Lets Call The Whole Thing Off......

[hrotha]

Exactly. Hinault has also said that cobbles have no place in the Tour.

I disagree.

If I recall correctly, the first rider to make it to the top of the first real climb to be included in the third (or so) TdF called the organizers "murderers" for designing such an inhumane parcours.

What we need is more cobbles so the riders get used to the idea.

 

[frizzlefry]

Because they understand the sport, are human, and don't want to see anyone getting hurt, even LA.

LOL, what you been smoking?

 

[boardhanger]

Because they understand the sport, are human, and don't want to see anyone getting hurt, even LA.

So dry flat stages 'ala yesterday' should be nulled also?? So if any GC rider comes down nullify the race cause for some apparent reason on in mountain and TT stages shall time be taken !! Is the Schlecks bigger than leTour???

 

[buckwheat]

So dry flat stages 'ala yesterday' should be nulled also?? So if any GC rider comes down nullify the race cause for some apparent reason on in mountain and TT stages shall time be taken !! Is the Schlecks bigger than leTour???

Eh?

the mechanics could barely walk on that descent.

The fact of the matter is that the stage was neutralized with very few complaining. Hushovd complained. Had he not been lucky he wouldn't have.

 

[Dr. Maserati]

So dry flat stages 'ala yesterday' should be nulled also?? So if any GC rider comes down nullify the race cause for some apparent reason on in mountain and TT stages shall time be taken !! Is the Schlecks bigger than leTour???

Who actually stated the above?

You may have had a point if just Schleck fell today - almost every team had someone hit the deck today and even the few teams that didn't appeared to be caught up in it to.
So it suited all teams to adopt a 'wait & see' right after the descent.

But after that they should have raced the latter part of the stage,

 

[danjo007]

they're professionals scribe - not darlings.
learn to race.

i dont know what was sadder. cancellara or the riders who did what he wanted???

 

[buckwheat]

LOL, what you been smoking?

Got this from your signature?

Listen, strange women lyin' in ponds distributin' swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.

And you're askin me what I'm smoking?

 

[irritated_cycling_fan]

Code of Honor


Let me acknowledge this right up - I just registered this evening for this forum. I did so because although I've been reading these boards for years and have been irritated many times, this thread was just too much to let go. So people, pull out your chopping blocks because after this, my 1st post, some of you are going to be tearing me apart.

I'm stunned by how many of you (including senior members) sound as though you just began watching cycling with this Tour! I'm reading the crap many of you are spouting and wondering, 'are these people really unfamiliar with the 'unwritten' rules within the Peloton? Do you not know that there is a type of 'code of honor', the most important being that you don't take advantage of a top GC contender under 'unfair' conditions and what happened today wasn't just A top GC contender - it was pretty much all of them. You know, the same concept that prevents riders from pressing harder when a top rider has to take a 'nature' stop (dropping back to your team car doesn't count). If a rider knowingly takes advantage of a rival who flatted or fell, not only would many riders try to stop it; but there would be some really harsh words exchanged. With massive crashes like today, those that managed to not crash or at least get by without too much damage, are honor bound to NOT take advantage of the situation. Check your Tour history and you'll find example after example of the Peloton doing a major slow down if the possibility exists that a top GC contender can make it back to the group if they've flatted or fallen. For those of you who don't know enough about cycling to know about this 'code of honor', check this link: http://articles.latimes.com/2003/jul/23/sports/ .... Yes, it was written in 2003 but the article expresses the idea better than any other I've seen. If you read to the end of the article those 'unwritten rules' - are written. So what Cancellara did today was not just done for the Schleck's and because he did it knowing that he would be giving up the Yellow Jersey, it held more weight.

A couple of other points here:
- if you're going down hill in a group of 100+ riders, first off, you have keep pace with those around you or you will be the cause of the accident; secondly, you can being going 5 mph but if in an instant a wall is placed directly in front of you - you are going down. It's PHYSICS, look it up.

- there was so much confusion because of the crashes (plural!) that almost no one knew who was up or down or had gotten through. One who had the best grasp was Cancellara since he made it through. Without access to tv, team directors didn't know, Phil and Paul didn't know, race officials didn't know, and certainly the riders who went down didn't know unless other riders had crashed next to them. The HTC director thought Andy was out of the race. The directors don't talk to each other so they only know what they have actually seen or what their riders tell them. ASO wants to stop directors having immediate contact with their riders - try to image what happened today happening without radios? If a rider sustains a life threatening injury and he's ended up further down the road and isn't easy to see? There were so many riders down and only the 1 medical car, which sits at the end of the caravan, even the team cars were blocked by the crashes. Just what cycling needs - a rider dying for lack of medical treatment because there is so much carnage no one knows he's hurt. Where the crashes happened, under the trees and because some of the motorbikes had gone down as well, few cameras had a decent look at what was happening nor was there really anyone, including race officials, who was able to see enough to know the extent of the carnage.

- The slow down was a group decision. As riders managed to catch back on if they had wanted chase, Cancellara couldn't have stopped them. It's been suggested that the slow down was only for the Schlecks and that they didn't wait for VV. Well, even if anyone knew if he'd gone down, everyone in the Peloton knew that he was already riding with injured ribs. When he wasn't with any of the groups that managed to become the Armstrong/Contador and eventually Schlecks' group, it was most likely thought that he was out for good. There is an honor code but if given a reasonable amount of time to rejoin and having no information that a specific person is even trying, you do go on. But even when Armstrong/Contador/Schleck's group caught up with Cancellara's group they all decided not to actually race. Probably because many of those who managed catch on still weren't in any shape to really do so.

- Thor is a great rider but his whining is very petty. Considering that his 2 biggest rivals received no points on stage 1 because both were taken out by crashes and there was no way that either would get points today, there was nothing unfair about it.

Finally, having listened to the majority of you B tch & moan over the most idiotic things in the last few years, that any of you have the B lls to criticize these riders is the height of hubris! I seriously doubt that any of you would even begin to consider getting back on your bike when you just broke your arm or had something dig a hole into your skin so deep that you can see bone. Your short comings must really give you an insecurity complex if you feel the need to call any of these riders wusses.

This is a comment section and people may post what they wish but seriously, try not show how much you DON'T have a clue what you're talking about!

Ok everyone - flame on!

 

[boardhanger]

Eh?

the mechanics could barely walk on that descent.

The fact of the matter is that the stage was neutralized with very few complaining. Hushovd complained. Had he not been lucky he wouldn't have.

If it was good enough for Cancellara to lead the pack and chase down that slippery knowingly slippery 2.9KM decent then he should be held responible for his team mates falls. I'm sorry they fell. Buts thats racing. I remember Alex Zulle losing 6 miutes 1999 race cause of a seaweed infested road that the tide covered twice a day. It was Riis ....Riis.....Riis...crafty Riis...using by proxy the dangerous roads protest to facilate the Schlecks bros. hey, i'm honest i'd do it too. The route is the route if you don't like it don't apply for it. Everyone knows thats a fable. Come on !

 

[Ferminal]

The biggest problem is what to do about Stage 3.

Decisions were made out on the road yesterday at the time and whatever, we can move on from there. But now there's just going to be glaring inconsistencies, or another day of non-racing.

 

[BroDeal]

Where are the usual posters who love bashing LA for being a Peloton Bully? We got 12 pages of potential and I havent seen one post from: The Hog, BroDeal, ThoughtforFood bashing The Canc for being a Bully.
You guys are slacking.

Unlike you, who sees July as a chance to test your Viagra prescription while watching TV, others see a long holiday weekend in July as a chance to ride their bikes. I know that this must be a concept foreign to you, but try to understand that other people are not nursing a chubby while drooling over video of The Lance..

 

[scribe]

Dang, irritated..... You've been saving up a monster post all these years! Seriously, great post. Hang around and post more.

 

[Willy_Voet]

....

Winnah!

Delete all posts after this and lock thread.

 

[Dr. Maserati]

Dang, irritated..... You've been saving up a monster post all these years! Seriously, great post. Hang around and post more.

Agree - they pretty much articulated all my thoughts.

@'Irriated' - the only thing I would suggest is if you could copy &paste and change the font used, as it would be a shame if people skipped over your post.

 

[hrotha]

If it was good enough for Cancellara to lead the pack and chase down that slippery knowingly slippery 2.9KM decent then he should be held responible for his team mates falls. I'm sorry they fell. Buts thats racing. I remember Alex Zulle losing 6 miutes 1999 race cause of a seaweed infested road that the tide covered twice a day. It was Riis ....Riis.....Riis...crafty Riis...using by proxy the dangerous roads protest to facilate the Schlecks bros. hey, i'm honest i'd do it too. The route is the route if you don't like it don't apply for it. Everyone knows thats a fable. Come on !

There's a bit of a difference here because the normal condition of the Gois passage is to be one slippery hell of a road, and everybody knew that and rode accordingly. Today, an accident allegedly caused oil to be spilled on a wet road.

 

[boardhanger]

There's a bit of a difference here because the normal condition of the Gois passage is to be one slippery hell of a road, and everybody knew that and rode accordingly. Today, an accident allegedly caused oil to be spilled on a wet road.

My god a dirty piece of tarmac on a three week road race !!! Riis.....Riis...Riis that wily old dog pulled the wool over your eyes yet again. Lets demand the SaxoBank team car video now. Let's demand.

 

[Anonymous]

What's the difference between what Fabian did today and when a GC contender goes down? Doesn't the yellow jersey wait for him at that point out of good sportsmanship? It just so happens that it was his (GC) teammates that went down. I'm sure some (maybe not all) of the other teams would have done the same.

It was a dangerous stage that ate up tons of riders. I'm sure most everyone except Thor would agree. Just as McCewen, the Schlecks, VDV, Farrar, et al.

 

[xmoonx]

Cancellara was being a pontificating ass once again. For men who pride themselves on their toughness and fortitude, they are acting a wee bit precious.

What are they going to do? Spit 'assassins' at the organisers? It's been done.

"Francesco Gavazzi crashed out of the breakaway on the Stockeu. A TV motorcycle then crashed while avoiding hitting Gavazzi, and the bike spilled oil on the road. The oil had time to run down the hill by the time the peloton came through a few minutes later" The race organizers SHOULD have neutralized the race or that section of the race; they do in NASCAR, why not cycling. Sixty cyclists crashed.

 

[Sydney Sider]

Stage 3 is understood to be a stage of selection. The 200ft oil slick today was not.

I didnt see Basso or the Liquigas team neautralise stage one cause they were afraid there were going to be more dogs run out in fronty of the peloton

 

[luckyboy]

"Francesco Gavazzi crashed out of the breakaway on the Stockeu. A TV motorcycle then crashed while avoiding hitting Gavazzi, and the bike spilled oil on the road. The oil had time to run down the hill by the time the peloton came through a few minutes later" The race organizers SHOULD have neutralized the race or that section of the race; they do in NASCAR, why not cycling. Sixty cyclists crashed.

They would've crashed no matter what speed they were going. The guys getting out of the cars were falling over.

How far ahead of the peloton was Gavazzi at the time btw? It didn't seem like there was much time for the organisers to sort out a slow-down by the time the rest of the riders got there.

 

[boardhanger]

"Francesco Gavazzi crashed out of the breakaway on the Stockeu. A TV motorcycle then crashed while avoiding hitting Gavazzi, and the bike spilled oil on the road. The oil had time to run down the hill by the time the peloton came through a few minutes later" The race organizers SHOULD have neutralized the race or that section of the race; they do in NASCAR, why not cycling. Sixty cyclists crashed.

I remember seeing the bunch sise by side with cars and motor bikes live and i said call them in. Obviousely they didn't. Maybe thats the argument????

 

[frizzlefry]

Unlike you, who sees July as a chance to test your Viagra prescription while watching TV, others see a long holiday weekend in July as a chance to ride their bikes. I know that this must be a concept foreign to you, but try to understand that other people are not nursing a chubby while drooling over video of The Lance..

Please, please, please come up with some new material. And try to stay on topic.

 

[xmoonx]

What happened to all these unwritten rules during the Giro? No one waited for Evans or Wiggins when they were caught out on the early stages.

Wiggins and Evans also crashed "“It was a straight road, downhill, with oil on it, and the whole peloton went down,” Evans said. “Sorry to the public for not racing. But it would not have been fair to the many who were injured.”

 

[jaylew]

What happened to all these unwritten rules during the Giro? No one waited for Evans or Wiggins when they were caught out on the early stages.

You don't see the difference?

 

[Dr. Maserati]

Please, please, please come up with some new material. And try to stay on topic.

Smart advice - these are your only 2 other comments on this thread:

Where are the usual posters who love bashing LA for being a Peloton Bully? We got 12 pages of potential and I havent seen one post from: The Hog, BroDeal, ThoughtforFood bashing The Canc for being a Bully.
You guys are slacking.

LOL, what you been smoking?

When you go calling out other posters you shouldn't really be suprised if they respond.

Im looking forward to reading your opinions on todays race.