Tour de France Stage 2 Brussels - Spa, 192 km Monday, July 5 2010

[sublimit]

Eh, i thought that caused the biggest talking point of the Valencia race.

Yes but everybody continued to race. Scary crash but it pains me to say this but the F1 drivers have more guts. Cycling is the best sport but that was ridiculous what happened today.

 

[mastersracer]

Levi whined that the course was too dangerous and that, God forbid, the riders couldn't get told what to do by their directors due to radio issues. So I guess now that nobody can think for himself and everyone is tactically clueless, the only solution was to blame the race organizers and roll in together. What a bunch of clowns. Every year I look forward to July yet every July I wish it was still April.

Too bad the race boss shook Cancellara's hand. He should have waved him off and told him to man up and honour the race.

why don't you wait to find out their reasons.

 

[auscyclefan94]

Chiara is trying to get thru to Cadel. I think he may of fallen but I am not sure because he looked okay!

 

[Moondance]

So who do they wait for tomorrow?

Looks like a critical mass of favs. went down, so they wait? Yup, they didn't wait for Mayo one year on the cobbles. Looks like it has to be favs from a few select teams in one incident, etc.

But this hurts Rabo.

Why?

Blah blah length requirements blah

 

[Kwibus]

He looked quite pi$$ed off, TBH. And Menchov looked downright aggressive.

Still, why didn't they just go to the front then? I don't get it. If you feel like none of the other teams care if you fall behind, why not just f%$k them all and ride?

I sure hopes they would go. I'm sure Caisse would join the fight since Gutierrez and S. Sanchez didn't look very happy either.

 

[Scirea]

Go home you ****ing moron Cancellara. Who the hell he thinks he is? *******.

 

[Wallace]

Andy Schleck could have lost the Tour today--we'll have to see the extent of his injuries--it's only due to Cancellara's ability to bring the peloton to a stop that he didn't. I don't know why other riders didn't attack, but Fabian was the acting like the perfect team mate.

 

[rolfrae]

Did Lance wait for Zulle on the Passage du Gois?
Will Canc and Saxo wait tomorrow if, say Wiggins or Evans punctures on the pave?
If the Schlecks had been in the front and Wiggins and Evans had crashed would Canc have forced the peleton to slow down?
Not a farking chance.

 

[pedaling squares]

McEwen got the sprint points! He is a smart cookie!

Yeah, that cheeky little ****** snuck up in front of Thor. Good for him tho.

 

[9000ft]

So tomorrow we can expect everyone to wait if someone falls on the cobbles? I thought part of putting cobbles in, and dodgy descents in was to cause gaps? I respect that one of the main leaders came down, and that in fact, it looked like all of the favorites were caught up or crashed, but those are the breaks. If it were a flat road and a dog came out, okay, wait. If you are in a group of favorites and one rides off of the side of a mountain, okay wait. If the yellow catches a handlebar and goes down, okay wait. If there is a stage on short steep climbs and descents in an area known for rain causing gaps because of terrain, and you add roads like that to your race, then that obstacle is there for a reason. That reason is to break up the race. The race broke up, and nobody wanted to take advantage. I wish some had is all.

Don't disagree with you but I wonder how much of it was a collective "Christ, it's only stage two and it's already carnage. Let's just calm down and get though this thing in one piece so we can race for the next two and a half weeks". Not saying I agree with that if it's the case, or it's the hard man way to do things, but I can see why they'd feel that way. I'm sure some of the guys aren't happy about it, but OTOH, it doesn't seem too many were saying "FU Fabian, we're going for points, see ya later".

 

[auscyclefan94]

Wiggins according to Dim and DB have said he has grazed his arm and leg.

In all seriosuness, Rabo must be happy Gesink got through.

 

[Roland Rat]

Well, I don't suppose they could race the Tour de France without staging some kind of strike for the locals. When in Rome (or the place next to Rome) and all that.

 

[Anonymous]

No - nor did I suggest anything about tomorrow.

People fell today (& are injured) and teams/riders that were not caught up could have pushed on and ignored Canc's plea.
As for the highlighted I wish people had pushed on - but it looks like most teams suffered a fall.

All Im pointing out is that I can see the logic in not risking a crash by pushing on.

Tomorrow is different - especially as some pave sections are so close to the finish.

Unfortunately, I am not so sure about that.

I didn't intend to flame, just make a point. I hope you took it as such.

 

[bobs nob]

Maybe we should do all the flat stages in a giant velodrome from now on, and the mountain and TT stages on exercycles?

maybe all the gc guys can just phone in their time for tomorrow and skip ahead to stage 4 after resting tomorrow?

 

[goggalor]

Andy Schleck could have lost the Tour today--we'll have to see the extent of his injuries--it's only due to Cancellara's ability to bring the peloton to a stop that he didn't. I don't know why other riders didn't attack, but Fabian was the acting like the perfect team mate.

Ideally he'd fall back and help pull him up to the group... but that'd be a bit too close for comfort to actual bicycle racing.

 

[auscyclefan94]

Benson reports farrar is in tears and vandevelde and he are going to hospital. Vandevelde had a lot of bruising aroung the eyes!

 

[Big GMaC]

Thor want to sprint. He was pretty ****ed at Canc, you could them gesturing

 

[pedaling squares]

why don't you wait to find out their reasons.

Levi gave his reasons: the course was too dangerous and it was chaos because they could not get info from their directors. I already wrote that. Having said that, I don't need Levi to tell me if a stage race is enjoyable or crap to watch.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

Gesink isn't happy: "We should've gone on, they didn't wait when I fell either".

Well, why didn't they help Cervelo then, if nobody waited for them? There were at least 2 rabos in the front.

as others have said, it could result it the whole peleton hating on you.
Peer pressure at its best.

Has a right to be ****ed off imo.

---

Personally I lost a lot of respect for some of the riders today, FC in particular - seriously who the f*%k does he think he is?

 

[Roland Rat]

Can they not just get everyone linked up to one of those Tacx I-Magic indoor trainers and have a virtual race. No risks then.

 

[Parrot23]

Looks like Shack went along with waiting. They need Saxo to attack Contador still!

 

[hfer07]

I honestly don't know WTF is going on with the peloton nowadays--
As Perico Delgado said: If they're supposedly protesting & controlling the final km, then tomorrow "must" follow the same pattern, since the "risk of falling" is greater....

I think this is beyond racing and "some" GT riders & their teams" are just making a mockery of the sport

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

peleton's bike of choice for tomorrow

 

[53x11 in DC]

@ Thoughtforfood...

Wow, we actually agree on something..... this is what Prudhomme was looking for ( a challenging stage ), and Cance pu$$ed out

"So tomorrow we can expect everyone to wait if someone falls on the cobbles? I thought part of putting cobbles in, and dodgy descents in was to cause gaps? I respect that one of the main leaders came down, and that in fact, it looked like all of the favorites were caught up or crashed, but those are the breaks. If it were a flat road and a dog came out, okay, wait. If you are in a group of favorites and one rides off of the side of a mountain, okay wait. If the yellow catches a handlebar and goes down, okay wait. If there is a stage on short steep climbs and descents in an area known for rain causing gaps because of terrain, and you add roads like that to your race, then that obstacle is there for a reason. That reason is to break up the race. The race broke up, and nobody wanted to take advantage. I wish some had is all."

 

[Parrot23]

The best thing would have been Cance to put his bike where his mouth is and dropped back and pulled the Schlecks back as far as he could. That would be racing.

The Saxo's neutralized the prob. with Cance's mouth. But Shack need Saxo in the race still.