El Imbatido said:It also means others in the grupetto in the future that know the rules...could just sit back and see the whole team of the jersey wearer have to do all the pulling...knowing they wont get kicked out and will get as much of a free ride as possible
throw them ALL out!Midnightfright said:Why are there just calls throw at Cav but nothing about Thor, EBH or Gilbert?
SirLes said:Sorry!
I'm glad that Farrar made it. Given his problems early in the stage he must have been hanging on.
Intererseting to see some of the names back there- Leiphimer and Hondo were both active early in the day as was Gilbert.
My guess is they intended to finish inside the limit but misjudged it. The other gruppetto got it right as they were just inside.
I think taking points off people is a good punishment though. My guess is that it is because traditionally those in the gruppetto are sprinters and therefore usually fighting it out for the Green Jersey. Given the arbitrary nature of the time limit, an acceptance that the time limit is too tight if a large number fail to get inside it is logical IMO.
Given we want a cleaner sport I'm not sure thowing half the peloton out because they are knackered is really sending out the right message!
Ragerod said:He and all the others outside the limit should still be in. Only guys that were behind the 80-man grupetto should be eliminated. Disqualifying anyone from one of the side competitions for finishing outside the time limit is probably a step too far but perhaps the -20 points is too lenient.
We have to remember that the green jersey competition this year isn't the norm. Most years the top 5 or 10 places would be occupied by sprinters that would be in the grupetto and excluding all of them would undermine the whole competition.
A points deduction is fair. Rojas and Cavendish have both worked equally hard today and Rojas' climbing ability has been rewarded.
Billy Boy said:Yeah, because the green jersey should always be a reflection of climbing ability.
El Imbatido said:From the report on Stage 18:
They just deducted points from his green jersey lead......this was introduced into the Vuelta a few years back when i believe Greipel finished outside the limit, but they let him stay in.
Your thoughts?.....should he be in or out
eztarget said:Exactly. People come out on the flat stages to see guys with Cavendish's speed not the skinning barely living skeleton climbers hiding in the main pack.
Billy Boy said:Yeah, because the green jersey should always be a reflection of climbing ability.
Aleajactaest said:Otherwise just have a different race just for sprinters. 2 weeks of flat stages.
Damiano Machiavelli said:Yeah, when Thor won the green jersey with his climbing ability he was a real skeleton. It was hard not to mistake him for Rasmussen.
SirLes said:Back in the 80s Paul Sherwen was reinstated having finished outside the time limit on his own. He had been involved in a bad crash but had carried on riding through bad weather on his own despite knowing his chances of making the cut were basically zero.
The organisers felt he had shown great courage and waivered their own rules. Very unusual. Good job some of the posters aren't commissaires, he'd probably have been banned from future additions for wasting everyone's time![]()
Aleajactaest said:Out. That's why they have rules. At the very least, he should be DQ'd for the points Jersey.