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

[benpounder]

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.

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.

I think if the line had been just 10 metres further ahead he would have overtaken Petacchi.

To say that had the finish been 10m down the road would have led to a Cav win is conjecture, for it is quite possible that the final sprint would have also started 10m later.

 

[benpounder]

Before I saw this cyclingnews story, I figured that Cav would likely be ther beneficiary of future Giro jury rulings. I think his whining just lost him that intangible.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

LOL at the Frodo supporters playing the xenophobia card. So the only reason why Petacchi's win was allowed to stand is because he and the commisaires are Italian.

Last night a relatively unknown boxer called Daniel Geale beat Sebastian Sylvester to take the IBF middleweight boxing championship. This was something of an upset, but boxing fans were less surprised by Geale's performance than they were by him beating a German world champion on points in Germany, something that's widely regarded as nearly impossible. If you are fighting a German champion in Germany you win by knockout or you don't win at all.

In pretty much every soccer league in the world, the home team is more likely to win controversial decisions than the visiting team. Over a season, almost every team gets more penalties at home than away, for instance.

The idea that the cycling of all sports is so competently, efficiently and cleanly officiated that it alone is immune to the widespread phenomenon of the hometown decision is laughable. There's nothing at all unreasonable in suggesting that Petacchi is more likely than Cavendish to get the rub of the green when it comes to decisions in Petacchi's home tour.

Now that said, I think that Petacchi stayed the right side of dangerous in his sprint. You can reasonably describe what he did as deeply unsporting or as smart riding by an old hand, depending on your point of view, but it's only actually against the rules to endanger your competitors and he stopped short of that. It's the sort of thing that will, quite understandably annoy the rider on the receiving end though so I don't think Cavendish is being childish or a notably poor loser. Petacchi wouldn't be happy to have Cavendish weave in front of him like that either.

On a related note, I used to always cheer against Cavendish on general never cheer for the favourite principle. Now most of the time I find myself hoping he wins, because he's entertaining and because he really, really cares about winning and doesn't care who knows it.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

they are uci commisary's and they aren't even italian

same with that bs in 1997 tour with riders getting relegated in sprints so french guys supposedly would win while in reality none of those jury members were even french

 

[Mrs John Murphy]

It is xenophobic if in the first instance when you don't get your way you blame it on some kind of ethnic conspiracy - which is what Frodo and his fanboys are doing.

The fact of the matter is that decisions go both for and against riders all the time.

Frodo and his apologists seem to forget the various dodgy sprints that have gone his way.

Frodo's sense of victimhood is laughable and the 'wogs begin at calais' attitude of a lot of his fans and media supporters is just unpleasant.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

they are uci commisary's and they aren't even italian

The boxing judges who consistently score in favour of German boxers in world title fights in Germany for the most part aren't German. Soccer referees aren't normally from the town they are officiating in, yet we know that they are statistically more likely to make decisions favouring the home team.

There are a whole load of reasons why home town decisions happen in sport, ranging from outright corruption, to crowd influence, to organisation pressure, to misplaced patriotism. Why they happen is open to discussion, but their existence is not. The idea that cycling is better administered than every other sport, which is what denying the existence of home town decisions in cycling necessarily implies, is stupid beyond human imagination. Cycling administration is a disaster area.

I don't think that Petacchi should have been disqualified. I do think that he'd have been quite a lot more likely to have been disqualified if this had happened in the Tour of Britain.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Frodo's sense of victimhood is laughable and the 'wogs begin at calais' attitude of a lot of his fans and media supporters is just unpleasant.

Who exactly are you accusing of having this attitude? Cavendish, who witters on (boringly) about how much he loves Italy? People on this forum? Who?

 

[ferryman]

It is xenophobic if in the first instance when you don't get your way you blame it on some kind of ethnic conspiracy - which is what Frodo and his fanboys are doing.

The fact of the matter is that decisions go both for and against riders all the time.

Frodo and his apologists seem to forget the various dodgy sprints that have gone his way.

Frodo's sense of victimhood is laughable and the 'wogs begin at calais' attitude of a lot of his fans and media supporters is just unpleasant.

Well said MJM, totally agree. One thing supporting your home boy but another inferring some sort of foreign conspirancy when things don't go your way. And worse by a few on here..

 

[red_flanders]

I saw nothing irregular about Pettachi's sprint. He definitely closed the door at the first move, but he had plenty of clearance to do it, and that's just the right move when you're out front like that. Pettachi swerved a bit at the end, but it was nothing. No way anyone should have been relegated for any of that.

Cav whines because he believes he's the fastest in the world, and if he doesn't win something was up, and that's the mind of a winner. Also he's a bit of a whiner and egomaniac.

I hope there are many more close, tough sprints to come!

 

[Mrs John Murphy]

Who exactly are you accusing of having this attitude? Cavendish, who witters on (boringly) about how much he loves Italy? People on this forum? Who?

The sentence was divided into two parts: The first was Frodo's sense of victimhood which is laughable. ie

It's the fault of the jury or teams who have a prejudice against me.

The 'wogs begin at calais' attitude can be found all over the english language media (ie Eurosport, BBC, CN) and on plenty of discussion sites including this one. Frodo losing a slightly debatable sprint has brought them all nicely out of the woodwork all at once.

 

[lukinox]

I think the only reason why there's been controversy about this sprint is because Mark complained a lot straight away. The reality is that Cavendish thought it had the victory in the bag and when he saw that Petacchi has been smarter than him he got really frustrated. Mark Cavendish is the best sprinter in the world at the moment without any doubts, but today he has been outsmarted by the experience of Petacchi end of story. Well done to Ale-jet !

 

[greenedge]

Great ride petacchi. Cav you had a lead-out man yet you still lost. Loved the lang solo express train too.

 

[K-0tic]

I think the only reason why there's been controversy about this sprint is because Mark complained a lot straight away. The reality is that Cavendish thought it had the victory in the bag and when he saw that Petacchi has been smarter than him he got really frustrated. Mark Cavendish is the best sprinter in the world at the moment without any doubts, but today he has been outsmarted by the experience of Petacchi end of story. Well done to Ale-jet !

Exactly. Cav got beaten straight and faire but he's so hungry he wants to win everything and today he just got outsmarted by Petacchi.

 

[benpounder]

...and on plenty of discussion sites including this one. Frodo losing a slightly debatable sprint has brought them all nicely out of the woodwork all at once.

Actuality, I find most comments fairly dispassionate, and surprisingly objective. I was expecting much worse. If you want to see a frothing "debate" go back to last year's TdF thread, you know, the one over Col de la Madeleine where Schecklet dropped his chain.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

lol at the pezcyclingnews caption... "leave it to Mark Cavendish to make sure no stage goes into the record books as a yawner". With the exception of stages 3 and 19 in the '09 Tour, I don't think any stage he's won hasn't been a yawner for all but the last 2km.

 

[benpounder]

lol at the pezcyclingnews caption

And then, this photo needs no caption:

Well other than "Tyler, is that you getting totally pwned?"

 

[auscyclefan94]

ALE-JET

Kristoff 11th, he is coming!

 

[mewmewmew13]

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.

By 'damage control' I meant PR...I still don't think that tweet sounded like something that would come right out of Cav's mouth...even Cav said his initial comments wouldn't have been so sweet sounding.
My take was that someone cleaned up his comment and posted so it sounded gracious. That's my opinion. Take it or leave it...

And no, I'm not drinking the 'kool-aid'. I've much more confidence in my own opinions than to be an aimless follower.

 

[The Hitch]

Doesn't seem to do the F1 much harm to be consistently mindnumbingly boring despite having their races on weekends.

Cav answered all the questions in English. 2 years ago he was able to speak basic italian. A shame cos i hoped maybe he could speak it by now though perhaps he will when hes a little bit more of a happy bunny.

 

[El Pistolero]

Cav answered all the questions in English. 2 years ago he was able to speak basic italian. A shame cos i hoped maybe he could speak it by now though perhaps he will when hes a little bit more of a happy bunny.

Probably to not be misunderstood or something. I recently saw an Contador interview while at the Saxobank company and his English was pretty darn good. Ok his English had that Spanish thingie in it, but you could easily understand what he was saying. I guess he's doing it for the same reason as Cav, or Cav for the same reason as him.

Cav's Italian actually got better and better according to some team mates of him, so he can speak it Think it's more of a mental reason behind it.

Don't think Cav's lying with his love for Italy

 

[Captain_Cavman]

Good stuff from Petacchi. Went early, got himself in front of Cavendish and then did enough swerving to stop him getting past without endangering anyone.

A number of very successful sports sides use persecution complexes to foster team spirit and clearly HTC is one of them. They still appear to feeding off the 2009 disqualification which handed the green jersey to Thor (laughable) and the elimination of Renshaw last year (totally correct but still about as harsh as it could have been).

I still see no evidence that Cavendish wins solely because of the HTC leadout. It seems to hinder as often as help.

 

[El Pistolero]

Good stuff from Petacchi. Went early, got himself in front of Cavendish and then did enough swerving to stop him getting past without endangering anyone.

A number of very successful sports sides use persecution complexes to foster team spirit and clearly HTC is one of them. They still appear to feeding off the 2009 disqualification which handed the green jersey to Thor (laughable) and the elimination of Renshaw last year (totally correct but still about as harsh as it could have been).

I still see no evidence that Cavendish wins solely because of the HTC leadout. It seems to hinder as often as help.

God, I hated that Thor took the jersey then.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

God, I hated that Thor took the jersey then.

True
I actually cheered for Cavendish in that edition (to take green that is).

 

[Cobblestoned]

And then, this photo needs no caption:

Well other than "Tyler, is that you getting totally pwned?"

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.
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.

 

[La Pandera]

She should get banned for that!
No effort whatsoever!!!!

Very disappointing....

Very much like the Tour de Romandie hottie that was always on the right. She must have been a germ-a-phobe. Her lips never graced a rider's cheek for the entire week.