The Crostis Descent

[Kazistuta]

Davide Cassani rode it and had no probs with it.

Chuck Norris rode it and had no problems with it.....

 

[Ferminal]

What's poor is that it was pulled for "sporting" reasons, not safety.

Since when did the UCI care about the sport?

 

[danjo007]

Weak as ****

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

this sucks...

 

[Cobblestoned]

Chuck Norris rode it and had no problems with it.....

Chuck built those mountains.
He saw a boot coming, did an awesome counter-punch-kick-combo and this is how the Alpes, Pyrenees and Dolomites were created.

 

[benpounder]

What's poor is that it was pulled for "sporting" reasons, not safety.

Since when did the UCI care about the sport?

Bitter irony. For so long I have heard folk lamenting how intra-team radios have "destroyed" the racing spirit. Fine, if you want to bring back the days of Merckx and Anquetil, then bring back all the aspects of racing during that era. That includes not having a hovering support vehicle seconds behind.

I'm boycotting saturdays race, the UCI disgusts me.

 

[roundabout]

I would guess (just a guess ) that UCI rubber stamped something that was decided by the riders and team managers

I mean sure, they could have said no and told them to race but I doubt that it was the case of everyone wanting to do Crostis and UCI saying no.

 

[18-Valve. (pithy)]

#
14:51:38 CEST

Paolo Zani, the CEO of Liquigas, has just told RAI that Roberto Amadio attended a meeting of the team managers at this Giro about the descent of the Crostis. According to Zani, Liquigas was one of five teams who were in favour of racing the Crostis, but that 15 other teams were opposed to the idea.



We understand that Lampre-ISD and Acqua&Sapone also wanted the Crostis to remain part of the race.

 

[Cobblestoned]

#
14:51:38 CEST

Paolo Zani, the CEO of Liquigas, has just told RAI that Roberto Amadio attended a meeting of the team managers at this Giro about the descent of the Crostis. According to Zani, Liquigas was one of five teams who were in favour of racing the Crostis, but that 15 other teams were opposed to the idea.



We understand that Lampre-ISD and Acqua&Sapone also wanted the Crostis to remain part of the race.

That's no real surprise. Should be 5 Italian teams.

I see pressure and much slime.

 

[profff]

they are saying now on italian tv that there was a poll between the teams and 5 were in favour and 15 were against crostis.
liquigas were in favour.

imho, zomegnan politics of creating the event finally turned against giro: the crostis descent it is not more dangerous than gavia, for instance.
ww ' s tragedy did not help, too

it is a scandal that the decision was taken last night, after they said sunday after the etna stage that everything was ok : bugno the president of the pro racer association said that the safety issue have been faced successfully.
volunteers keep working every day to add nets and safety protections.
protezione civile and soccorso alpino did everything it was possible under the directions of cainero, the patron of the stages in friuli.
their work, there enthusiasm, their love for cycling and thei mountains was not respected at all.
the crostis was not unknown: the decisions should have been taken really before.
that is a real scandal, not the decisions itself.

 

[Highlander]

I understand that Zomegnan rubs a lot of people the wrong way and there were some legit concerns about the descent. That being said, he was absolutely right in stating that the course was agreed upon last October and the riders had known for months what would be expected of them on this descent. For the UCI to suddenly determine that it didn't meet sporting criteria was a total joke. If they wanted to make a decision like this, they had to do it months ago, not the day before the race. I also feel for any fans who got up there and then learned that the race has been re-routed because of 'other' concerns.

 

[meandmygitane]

Zomegnan:

"The problems were discussed last October, in March at a technical meeting, and before the Giro. This is a crazy decision. It has added more poison to the sport from people who should have been out of the sport a long time ago."

Riis anyone?

 

[jens_attacks]

zomegnan,show some little respect.in fact,bjarne riis did for cycling as a rider and a team manager a lot,a huge work.

i think a drama is created for almost nothing.i'm sorry for the people who worked there but the world doesn't end because we ain't got crostis for fuccs sake.zomegnan is wrong this time,if the majority of the riders decided this,you gotta respect it.

 

[cineteq]

For the UCI to suddenly determine that it didn't meet sporting criteria was a total joke. If they wanted to make a decision like this, they had to do it months ago, not the day before the race. I also feel for any fans who got up there and then learned that the race has been re-routed because of 'other' concerns.

The decision was made, mainly, on what happened to Wouter. If that accident hadn't had happened on Crostis descent, today's stage wouldn't have been cancelled. It was a political decision, and it had to be made sooner. That's all

 

[JeffreyPerry]

I had predicted back in a thread a while back that contador would crash on a descent and lose to nibali....the crostis was the descent i was thinking of. it is truly a shame that the "real" racing wasnt allowed to be done.
Every rider has their strengths and weaknesses, ac strength is going up and his bad is going down. nibali on the other hand....

 

[42coppi]

Crostis Descent

Did anybody else on here see the video clip of the descent complete with red plastic netting ? These are not downhill racers with full body armour and the winning of any race let alone a Grand Tour should not have to be done by kamikaze rides. This is the descent ( excuse the pun ) of bike racing into gladiatorial stunts for television.

The still shot in this morning's CN shows what looks like an adverse camber on one bend.
Enough said.

 

[rzombie1988]

I was originally not in favor of that climb being cut, but after seeing the video of it going downhill, I understood the concern. I can't say that I'd want to go down it. I wasn't really impressed with the barricades either as alot of them looked pretty cheap. I think the descent is okay for a small group but having the peloton go over it does not sound like a good idea especially with fans possibly getting in the way.

The cutting of that climb made the race quicker(along with fan protests) which allowed me to watch all of it so no complaints here. I can only imagine how long today's race would have gone with that.

 

[Ferminal]

Did anybody else on here see the video clip of the descent complete with red plastic netting ? These are not downhill racers with full body armour and the winning of any race let alone a Grand Tour should not have to be done by kamikaze rides. This is the descent ( excuse the pun ) of bike racing into gladiatorial stunts for television.

The still shot in this morning's CN shows what looks like an adverse camber on one bend.
Enough said.

The descent was fine, look at the videos, no more challenging than plenty of other descents in races around the world, which don't have nets and cushioning. It was deemed safe.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

I was originally not in favor of that climb being cut, but after seeing the video of it going downhill, I understood the concern. I can't say that I'd want to go down it. I wasn't really impressed with the barricades either as alot of them looked pretty cheap. I think the descent is okay for a small group but having the peloton go over it does not sound like a good idea especially with fans possibly getting in the way.

The cutting of that climb made the race quicker(along with fan protests) which allowed me to watch all of it so no complaints here. I can only imagine how long today's race would have gone with that.

If the péloton was somehow all still together on the Strade Panoramica delle Vette after Crostis, the fans would have rioted.

 

[Marva32]

According to the UCI, the decision was made because of sporting reasons, that there would not be adequate support for the riders because the teams would only be allowed motorcycles for support of the riders. On the Zoncolan climb, they only allowed motorcycle support, and that was okay as adequate support. What is the difference in situations?

 

[La Pandera]

Chuck built those mountains.
He saw a boot coming, did an awesome counter-punch-kick-combo and this is how the Alpes, Pyrenees and Dolomites were created.

Bruce Lee snapped Chuck's neck with a spinning heel kick that sent Chuck careening from Rome, eventually smashing to earth, thus creating all the great mountains of Italy, Spain and France.

 

[La Pandera]

I understand that Zomegnan rubs a lot of people the wrong way and there were some legit concerns about the descent. That being said, he was absolutely right in stating that the course was agreed upon last October and the riders had known for months what would be expected of them on this descent. For the UCI to suddenly determine that it didn't meet sporting criteria was a total joke. If they wanted to make a decision like this, they had to do it months ago, not the day before the race. I also feel for any fans who got up there and then learned that the race has been re-routed because of 'other' concerns.

This reminds me of their last second decision to ban the Specialized TT bikes after initially approving them earlier in the season.