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(Presidential) Cycling Tour of Turkey [April 11th-April18th 2021]

Page 8 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.
Yes it was reductio ad absurdum. It's a valid logical argument.
Deliberate obstruction or a rider or team car is against the rules. lining out across the road and holding whatever pace they want is not. The rider shoved Dowsett in the back while ISN did this, that is against the rules and it was the second time they did it. They should have been thrown out of the race, instead he was shut down and stopped in his goals. Seems reasonable to me.
How is physically blocking the road not "deliberate obstruction of a rider"?

I don't care about what the other guy did, the jury can punish him any way it sees fit. His behaviour is not a systemic problem. Dowsett's is.
 
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What happened (in neutral words)?
A break went, ISN lined out across the road to let the break go and stop others joining, a rider who had previously shoved someone else in the back did the same to Dowsett, so Dowsett told him he would personally shut him down for the rest of the day (possibly race, we'll see).

Dowsett pointed out that if the rider had asked to be let through then they would have obliged, because his goals weren't against ISN. That bit might sound entitled, but it's literally how bike racing works. You might not like that, and I've no problem with anyone saying it shouldn't work this way, but Dowsett is just explaining how racing works. If he's entitled then the vast majority of the peloton are too (which kind of means they aren't).
 
How is physically blocking the road not "deliberate obstruction of a rider"?

I don't care about what the other guy did, the jury can punish him any way it sees fit. His behaviour is not a systemic problem. Dowsett's is.
Because it isn't specific, otherwise you could just complain that anyone in your way as you try to move up through a bunch is deliberately blocking you and they'd have to disqualify 1/3 of the peloton in every sprint. If they had left a gap the rider had tried to go through and Dowsett had swung across him to stop him, that would be deliberate obstruction, but that wasn't what happened.

Again, complain about teams doing it, sure, but if the majority of the peloton do this I don't think Dowsett can be described as entitled.
 
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Because it isn't specific, otherwise you could just complain that anyone in your way as you try to move up through a bunch is deliberately blocking you and they'd have to disqualify 1/3 of the peloton in every sprint. If they had left a gap the rider had tried to go through and Dowsett had swung across him to stop him, that would be deliberate obstruction, but that wasn't what happened.
I don't see the problem. Many rules are open to interpretation and that's why we have juries, and physically blocking the road is very different from what you're describing.
 
Finally some semi-interesting scenery.

Re blocking the road -- this happens so often that I'd basically figured the UCI didn't care so long as riders don't come to blows. To me (again, unless it results in a physical confrontation) it's just part of the tactics as to who can get into a break. I haven't seen this particular incident in the ToT, but you see it all the time in the northern classics/semi-classics.
 
Finally some semi-interesting scenery.

Re blocking the road -- this happens so often that I'd basically figured the UCI didn't care so long as riders don't come to blows. To me (again, unless it results in a physical confrontation) it's just part of the tactics as to who can get into a break. I haven't seen this particular incident in the ToT, but you see it all the time in the northern classics/semi-classics.

 
I seem to recall a lot of fuss about sportsmanship when Vos, Ferrand-Prévot and van der Breggen worked together to box Mara Abbott in and prevent her attacking on Madonna del Ghisallo. And in the 2010 Tour when Radioshack got a break that would put them ahead in the team classification and blocked the road, preventing a single Frenchman from getting into the breakaway on Bastille Day.
 
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I remember seeing Charmig for the first time when he was a small kid training with a group of older boys.
He's been seen as a huge talent for years, but after he put his career on a hold, it's great seeing him on this level now, even if he don't make it (which he doesn't).

If he had ridden smarter he could have won the stage, but he also lacks experience in races at this level.
 
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