Tour de France Tour de France 2021, Stage 6: Tours – Châteauroux, 160.6 km

[Billie]

It's not really the train. The train helps, but it's obviously not the train that made Cav 2021.

It's that he started training again after years of being fat and not training.

 

[Mayomaniac]

If Bouhanni is getting podiums left and right behind Cav it tells you something about the quality of the sprinters (besides Cav) here. Merlier, who is potentially the fastest one here, is doing leadouts for his slower teammate.

 

[barmaher]

Fair play to Mark Cavendish. It really is an incredible story. I am Irish, and a big Bennett fan. So the part Sam has played in the whole drama takes the shine off it a bit.

But you have to admire Cavendish to come back and sprint at such a high level. He has been brilliant and he fully deserves the praise he is getting.

On the win today, I was fairly certain that he would be disqualified seeing the first angle. But the head to head showed that he didn't deviate a huge pile from his line, so I think the judges were right to allow him keep the win. Not a slam dunk decision, but I believe it is the correct one.

 

[DanielSong39]

Riders were weaving a bit but it was a normal sprint.
If Bouhanni had done what Cav did he most likely would not have been relegated.

 

[The pet snake of Froome]

……

 

[Libertine Seguros]

It was a "disgrace" that he called Chicken, for the record, the source you have is translated and then re-translated back into English.

 

[Barnacle Bill]

Hmmmm

Alpecin-Fenix sprint switching strategy paying dividends at Tour de France

'When I wake up, I don't know if I get to sprint in the afternoon' says Merlier

www.cyclingnews.com

 

[Leinster]

I know, but realistically that is how it happens. Even in that notorious Cav-Sagan incident, clearly Sagan wouldn't have been DQ'd (what a discussion that was in the forum back then, lol), if Cav had gotten out of it unscathed.

The irony of that one was the biggest deviation in that sprint was actually Demare. Who won.

I think if Bouhanni did what Cav did today, or what Demare did then, he'd be tarred, feathered, burned in effigy outside his hotel, assigned last place in the peloton, and fined 200CHF.

 

[Salvarani]

It's that he started training again after years of being fat and not training.

He had a lot of health issues and was depressed for a couple of years. Not easy to be in shape nor perform, if you are not happy in life.

Now he is in shape, loving life and performing to the best of his abilities. Amazing comeback.

 

[Hayabusa]

I will be interested to see if Alpecin take any learnings from this. You have to back one horse in sprints and having two sprinters is just complicating matters.

It's not like one is a flat style sprinter and one is a hilly sprinter either...

 

[wheresmybrakes]

Even if Cav had caused a crash with his deviation he would not get DQ'd. It's too much of a good news story for the Tour organisers after the first few stages with all the crashes. But I do believe if it had been any other sprinter, they would have been relegated.

 

[Leinster]

You can put Philipsen, Bouhanni, Bol, Colbrelli in the DQS train and they would win several stages in a Grand Tour tbh.

Alpecin-Fenix is the only thing close and they've wasted two stages going with their second sprinter instead of the quickest.

Lotto brought a good train, tbf. They just didn't bring a good backup sprinter, so now they have nobody to lead out, and they're reduced to putting Kluge in the break and deBuyst settling for 12th today.

 

[TuF]

Cg to Cav. But what merlier did is beyond me. He even did leadout for Cav so he started to eat wind later and almost from the same position as Jasper.

 

[Red Rick]

Absolutely silly amount of whataboutisms and unverifiables being thrown around here.

 

[red_flanders]

As Chris Boardman just said on the ITV coverage, Philipsen had more cause to complain about Merlier than he did Cavendish.

And as a fellow child of the Isle of Man, Pete Kennaugh is never going to be the most balanced, but he was even more damning, saying, "I think Philipsen will regret that hand gesture when he watches it back. Cavendish was winning sprints whilst Philipsen was still in nappies".

Sounds quite imbalanced really. Like anyone would regret a hand gesture for any reason, let alone for that. Cav cut him off, quite clearly. Was it relegation-worthy? I don't think so, but anyone rational can see why Philipsen was irritated. And what on earth does the length of Cav's career have to do with it?

Kennaugh sounds like a first-class idiot and a homer to boot.

 

[titan31]

Lotto brought a good train, tbf. They just didn't bring a good backup sprinter, so now they have nobody to lead out, and they're reduced to putting Kluge in the break and deBuyst settling for 12th today.

Ya, also FDJs train is good (albeit now missing Konavolovas) but Demare is just way off form.

 

[Leinster]

Anyway this is not strong sprint field, Ewen's absence aside. Wth happened to Demare, for example...

Lost his leadout man, Guarnieri to a crash just outside 3km, and ended up 4th. Not a terrible effort under the circumstances.

I think Demare is short of the top end speed of the elite sprinters; his 2 TdF wins, plus his biggest 1-day, have come either after a final-straight crash, or against a weakened field, so I'd be surprised to see him beat Merlier or Cav in a drag race like today.

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

Sounds quite imbalanced really. Like anyone would regret a hand gesture for any reason, let alone for that. Cav cut him off, quite clearly. Was it relegation-worthy? I don't think so, but anyone rational can see why Philipsen was irritated. And what on earth does the length of Cav's career have to do with it?

Kennaugh sounds like a first-class idiot and a homer to boot.

Cav cut his leadout man off - at no stage did Cav move on to the same line as Philipsen - it just looks that way as Philipsen tried to move across and discovered someone in front of him with more pace - if Philipsen held a straight line after moving out from Merlier there'd have been no question of any issue.

 

[BigCoward]

sounds like some extremely objective analysis by the British media about a British athlete

You on the other hand clearly have no axe to grind, and have considered all the evidence before presenting your reasoned opinion.

 

[Arklar]

The irony of that one was the biggest deviation in that sprint was actually Demare. Who won.

I think if Bouhanni did what Cav did today, or what Demare did then, he'd be tarred, feathered, burned in effigy outside his hotel, assigned last place in the peloton, and fined 200CHF.

It's the apparent inconsistency that's frustrating isn't it? 2010 Cav would probably have been relegated too. It does appear as though the commissaires develop an impression of a rider and allow that to affect their judgement in these sorts of situations.

Cycling's rules have always been pretty subjective though. It does result in inconsistencies, but I think it does also allow for some situations to be treated more fairly than simply applying the letter of the law. I can think of many other sports with perhaps more clearly defined rules that end up with more unjust decisions than road cycling, so subjectivity is not necessarily all bad.

At the end of the day, there was nothing in today's sprint that was more unsafe than any other bunch sprint, and nothing that affected the result, so I don't think there's any need to take any action. I would definitely prefer better consistency in decisions overall, but in this case riders getting boxed in like Merlier, and competing for a single spot on the road, like Cav and Philipsen, happens in literally every single bunch sprint finish, so I think we just have to take it as part of the sport.

 

[Vino's Mum]

Greatest comeback in procycling?

yw

 

[red_flanders]

Cav cut his leadout man off - at no stage did Cav move on to the same line as Philipsen - it just looks that way as Philipsen tried to move across and discovered someone in front of him with more pace - if Philipsen held a straight line after moving out from Merlier there'd have been no question of any issue.

Yes, Philipsen moved slightly towards Cav...as Cav was swinging from a position to the right of both, across his leadout man and into him. Philipsen's line was fine. But, I said, not relegation-worthy on Cav's part. Good sprint and cheers to Cav for another win. Happy for him.

As to my actual point, Kennaugh's comments were laughable.

 

[saganftw]

Absolutely silly amount of whataboutisms and unverifiables being thrown around here.

this is public forum not court of law, shitposting is the way

 

[luckyboy]

Cav cut his leadout man off - at no stage did Cav move on to the same line as Philipsen - it just looks that way as Philipsen tried to move across and discovered someone in front of him with more pace - if Philipsen held a straight line after moving out from Merlier there'd have been no question of any issue.

Cavendish moved to the centre too (as did Philipsen, though not as much).

They both touched a little, but because Merlier was in the middle it caused him to touch Philipsen a few times.

If Merlier slowed a little more it wouldn't be an issue. And if Cavendish and Philipsen stayed going straight it wouldn't be an issue.

Just a racing incident, you can't expect everyone to be 100% perfectly straight line.

 

[canarydan23]

sounds like some extremely objective analysis by the British media about a British athlete

Hence why I caveated the fact that Kennaugh wasn't likely to balanced.

Learnt what a swerve is yet?!