Tour de France stage 10: Tuesday, St-Gildas-des-Bois - Saint Malo

[King Boonen]

LOLx100.
Well I've competed in plenty of sprint finishes (at similar speeds) so that qualifies me to say that what you wrote is the most warped analysis i have read so far. That will surely take some beating.

Which race finish were you watching from your armchair?

No you haven't.

 

[The Principal Sheep]

Cavendish poorly positioned on the wrong wheel and then miscalculates the danger and causes the contact (see Sagan who does much better at avoiding the incident), one thing that again this shows is just how badly Cav needs a train, yes he can win without one but he can also cause carnage with his poor decision making.

Also sad to see the return of his histrionics, thought he might have been maturing but apparently not.

 

[Fearless Greg Lemond]

The point is? For every Planckaert you have a McEwen who has a different perspective. I don't think it's clear cut.

Robbie is entitled to his opinion, but frankly, I put more faith in sprinters who have no vested intrest in todays peloton, like Frank Hoste, maybe you heard of him once or twice?

''"For me, Cavendish made ​​a mistake," says Hoste. "The rules specify clearly and Cavendish deviated from his line in the last 300 meters before the finish line. Those are the rules and must therefore be the Brit downgraded. The way Cavendish immediately just looked back says enough for me. He knew he had done something wrong. 'Cav' absolutely wanted to stay in the slipstream of Greipel and therefore went beyond the pale, "
said Hoste.

But perhaps you take Mark - I will headbutt u if you dont get out of my way you moron!!! - Renshaw more serious, next year the lead out for the KamiCav at OPQS and almost the same palmares as Hoste and Planckaert. Yep, no vested intrest there. Or what to think of good old Wilfried Peeters, no vested intrest of course, stating Veelers rode into KamiCav? Or are you referring to Tom - I can throw a bidon at you while sprinting at top speed - Steels?

Steve Bauer wants his silver medal back, now!

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Well, it won't be the last time someone hits the deck in a bunch sprint, so instead lets enjoy a nice shot of the main players:

These are some meaty blokes. Congrats Kittel with arguable the most significant win of his career.

 

[Fearless Greg Lemond]

These are some meaty blokes. Congrats Kittel with arguable the most significant win of his career.

William Bonnet coming in fifth was also pretty good.

 

[The Principal Sheep]

Robbie is entitled to his opinion, but frankly, I put more faith in sprinters who have no vested intrest in todays peloton, like Frank Hoste, maybe you heard of him once or twice?

''"For me, Cavendish made ​​a mistake," says Hoste. "The rules specify clearly and Cavendish deviated from his line in the last 300 meters before the finish line. Those are the rules and must therefore be the Brit downgraded. The way Cavendish immediately just looked back says enough for me. He knew he had done something wrong. 'Cav' absolutely wanted to stay in the slipstream of Greipel and therefore went beyond the pale, "
said Hoste.

But perhaps you take Mark - I will headbutt u if you dont get out of my way you moron!!! - Renshaw more serious, next year the lead out for the KamiCav at OPQS and almost the same palmares as Hoste and Planckaert. Yep, no vested intrest there. Or what to think of good old Wilfried Peeters, no vested intrest of course, stating Veelers rode into KamiCav? Or are you referring to Tom - I can throw a bidon at you while sprinting at top speed - Steels?

Steve Bauer wants his silver medal back, now!

How about Rolf Aldag?

"Cav obviously has done the bigger move, we're not blind, and Veelers lost his balance,"

"The guy coming from behind has the advantage of seeing what happens. Cav was looking for the fastest line to the finish, which was to go to the left. Should he be disqualified? I don't think so. It was not done on purpose."

 

[rainman]

All the focus is on the effect not the cause. Why put the finish on a curve? The riders have enough to deal with already.
More French arty farty BS today, if I'm not mistaken the finish is on that tidal causeway which has caused grief in the past? Correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[King Boonen]

Robbie is entitled to his opinion, but frankly, I put more faith in sprinters who have no vested intrest in todays peloton, like Frank Hoste, maybe you heard of him once or twice?

''"For me, Cavendish made ​​a mistake," says Hoste. "The rules specify clearly and Cavendish deviated from his line in the last 300 meters before the finish line. Those are the rules and must therefore be the Brit downgraded. The way Cavendish immediately just looked back says enough for me. He knew he had done something wrong. 'Cav' absolutely wanted to stay in the slipstream of Greipel and therefore went beyond the pale, "
said Hoste.

But perhaps you take Mark - I will headbutt u if you dont get out of my way you moron!!! - Renshaw more serious, next year the lead out for the KamiCav at OPQS and almost the same palmares as Hoste and Planckaert. Yep, no vested intrest there. Or what to think of good old Wilfried Peeters, no vested intrest of course, stating Veelers rode into KamiCav? Or are you referring to Tom - I can throw a bidon at you while sprinting at top speed - Steels?

Steve Bauer wants his silver medal back, now!

Personally I think it was just a racing incident. I have a suspicion that Veelers was trying to at least hold him up a bit, which is well supported by the fact that he looked back and knew it was Cav on his wheel, and I do think Cav leaned left to try and change his line again when he saw the collision coming.

But to the bolded part in your post, they both changed their lines, which again is quite clear from the pictures. Veelers moves at least two feet from left to right, Cav probably the same but over a shorter time period so it's a more acute angle of change.

Also, there were two slight turns in the last few hundred metres so everyone will have had to change their lines several times, this wasn't a straight road in to the end.

 

[King Boonen]

All the focus is on the effect not the cause. Why put the finish on a curve? The riders have enough to deal with already.
More French arty farty BS today, if I'm not mistaken the finish is on that tidal causeway which has caused grief in the past? Correct me if I'm wrong.

Yes, and this time they will be on TT bikes...

 

[The Principal Sheep]

All the focus is on the effect not the cause. Why put the finish on a curve? The riders have enough to deal with already.
More French arty farty BS today, if I'm not mistaken the finish is on that tidal causeway which has caused grief in the past? Correct me if I'm wrong.

I don't think we should blame the finish, wasn’t difficult and everybody else managed fine, the Cav incident was all down to bad positioning for the curve, not the curve itself.

Besides, if you find yourself in a bad position then you have to recognise that and realise the sprint is lost, no one has a god given right to go as they please in order to contest the sprint.

 

[l.Harm]

Veelers denies he tried to block Cav on purpose. He never does such things according to him. Far too dangerous.

 

[King Boonen]

Veelers denies he tried to block Cav on purpose. He never does such things according to him. Far too dangerous.

Yeah, and Cav denies trying to take him down on purpose, again dangerous at those speeds. Honestly, I think Veelers is lying. Trentin did the same thing on stage 5, he also looks across and knows it's Cavendish he's blocking out.

Nothing wrong with it, blocking and boxing people in is all part of racing and is a good tactic to use against the best sprinter in the race. But don't cry about it when you do it and it goes wrong.

 

[oncehadhair]

No you haven't.

You must be mistaking me for someone else because, well, sorry, but...yes i have.

 

[King Boonen]

You must be mistaking me for someone else because, well, sorry, but...yes i have.

No, I'm not. You haven't.

 

[Fearless Greg Lemond]

How about Rolf Aldag?

"Cav obviously has done the bigger move, we're not blind, and Veelers lost his balance,"

"The guy coming from behind has the advantage of seeing what happens. Cav was looking for the fastest line to the finish, which was to go to the left. Should he be disqualified? I don't think so. It was not done on purpose."

To the bold parts:

* Veelers lost his balance

Lost his balance? He was knocked of his bike FFS! Thats not losing your balance.

* It was not done on purpose

How does it matter if it is on purpose or not? He went on purpose for the shortest line, only there was someone else riding there. So, impossible to take that line. Not on purpose is like standing in front of the judge when causing a car crash, what do you think a judge will say? ''Oh, you didnt mean to? Oh, well, then it is okay, you're of the hook.''

Funny stuff, Aldag analyses the sprint perfectly yet comes to a conclusion his protege should not be punished.

Personally I think it was just a racing incident. I have a suspicion that Veelers was trying to at least hold him up a bit, which is well supported by the fact that he looked back and knew it was Cav on his wheel, and I do think Cav leaned left to try and change his line again when he saw the collision coming.

Of course he held of Cavendish, listen to what Eddie said, that is his job. But it is nothing like Fagnini did in the past for instance. Does that justify the actions by Cavendish? No.

Benatti got closed in the other day by Sagan, did he knock him of his bike?

All the focus is on the effect not the cause. Why put the finish on a curve? The riders have enough to deal with already.

So, sprinters cant take corners nowadays?

 

[King Boonen]

Of course he held of Cavendish, listen to what Eddie said, that is his job. But it is nothing like Fagnini did in the past for instance. Does that justify the actions by Cavendish? No.

Cavendish tries to go round him, if Veelers hadn't moved two feet to the right there would have been easily enough room for Cavendish to get through. As Cavendish himself says, he tried to flick his bike right to avoid it but that involves using your body weight to balance the move out by leaning left. It was that or they both would have gone down and it would be a much bigger crash.

As I said, no problem with Veelers doing it, just don't cry about it afterwards when you take a tumble. for the record I'd say the same if Cavendish had gone down.

 

[mancsyboy]

No, I'm not. You haven't.

I think you could continue this one for a long time

Oncehadhair easy to prove? when where>

 

[King Boonen]

I think you could continue this one for a long time

Oncehadhair easy to prove? when where>

Not enough proof, I could pretend I'm actually Tom Boonen. We need photos of him with proof of who he is and that he competed in the sprints with a paper from today of my choice, The Morning Star.

 

[The Principal Sheep]

Cavendish tries to go round him, if Veelers hadn't moved two feet to the right there would have been easily enough room for Cavendish to get through. As Cavendish himself says, he tried to flick his bike right to avoid it but that involves using your body weight to balance the move out by leaning left. It was that or they both would have gone down and it would be a much bigger crash.

As I said, no problem with Veelers doing it, just don't cry about it afterwards when you take a tumble. for the record I'd say the same if Cavendish had gone down.

Cav did try and go round him but moves over too soon, if he had wanted to avoid contact he could have, he could have easily given Veelers more room but that may have meant the loss of the sprint.

As I’ve said, I do not believe this to be foul play on Cavs part but poor judgement, however he shouldn’t cry about it and steal journalists dictaphones afterwards.

 

[mancsyboy]

Not enough proof, I could pretend I'm actually Tom Boonen. We need photos of him with proof of who he is and that he competed in the sprints with a paper from today of my choice, The Morning Star.

Well your surname is Boonen? that is real isn't it.

 

[King Boonen]

Cav did try and go round him but moves over too soon, if he had wanted to avoid contact he could have, he could have easily given Veelers more room but that may have meant the loss of the sprint.

As I’ve said, I do not believe this to be foul play on Cavs part but poor judgement, however he shouldn’t cry about it and steal journalists dictaphones afterwards.

If Veelers hadn't moved right then there was easily enough room.

He didn't cry about it, or moan. Taking the dictaphone was childish.

 

[King Boonen]

Well your surname is Boonen? that is real isn't it.

Yeah, everything on the internet is real. Just ask oncehadhair...

 

[LongSprint]

Judge LongSprint says...

Cav tried to justify his maneuver by saying the road was curving and he didn't want to go into the barriers.

1. He moved over before the curve, while the road was still straight.
2. He was only about a metre to the right of the centre line as he was passing Veelers, not near the barriers.

Guilty.

Next!

 

[oncehadhair]

Not enough proof, I could pretend I'm actually Tom Boonen. We need photos of him with proof of who he is and that he competed in the sprints with a paper from today of my choice, The Morning Star.

I prefer to keep my anonymity, thanks.

I shouldn't have been sucked into this debate - its just hard to cope with the opinions of many posters who obviously have little or no cycling experience.

Whether anyone believes me doesn't matter that much.

 

[King Boonen]

I prefer to keep my anonymity, thanks.

I shouldn't have been sucked into this debate - its just hard to cope with the opinions of many posters who obviously have little or no cycling experience.

Whether anyone believes me doesn't matter that much.

I actually feel a little bad.

I perfectly aware that amateurs can reach those speeds and can contest sprints, but to think that in any way translates to a sprint in the Tour is massively misguided.

It's also fairly clear that the debate on this issue is split down the middle, even amongst the pro cyclists, and any opinion stated here probably falls in line with at least on commentators opinion.

The bolded part is just rude though so I don't feel that bad.