
When he moved to the left there was actually still plenty of space for Cav to pass him on the left. I understand why he didn't risk it, but it was possible.

 

[autologous]

wtf is happening on rai now? They have the pink jersey up in front of italian fans and commentators peppering him with italian questions which he can obviously barely understand and respond to. get him an interpreter. I dont care for cav but they're embarrassing him intentionally. Now they have ale jet up there. Its not a fair discussion.

 

[Michielveedeebee]

Hoogerland 1:20

De Greef 1:30

Nocentini 6:49

There were more, but this are notable losers today in my opinion.

What happened to De Greef? :s

 

[Boardslide]

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.

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

 

[Libertine Seguros]

wtf is happening on rai now? They have the pink jersey up in front of italian fans and commentators peppering him with italian questions which he can obviously barely understand and respond to. get him an interpreter. I dont care for cav but they're embarrassing him intentionally. Now they have ale jet up there. Its not a fair discussion.

Cav can speak Italian well enough to answer questions. He lives there. He probably has to think through what he's saying because of his history of controversial quotes, and because of the controversy of the day there are many people wanting to get their questions in.

 

[joy118118]

wtf is happening on rai now? They have the pink jersey up in front of italian fans and commentators peppering him with italian questions which he can obviously barely understand and respond to. get him an interpreter. I dont care for cav but they're embarrassing him intentionally. Now they have ale jet up there. Its not a fair discussion.

i think cavendish chooses answer in italian. in MSR he was interviewed in Italian. he learnt it for a while

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

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

yeahh, i call it the jerk theory.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

See, everybody else has already been moaning about how dull the stage is. But when I join in, I get jumped on. It IS dull, and there's no getting around it.

then don't watch it. go to the beach or meat with friends if you have any and come back to see result

 

[spalco]

So what's Cavendish saying (approximately, no direct quote necessary)?

 

[Libertine Seguros]

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

poor HTC. It must be so hard for them to get up to sprint speed carrying the weight of righteous indignation, knowing that they've always been absolute angels and sticking to the fair and righteous path even as people try to disrupt their little joyride by trying to win.

That Mark Renshaw, such a sweetie, would never hurt a fly.

 

[Mellow Velo]

I take it you hate Robbie McEwen then?

Seriously, this was worse than headbutting people then trying to put them in the barriers?

Strangely, McEwen pulled the exact same headbutt at this year's Schelprijs.......just before the big crash.
Never mind DQF, he kept his finishing spot, without so much as a wagged finger.

I think what folks dislike, is the apparent inconsistency in the adjudications.

Maybe they should introduce: "Trial by Twitter"?

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Strangely, McEwen pulled the exact same headbutt at this year's Schelprijs.......just before the big crash.
Never mind DQF, he kept his finishing spot, without so much as a wagged finger.

I think what folks dislike, is the apparent inconsistency in the adjudications.

Maybe they should introduce: "Trial by Twitter"?

I didn't know about that. I didn't watch Scheldeprijs, for obvious reasons.

 

[spalco]

poor HTC. It must be so hard for them to get up to sprint speed carrying the weight of righteous indignation, knowing that they've always been absolute angels and sticking to the fair and righteous path even as people try to disrupt their little joyride by trying to win.

That Mark Renshaw, such a sweetie, would never hurt a fly.

Ok, I'll bite, what exactly has HTC done that was so horrible besides winning a lot? That Renshaw DQ last year was complete bull****.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

Hoogerland 1:20

De Greef 1:30

Nocentini 6:49

There were more, but this are notable losers today in my opinion.

niemec 41 seconds

 

[Boardslide]

Ok, I'll bite, what exactly has HTC done that was so horrible besides winning a lot? That Renshaw DQ last year was complete bull****.

Also 2009 with Thor when the barriers came in

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Ok, I'll bite, what exactly has HTC done that was so horrible besides winning a lot? That Renshaw DQ last year was complete bull****.

They've alienated a lot of people with their bullying tactics, forcing their train in. A lot of people have been put into barriers or held up, had their paths cut off etc. The Renshaw DQ last year was NOT complete bull. I don't know what penalty they could have applied - put him to last? Why is that a penalty, he's a leadout guy, he doesn't care. Take Cav's victory away? That's a dangerous precedent since Cav did nothing wrong. Viciously putting somebody in the barriers has seen people ejected before, and headbutts have seen people ejected before. Renshaw did both, and got ejected.

They're a ruthlessly efficient team, HTC. They quash the opposition not in the last few metres like Petacchi did today, but they do quash them, and sometimes by dubious means.

They win a lot because they know what works. And what works is having the best sprinter, and a bunch of TT guys to set a pace so high nobody can attack that. And on the off chance somebody can compete, preventing them from getting into any kind of position to do so, by force if necessary. A lot of somewhat dubious pushing and jostling going on in Columbia's trains. The stage that Cav pulled up on in last year's Tour, Renshaw was being incredibly muscular with Hushovd down the straight. They were a bit riled cos Hondo had broken up their perfect train.

 

[Mellow Velo]

Oh dear, this doesn't look good for BMC fans.
204 TSCHOPP Johann SUI BMC 5:45:40 0:00
So came in somewhere between 3 and 6 and a half minutes down.
Must mean a bad crash inside the 3km mark.

Their one, half decent rider bites the dust.

More bad news for Cav. If Petacchi wins tomorrow and he's outside the top 3, AJ will not only have taken his line, but his pink outfit, as well.

 

[profff]

this is not italy
this is cycling
maybe italy is ( or better was ) cycling

if you want to put lanes like in athletics 100 m or in swimming, don't look sprints in cycling.
it is a very different sport
petacchi just used his experience, never endangering cavs.

abdu is one thing , lanes it is a completely different story.
no lanes in cycling----

may be , ask yourself why after a 244km stages in hot weather, htc disappeared in the last 3 km, leaving remshaw and cav alone.
renshaw had to work a lot , so his final lead out was a little slower than usual.
htc is supposed to have all the team for the sprint while lampre has only hondo to help petacchi, all the others being there to help michele scarponi .

today, imho, complete failure by garmin and htc, even if htc retains the pink, that is just fair as consolation prize.

 

[Publicus]

niemec 41 seconds

And you had Szymd, Navarro and Hernandez coming in at 1'42". My guess is that they were wisely saving their legs.

 

[djlovesyou]

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

Also history shows that every time it happens I'll laugh.

Not that I'm a huge HTC hater, Cav throwing his toys out just entertains me.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

this is not italy
this is cycling
maybe italy is ( or better was ) cycling

if you want to put lanes like in athletics 100 m or in swimming, don't look sprints in cycling.
it is a very different sport
petacchi just used his experience, never endangering cavs.

abdu is one thing , lanes it is a completely different story.
no lanes in cycling----

may be , ask yourself why after a 244km stages in hot weather, htc disappeared in the last 3 km, leaving remshaw and cav alone.
renshaw had to work a lot , so his final lead out was a little slower than usual.
htc is supposed to have all the team for the sprint while lampre has only hondo to help petacchi, all the others being there to help michele scarponi .

today, imho, complete failure by garmin and htc, even if htc retains the pink, that is just fair as consolation prize.

i don't disagree, I actually enjoy seeing contriversy in sprints.
my pic was just in light of the "This is Italy" comment a few people made.. you know for a laugh.

 

[18-Valve. (pithy)]

niemec 41 seconds

Visconti as well.

 

[profff]

i don't disagree, I actually enjoy seeing contriversy in sprints.
my pic was just in light of the "This is Italy" comment a few people made.. you know for a laugh.

do not worry, i understand and i don't get offended easily

i prefer cav to peta, but i do not like people asking DSQ without reason
they remind me of soccer players asking yellow cards to the referee.

today i saw a sprint as hundreds in the past
cav , in processo alla tappa , on italian tv tried to keep the point, even if he is not speaking good italian
it looked like he wanted to refer to DSQ he had in the past for similar reason, but i cannot remember.
cipo and silvio martinello both judged the sprint clean: cav was not at the side of petacchi, and his wheels was always away of peta's posterior wheel when alejet changed direction.

i agree with them.
and tomorrow with madonna delle grazie few km from the finish line in rapallo seems to favourish again petacchi, because he is one of the sprinter passing better the hills.