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

[Carols]

Greatest comeback in procycling?

I vote for Greg LeMond. Out 2 years after being shot and comes back to win 2 more Tours and a 2nd WCRR.

 

[titan31]

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.

True, but I feel the sport has progressed since then, mainly due to the Groenewegen incident. I think, and hope, deviating on your line is more frowned upon since then.

 

[Arklar]

Chapeau Cav!

Philipsen obviously disappointed to be out-sprinted but he can't have a serious complaint about that finish. Neither he nor Merlier were impeded by Cav, Merlier was done and already passed, and Philipsen had plenty of space to sprint into and no need to veer into Cav. They need to be looking at their own tactics rather than seeking to blame others.

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.

 

[Carrick-On-Seine]

Honestly, Cipo could have made a comeback and won 2 stages with that train, I remember what he said about Viviani 2 years ago: "Viviani is not the best sprinter in the world, I'm sorry. I like the guy, but if that's the best sprinter in the world I might as well make a comeback."

Didn’t Brian Holm counter that claim by saying sprinters are faster these days and that Viviani could beat him wearing slippers?

 

[Berflamand]

I think the movement by both Cavendish and Philipsen was unfortunate but completely unintentional. They probably both didn't expect Merlier to still be there when they got around him because most lead-out guys lose a lot of speed when the lead-out is done but Merlier kept on sprinting at high speed which is why he seemed to be cut off by Cav and his own teammate.

A relegation would be a big stretch imo.

 

[BlueRoads]

Honestly, Cipo could have made a comeback and won 2 stages with that train, I remember what he said about Viviani 2 years ago: "Viviani is not the best sprinter in the world, I'm sorry. I like the guy, but if that's the best sprinter in the world I might as well make a comeback."

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

 

[tobydawq]

Didn’t Brian Holm counter that claim by saying sprinters are faster these days and that Viviani could beat him wearing slippers?

Doesn't Brian Holm let out a constant stream of crap night and day?

 

[The pet snake of Froome]

I vote for Greg LeMond. Out 2 years after being shot and comes back to win 2 more Tours and a 2nd WCRR.

Pfft , most Americans have been shot

 

[jarvo]

True, but I feel the sport has progressed since then, mainly due to the Groenewegen incident. I think, and hope, deviating on your line is more frowned upon since then.

i think the big difference is pushing your opponent into the barriers where they have no room to move, that movement is so much more dangerous as the rider has nowhere to go, phillipsen and Cav both moved towards the dotted line, it was phillipsen that then backed down and veered away to his left, but could've quite easily been Cav that veered to his right instead

 

[luckyboy]

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.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Honestly, Cipo could have made a comeback and won 2 stages with that train, I remember what he said about Viviani 2 years ago: "Viviani is not the best sprinter in the world, I'm sorry. I like the guy, but if that's the best sprinter in the world I might as well make a comeback."

This claim is not quite outrageous enough.

If Froome had offered to ride for them for free, he could have won this sprint while only using his worst leg. You can never prove me wrong

 

[titan31]

i think the big difference is pushing your opponent into the barriers where they have no room to move, that movement is so much more dangerous as the rider has nowhere to go, phillipsen and Cav both moved towards the dotted line, it was phillipsen that then backed down and veered away to his left, but could've quite easily been Cav that veered to his right instead

Philipsen one isn't the biggest issue here. The cutting off of Merlier is worse. If Merlier doesn't stop pedalling there, he crashes into Cav and they likely bring down a lot more. That's on Cav

 

[Libertine Seguros]

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".

Yea, but in fairness, Pete Kennaugh is a total condescending, self-entitled *** and always has been. That's just him being him, bias or no bias.

 

[zlev11]

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

 

[The pet snake of Froome]

Yea, but in fairness, Pete Kennaugh is a total condescending, self-entitled *** and always has been. That's just him being him, bias or no bias.

Any proof of that

 

[King Boonen]

Two riders wanted the same space, the faster rider got it. That’s sprinting.

 

[SlickMongoose]

Philipsen one isn't the biggest issue here. The cutting off of Merlier is worse. If Merlier doesn't stop pedalling there, he crashes into Cav and they likely bring down a lot more. That's on Cav

I think the problem is both Philipsen and Cav expected Merlier to stop when they came past him, like a normal leadout man would, which is why they both moved towards him.

 

[jarvo]

I think the problem is both Philipsen and Cav expected Merlier to stop when they came past him, like a normal leadout man would, which is why they both moved towards him.

Merlier should be relegated for not knowing what he is doing in the lead out

 

[The pet snake of Froome]

Merlier should be relegated for not knowing what he is doing in the lead out

Lol

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

i think the big difference is pushing your opponent into the barriers where they have no room to move, that movement is so much more dangerous as the rider has nowhere to go, phillipsen and Cav both moved towards the dotted line, it was phillipsen that then backed down and veered away to his left, but could've quite easily been Cav that veered to his right instead

When 2 riders are both trying to claim the same line it does tend to be the one in front with higher speed which wins.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Any proof of that

Him going chasing after Rasmussen for saying he thought Thomas dropping Quintana was surprising (with no insinuations beyond that Thomas had been a track rider), him belittling Emma Pooley and saying nobody cares about her or women's cycling, and basically his entire arrogant attitude in every single interview I saw with him before he had his breakdown?

 

[Leinster]

Bit disappointed to see the rather salty reaction of some "fans" calling for a disqualification. Cav did nothing wrong there at all.

We're seen DQs for less. Cav cut across both Merlier and Philipsen, causing both of them to stop pedaling. It wasn't an outright dangerous move, or smashing someone into the barriers, but it's a letter-of-the-law relegation.

The result will stand, because a) he was clearly the fastest anyway, and b) ASO do love their fairytales, but when we complain about the inconsistency of sprinting rule enforcement in the future, someone is going to show a gif the overhead of Cav today.

 

[Tim Cahill]

Any proof of that

British cycling found itself engulfed in another storm after Team Sky rider Pete Kennaugh branded Olympic silver medallist Emma Pooley “self-centred.”

It comes just 24 hours after technical director Shane Sutton resigned over allegations – which he denies – that he allegedly referred to Paralympian cyclists as “wobblies” and telling sprinter Jess Varnish to “go and have a baby” after she was axed from the elite training programme.

Before setting off on the Tour de Yorkshire on Thursday, the road race national champion waded in on Twitter with a robust response to Pooley's lament at the lack of a women's Team Sky.

Pooley had questioned why Team Sky had been formed in 2010 to win the Tour de France and yet there was no sister team to support her and other British riders on grand tours.

Kennaugh, a gold medallist at London 2012 as part of Team GB's pursuit squad on the track, retorted: “Emma Pooley, why would Sky put money into the women's Giro (d'Italia) that absolutely no one in the UK has absolutely no idea about. Stop being so self-centred and get over it.”

–When you tweeted about Geraint and how he was infront of Quintana and such. What did you mean by that? Asked Kennaugh

–I meant that he was very impressive, answered Rasmussen.

–Impressive? I don't know what you are insinuating.

–As I said, I thought he was very impressive.

–You have to be careful about what you are saying. People read stuff, said a still less happy Kennaugh, as passerbys started to gather around the two to see what was happening.

–Yes, I am aware of that. But people can believe what they want.

–So that is what you think (that Thomas is doping, ed.)? Så det er det du tror (at han er dopet, journ.anm)?

–I just said I thought he was very impressive. I've climbed those mountains myself...

–Yes, but you were on something. You are a shame. A shame, said Kennaugh, who then rode away.

 

[Bolder]

Cav started his sprint on the centre line and finished there too - just that he had to swerve round Merlier after Alpecin had swerved straight across the road with 400m to go.

That's how I saw it. It looked like Merlier was done, too. But from the head-on angle Cav might have been appearing to be invading Merlier's space. Merlier certainly thought so.

On a side note vdp is not a great leadout guy. He surely could have kept going for another 50 meters or more.

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

 

[red_flanders]

Bit disappointed to see the rather salty reaction of some "fans" calling for a disqualification. Cav did nothing wrong there at all.

Calling someone’s fanhood into question over what was an obviously controversial deviation of line is uncalled for and absurd.

I like the no call in this instance but it was close and Cav’s deviation was unnecessary. More than reasonable to question it.