Volta a Catalunya 2012: Stage 3, La Vall d'en Bas - Port-Ainé (211 km)

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theyoungest said:
+1

Also, Albasini gets 2 free minutes on the first stage, with the GC riders assuming they'll pull back that time on the queen stage. If the time difference from the front group today gets annulled, so should Albasini's.

Messy isnt it. You could say that they shouldnt have allowed the chance for Albasini to get ahead and then this to happen given that they are going this high in March. Then again, anyone looking at today's conditions could have guessed that the race wouldnt finish at its planned destination so should have tried to account for that so Albasini/GE should have accounted for it and tried to keep the gap down. What a farce, the chance of snow at 1900 metres in March is high enough for the organisers to have devised a back-up plan, surely?
 
Morbius said:
How about another random suggestion

They could allow back riders who dropped out but only to ride as domestiques - not for the GC or stage.

Anybody got any other creative ideas?

So if Bradley Wiggins was to ride hard on the front at some point if Albasini was in trouble then would that be allowed/unfair or not?
 
Frosty said:
the chance of snow at 1900 metres in March is high enough for the organisers to have devised a back-up plan, surely?
Actually, I doubt that. Conditions today were almost inexplicably harsh in Spain as a whole. We didn't have a single day of snow in Madrid in the last 3 winters, but it snowed today. In spring.
 
hrotha said:
There was talk about today's stage being cancelled from the beginning of the Volta, so too bad for those who decided to give Albasini that free time. Please stop altering the results even further.

Yeah I agree with that.

The whole thing is a complete farce though so taking away Albasini's time gain on stage one would be kind of fitting in a way.

The sprints are going to be crazy now with all the GC guys trying to get as a high a place as possible at the finish. It just shows how stupid it is to have no time bonuses when there's also no time trial.
 
hrotha said:
Actually, I doubt that. Conditions today were almost inexplicably harsh in Spain as a whole. We didn't have a single day of snow in Madrid in the last 3 winters, but it snowed today. In spring.

I'm going to set up a weather forecasting business in Spain - sounds like a gap in the market.

Also a business that helps idiots think on their feet, when otherwise they would make total tits of themselves. Seems there would be demand for that.


Edit - to be very clear, point 2 is aimed at the race organisers - should be obvious, but this place is special.
 
hrotha said:
Actually, I doubt that. Conditions today were almost inexplicably harsh in Spain as a whole. We didn't have a single day of snow in Madrid in the last 3 winters, but it snowed today. In spring.

Madrid is over 1000 metres lower than the heights they were reaching today though. The chances of this happening at 1900 metres on any given day is low but not low enough to be ignored IMO.
 
Feb 22, 2011
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The guys in the breakaway today should just decide to abandon tomorrow because they don't feel like riding and ask for the results to be annulled tomorrow and allowed back in on Friday ;) :D
 
Oct 6, 2009
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Sylvester said:
Julian Dean abandoned 6 k into the stage, reportedly on purpose, to save his legs for tomorrow.

GreenEdge outsmarting everyone and everything once again!

Well, Valverde spent the whole day in a nice warm hotel room or something, with his feet up, drinking coffee. If Dean gets back in, Valverde should be back in too, to go for a stage win.

See how ridiculous this all is? If anybody didn't ride every KM of today's stage, they should be out. It is only fair to the others who suffered every KM, every hour, in those terrible conditions, and will be feeling the effects of it tomorrow. They shouldn't have to compete against fresher guys.
 
Jul 17, 2009
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Frosty said:
Messy isnt it. You could say that they shouldnt have allowed the chance for Albasini to get ahead and then this to happen given that they are going this high in March.
No. The race has been a mess so far, but you shouldn't punish Albasini for it. When you give a rider a few minutes on a flat stage, you're wagering that no unforeseen circumstances will prevent you from clawing back those minutes.

What if there had been a cyclist strike today, should they also cancel Albasini's advantage? What if today's stage had been cancelled from the very beginning? What if there had been a demonstration by Spanish trade unions that blocked the roads for hours?

Sometimes mountain stages get cancelled and the favourites' teams lose because they gifted away a few minutes. That's the way it is. That's cycling.

As much as I dislike GreenEDGE, Albasini didn't cheat, so it would be fair to wipe out his advantage.
 
Beech Mtn said:
Well, Valverde spent the whole day in a nice warm hotel room or something, with his feet up, drinking coffee. If Dean gets back in, Valverde should be back in too, to go for a stage win.

See how ridiculous this all is? If anybody didn't ride every KM of today's stage, they should be out. It is only fair to the others who suffered every KM, every hour, in those terrible conditions, and will be feeling the effects of it tomorrow. They shouldn't have to compete against fresher guys.

You may have not followed the race or his sarcasm went straight over your head.

Dean crashed and was taken to the hospital.
 
Oct 6, 2009
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roundabout said:
You may have not followed the race or his sarcasm went straight over your head.

Dean crashed and was taken to the hospital.

No I did not know Dean crashed. The race was already well past that point when it was morning here in the US. Is there a report on Dean's injuries? Hopefully he will be OK.
 
Danilot said:
Sometimes mountain stages get cancelled and the favourites' teams lose because they gifted away a few minutes. That's the way it is. That's cycling.
If the stage was actually cancelled, you'd have a point.

Eyeballs Out said:
Albasini won his stage fair and square. The peloton chased and caught most of the break but he was too good. And he proved it by winning the next day too
I don't think anyone disputes his win. It's the time gap that seems a bit unfair right now.
 
Sep 23, 2011
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So if Bradley Wiggins was to ride hard on the front at some point if Albasini was in trouble then would that be allowed/unfair or not?

It was a deliberately random idea. I think that they shouldn't be allowed back at all. It would be even worse if someone who didn't finish today went on to win a stage or GC, so maybe disqualifying them from that would be better.
 
roundabout said:
Still there should have been a bit more thought involved instead of basically saying, "let them ride as far as they can, maybe we'll get lucky and the whole stage can be raced".

I love the fact they were still trying to clear the final climb with snow plows an hour or so before the race was due to get there. How dare you suggest the race organisers weren't prepared! :p
 
Morbius said:
It was a deliberately random idea. I think that they shouldn't be allowed back at all. It would be even worse if someone who didn't finish today went on to win a stage or GC, so maybe disqualifying them from that would be better.

Yeah i agree, it was an idea i floated in my own head but its too difficult as putting someone back in the race will affect things unless they all ride round in their own group at the back - in which case they might as well go and do their own training.
 
Beech Mtn said:
No I did not know Dean crashed. The race was already well past that point when it was morning here in the US. Is there a report on Dean's injuries? Hopefully he will be OK.

from twitter...

Baden Cooke ‏ @badencooke

"Really sorry to hear Julian Dean went down and broke his leg today in Catalunya. He has had a terrible run this season. Hope he is ok"
 
Danilot said:
No. The race has been a mess so far, but you shouldn't punish Albasini for it. When you give a rider a few minutes on a flat stage, you're wagering that no unforeseen circumstances will prevent you from clawing back those minutes.

What if there had been a cyclist strike today, should they also cancel Albasini's advantage? What if today's stage had been cancelled from the very beginning? What if there had been a demonstration by Spanish trade unions that blocked the roads for hours?

Sometimes mountain stages get cancelled and the favourites' teams lose because they gifted away a few minutes. That's the way it is. That's cycling.

As much as I dislike GreenEDGE, Albasini didn't cheat, so it would be fair to wipe out his advantage.

Break today didnt cheat either.

Just saying that the guys in front worked hard for their time and they dont have any GC reward. You could argue the same should apply to Albasini although personally i dont think you should go back and change the results of previous stages.
 
theyoungest said:
I don't think anyone disputes his win. It's the time gap that seems a bit unfair right now.

I don't think any of the GC teams intended to let him have 1:30 in a race with one MTF

You argue that the GC teams would have tried harder if they'd known this stage wasn't going to count. Albasini could just as easily argue that he'd have tried harder to extend the gap in that case but was saving something to defend his lead
 
Eyeballs Out said:
I don't think any of the GC teams intended to let him have 1:30 in a race with one MTF

You argue that the GC teams would have tried harder if they'd known this stage wasn't going to count. Albasini could just as easily argue that he'd have tried harder to extend the gap in that case but was saving something to defend his lead
"A race with one MTF" is understating it a bit, today's stage had an epic profile and the teams knew it. No chance for Albasini to keep his lead.