Vuelta a España - Stage 7 Murcia - Orihuela 187.1km

[Scirea]

No sign of Lovkvist in the 3 min group... Kreuziger is also losing time 3 days in a row. He'll be a non-factor in the mountains.

Kreuziger is saving energy to help Nibali, he doesn't have to arrive with the top group.

 

[rmacek]

No sign of Lovkvist in the 3 min group... Kreuziger is also losing time 3 days in a row. He'll be a non-factor in the mountains.

Kreuziger wants to help Nibali in mountains so he is saving energy here and also he wants to win a stage which is much easier when he loses some minutes in GC.

 

[Eyeballs Out]

From above it looked like Cav sat up, and then was boxed. If he had the legs he would have gone past Petacchi while he still had plenty of space to his right.

It would have been a really daring and probably dangerous move to go for the narrowing gap between Peta and barrier - maybe in a must-win race but not with the Worlds around the corner

Very different sprint to the previous two. With the tailwind, narrow straight and curves whoever hit the front first had a big advantage. Credit to Lampre, they did most of the work again and Hondo delivered an ideal leadout

 

[Scirea]

And on a second note, i'm shocked Petacchi isn't disqualified. Riders were DQd for far less.

 

[Mellow Velo]

Sky's mystery bug appears to be very serious.
One of Sky's soigneurs, Txema Gonzalez, who had this illness fell into a coma and died in hospital today.

http://www.biciciclismo.com/cas/site/noticias-ficha.asp?id=30084

 

[hrotha]

It would have been a really daring and probably dangerous move to go for the narrowing gap between Peta and barrier - maybe in a must-win race but not with the Worlds around the corner

Very different sprint to the previous two. With the tailwind, narrow straight and curves whoever hit the front first had a big advantage. Credit to Lampre, they did most of the work again and Hondo delivered an ideal leadout

I don't think the gap was closing nearly fast enough to be dangerous, by the time it happened Petacchi was almost in the middle of the road and it's not like he changed direction very abruptly. Seeing it live I didn't think he should be disqualified, but if he was it would not be completely unreasonable either.

 

[icefire]

Team Sky has been struck hard today. Chema González, one of the team masseurs, has passed by today after a quick illness that took him to hospital in Sevilla last Sunday.

R.I.P.

Edit: Blood infection seems to be at the origin of his illness.
http://www.elmundo.es/elmundodeporte/2010/09/03/ciclismo/1283528015.html

 

[Libertine Seguros]

So, what happens there?
Given what we have seen this season, Petacchi will be DQF'd and the win will go to Cav.
Good to see the Manx man didn't get all hysterical and start waving his hands about, like a few others, recently.

Depends. If the same people who DQed Julien Simon in the Volta a Portugal for daring to brush somewhere near Cândido Barbosa are overseeing the Vuelta, then Petacchi will be sentenced to a gulag for what he did today

 

[Eyeballs Out]

I don't think the gap was closing nearly fast enough to be dangerous, by the time it happened Petacchi was almost in the middle of the road and it's not like he changed direction very abruptly. Seeing it live I didn't think he should be disqualified, but if he was it would not be completely unreasonable either.

I'm not saying he would have won, just that it wasn't worth the risk to find out. Looking at the overhead, there is a 2m gap when he sits up but no gap at all within 30m of that - so call it anticipation

For me Petacchi is maybe beyond the limit of what is acceptable - it's hard to see a reason why he rides from one barrier to the other even if the road is very narrow

 

[Boardslide]

Asthma Jet's drift was very gradual and Cav failed to make a meal of it.
IMO, the result will stand.
I'm not even sure Cav will both to appeal, although, that's down to the HTC management.

+1 As you say it's upto the management to decide if an appeal is needed but I don't think the new Cav will bother, whereas the old one would have been spitting feathers. He wasn't impressed by the appeals against him by Garmin & Cervello both last year and this (this merge seems like a marriage made in heaven) as they both work from the same handbook of whoever complains first & loudest will come out on top.

Sad to hear about the Sky team member, wonder if the whole team will be pulled.

 

[DamonAlbarn]

Was it really that bad?

I'm not saying he would have won, just that it wasn't worth the risk to find out. Looking at the overhead, there is a 2m gap when he sits up but no gap at all within 30m of that - so call it anticipation

For me Petacchi is maybe beyond the limit of what is acceptable - it's hard to see a reason why he rides from one barrier to the other even if the road is very narrow

I must admit I didn't reckon there would be any doubts about the results when I saw it, but I'm no expert at all.
Fair play to Cavendish though for behaving impeccably (sp?).

Oh and JJ Haedo deserves a mention for surviving that nasty 50 meters mountain (ahem) and having a go in the final.

 

[neineinei]

Sky's mystery bug appears to be very serious.
One of Sky's soigneurs, Txema Gonzalez, who had this illness fell into a coma and died in hospital today.

http://www.biciciclismo.com/cas/site/noticias-ficha.asp?id=30084

That's most awful. RIP Txema Gonzalez.

 

[Balleballe]

That's most awful. RIP Txema Gonzalez.

Vuelta over for SKY now?

 

[neineinei]

Vuelta over for SKY now?

Hard to imagine it isn't. They can't gamble with a health risk like that, can they?

 

[Barrus]

Vuelta over for SKY now?

I would presume this to be the case. I myself would take the team out completely

 

[peloton]

Hard to imagine it isn't. They can't gamble with a health risk like that, can they?

agree.

Does anyone know what it is/was they were infected with? Food poisoning I read was ruled out, but it must be something very serious.

very sad.

 

[Francois the Postman]

Sky's mystery bug appears to be very serious.
One of Sky's soigneurs, Txema Gonzalez, who had this illness fell into a coma and died in hospital today.

http://www.biciciclismo.com/cas/site/noticias-ficha.asp?id=30084

Bloody hell.

 

[maltiv]

Hard to imagine it isn't. They can't gamble with a health risk like that, can they?

I'm thinking the same. If any of them are still sick they should pull out, that's for sure. It's almost impossible to imagine the toughness and bravery of the riders who actually are still in this race despite having gone through this illness, but now when it has taken a life they cannot gamble any longer.

Really sad news...

 

[hrotha]

I hope in Txema's case it was complicated by some pre-existing condition, because this is pretty terrifying otherwise.

 

[Winterfold]

feckadoodledo - that is horrible.

I guess we will have a tasteless clinic post even so

 

[DamonAlbarn]

horrible horrible news

feckadoodledo - that is horrible.

I guess we will have a tasteless clinic post even so

Don't think so and certainly don't hope so.
Gutted

 

[cyclingfanatik]

Sky is saying the death was from a bacterial infection and unrelated to the cyclists...

http://www.teamsky.com/article/0,27290,19634_6356153,00.html

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

Sky is saying the death was from a bacterial infection and unrelated to the cyclists...

http://www.teamsky.com/article/0,27290,19634_6356153,00.html

Indeed, terribly sad.

Cyclingnews have decided to report he was affected by the virus the riders have for some reason - I hope that's changed rapidly.

 

[Anonymous]

Indeed, terribly sad.

Cyclingnews have decided to report he was affected by the virus the riders have for some reason - I hope that's changed rapidly.

i think to be fair there has been some confusion/assumption although cn took a while to report it so by then the news was out. ho hum.

edit: theyve now removed the article again

 

[Winterfold]

Don't think so and certainly don't hope so.
Gutted

Yes - lets hope so.

Sky are saying this is definitely NOT the same thing as the riders have had.