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Tour Down Under - Stage 2: Taliem Bend - Mannum, 146km

Page 7 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.
sublimit said:
G Thomas had a device on his pedal that causes crashes also..

Actually a decent leadout by Sky and well done Swift for beating some very good sprinters... not bad for a lead out guy!

Well, Swift isn't a pure lead out guy. He's a fine sprinter in his own right but with the sprinting talent that Sky has he usually only gets to sprint in smaller races like in Picardie last year.
 
Jan 18, 2010
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ingsve said:
Well, Swift isn't a pure lead out guy. He's a fine sprinter in his own right but with the sprinting talent that Sky has he usually only gets to sprint in smaller races like in Picardie last year.

Yes but on this occasion I think he was waiting for Sutton but he fell off then Hendo dropped back for some reason so it was down to him finish it off.

So hopefully he will get more chances to sprint for wins in the race.
 
Jul 30, 2009
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theyoungest said:
Pre-race hype is a funny thing... what a battle the Cavendish-Greipel confrontation has turned out to be :p Almost as exciting as Contador vs. Armstrong in the Tour 2010.

Just media nonsense. Nobody in their right mind is going to be pinging in the middle of winter, with big targets to come in the summer.
 
Sum_of_Marc said:
Absolute rubbish

Thomas could not have done any more. Its not his fault that 2 riders tried to push into a gap to the left of him that was too small.

All the time, in every race, the leadout riders, once theyve pulled off, will slow but maintain their position. Theres nothing wrong with that - it would have been a whole lot more dangerous there if he had tried to weave out of the way - the responsibility is on the sprinters behind to avoid him, and that shouldnt be too hard when they know that Thomas will maintain his line.

Watch the sprint, you see the Telefonica realising he couldnt squeeze through alongside the Vaconsoleil guy, so went to the right of Thomas. But the rider behind, who looks like Katusha, so must be Galimzyanov, tried his luck - and so he is more to blame.

Listen, I'm not saying that it is 100% Thomas' fault. In these 'last few hundred meters' type crashes the blame is usually easy to spread around, as it is in this case as well.

However, if you're going to do what Thomas did, you need to observe and find the least dangerous way possible to extract yourself from the sprinting bunch. Now, it's not always possible to do, and I won't blame a man if he had no choice but to do what he did... However, Thomas did have a range of choice. He let himself drop to the left of where he was when finishing his lead-out (IMO the most dangerous based on where the other sprinters were)... He could've let himself drop to the right of where he was (still dangerous, but less so), or he could've peeled off a few meters to the right. He had the room, and the speed, to have done that effectively. That was, as I see it from the tv shot, the least dangerous option.

So when I say he could've done a better job at preventing the crash, this is what I am referring to. And again, I did not, and do not, say that Thomas was 100% to blame for the crash.
 
Jul 30, 2009
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Moondance said:
Listen, I'm not saying that it is 100% Thomas' fault. In these 'last few hundred meters' type crashes the blame is usually easy to spread around, as it is in this case as well.

However, if you're going to do what Thomas did, you need to observe and find the least dangerous way possible to extract yourself from the sprinting bunch. Now, it's not always possible to do, and I won't blame a man if he had no choice but to do what he did... However, Thomas did have a range of choice. He let himself drop to the left of where he was when finishing his lead-out (IMO the most dangerous based on where the other sprinters were)... He could've let himself drop to the right of where he was (still dangerous, but less so), or he could've peeled off a few meters to the right. He had the room, and the speed, to have done that effectively. That was, as I see it from the tv shot, the least dangerous option.

So when I say he could've done a better job at preventing the crash, this is what I am referring to. And again, I did not, and do not, say that Thomas was 100% to blame for the crash.

The problem with your hindsight though, is that when dropping back, riders don't have the benefit of overhead TV shots as you do - and therefore have very little clue of what riders are coming up and from where! To hold your line is the safest option.
 
Andy99 said:
The problem with your hindsight though, is that when dropping back, riders don't have the benefit of overhead TV shots as you do - and therefore have very little clue of what riders are coming up and from where! To hold your line is the safest option.

Well, from the images I think I saw that a few seconds before he stops his lead-out he makes the effort to turn his head down and take a peak under his shoulders at the situation behind him.

Even so, if he didn't make the observation that he had the room to peel off to the right, he should've still been able to make the decision to drop off to the right, rather than to the left. He was pretty close to the barrier already, and creating an object which riders need to avoid, when already trying to negotiate riding close to the barrier and advancing their place, is asking for trouble.

As I said above, Thomas had three options, and he chose the least safe one.
 
The other thing is that it's hindsight. Thomas has a split second to make this decision. In retrospect he'd probably agree with Moondance now he's had a few hours of nursing his road rash to contemplate. But he had little time to make a decision and made the wrong one. It happens. It's early in the season, people aren't up to pace, new sprint trains aren't properly drilled yet, etc.
 
Mar 11, 2009
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I really don't think G had room to peel off either way. As I said earlier, Robbie McEwen jumped early up his left side, which prompted Swift and Brown to jump on his right, and by the time Geraint looked round and saw what was happening he was already swamped and had no choice but to go straight back.

The only mistake Thomas makes is here. When the third man (Gerrans or Hayman I think) pulls off and Thomas hits the front, he swings to the left, but stops short of the barriers and comes back in to the middle. That is what leaves the door open for Robbie McEwen and ultimately results in him getting swamped and having to go back straight through the pack. If G had closed to the barrier Swift would still have won and there would probably not have been a crash.
 
Haha, I just watched the Youtube clip... at the intermediate sprint Liggett says: "Mitchell Docker has got it all wrong here, as the two professionals move clear".

What a great expert of cycling Liggett is. Mitchell Docker (riding here for UniSA) is a professional as well, for Skil-Shimano.
 
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sublimit said:
Yes but on this occasion I think he was waiting for Sutton but he fell off then Hendo dropped back for some reason so it was down to him finish it off.

So hopefully he will get more chances to sprint for wins in the race.

If you look earlier, swift was in front of geraint, with geraint expecting cj to be behind him.. the leadout order is meant to be:
Gerrans
Rogers
Geraint
Hayman
Swift
Henderson/CJ

Geraint was behind Swift, looked around, saw no Hendo or CJ and so moved in front of swift as they changed the leadout. Good move by Geraint.

I think Rogers helped with his experience as well. His push after the crash took the pressure off the sky boys compeltely and forced HTC and Rabo to do all the work. All round good tactics.
 
Jan 20, 2010
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danjo007 said:
now...
sky tactics - HOW VERY SAD!

attacking after crashes. and gerrant thomas - LEARN TO RIDE!

really -he leads out ben swift. then sits up and HE is the one who decides to crash in fron of the field!!!! ive seen leadout men ride rivals into barriers, but to fall of at 70kph and destroy most the other sprinters was pretty average.

sky - GTFO the way and let the real sprinters through team of wannabe's!

You must have been watching different footage to me, I don't think there was much he could do with the two muppets going for a near impossible gap between the barriers.

On the gravel on the corners. It was pretty ****ing obvious there was gravel all over the roads before the riders got there, do they think we're blind and don't see the broadcast. I will let you in on a secret organisers, most times we pick up more than those geriatric commentators you have doing the show.
 
Nov 19, 2010
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Hate this Tw*t. Love the picture

523740-mark-cavendish.jpg
 
May 27, 2010
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mombus said:
Hate this Tw*t. Love the picture

523740-mark-cavendish.jpg

Your a twit mate. Have you met him? Do you know him? Completely uncalled for and tasteless. No one deserves to crash, especially like the ones yesterday. Grow up mate
 
Jun 16, 2009
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woodie said:
Your a twit mate. Have you met him? Do you know him? Completely uncalled for and tasteless. No one deserves to crash, especially like the ones yesterday. Grow up mate

I actually interpreted it as that he meant it was a good shot capturing someone riding in from a crash.
 

fanlynne

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Jan 19, 2011
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i am more interested in what the next tactic will be 5-7 years from now. This one isn't as sexy as the lead out train (in my opinion) specifically Ale-jet's fasso train.
 

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