Posted on 06/30/2017 5:24:21 PM PDT by Baynative
On Saturday, 198 of the world's best cyclists will start the Tour de France. Only four have a realistic shot at winning.
That's according to the highest-ranked American bike racer at the Tour, Andrew Talansky, in a recent interview with Business Insider.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
Thanks for the pings/posts.
Lawyers for Sagan and Bora-Hansgrohe file appeal
UCI rules stipulate discipline decisions can be only after hearing from the riders involved. Sagan was never talked to at all before the wrong decision was rendered.
However, rules also say all decisions are final.
For longer than I remember my wife and I normally never miss a stage, but we can’t watch now without it reminding of us of this ruling. So we haven’t bothered turning the TDF on for the last couple of days because it puts her in a bad mood.
No drama today - but a nice sprint at the finish.
My husband and I feel the same way. It makes me sick to watch Démare strutting around in green. Disgusting and sad.
Thank you for the pings, being deep in my basement installing a boiler, I would have missed the excitement.
To add a bit:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/booting-peter-sagan-from-the-tour-de-france-fair-or-foul-1499279400?tesla=y
The video replay has been argued about, slow-mo’d, super-slow-mo’d, atomized and picked apart with Zapruder-like focus. Accusations have flown. Sides have been taken. Sagan and Cavendish have been trending on Twitter in the U. S.—as if they were NBA free agents.
The whole thing is another dose of crazy for a sport that pretty much invented crazy...
I think it’s important to establish that a field sprint in a bike race is a highly chaotic environment. Bikes are moving at speeds approaching 40 miles an hour, heart rates are fully in the red, and, in a race like the Tour de France, careers can literally be made with a victory. ..
I’ve watched the video at least 40 times, and there are angles that look terribly damning to Sagan, and then angles that make it look like Cavendish was already crashing before Sagan flicked an elbow, which will now be known in Tour de France lore as The Elbow. What’s undeniable is that Cavendish crashes very hard, and on his way down, takes out a couple of riders behind him as well. It’s a pile-up. It’s ugly. It also happens in bike races all the time....
It’s dangerous, but sprinters bump shoulders and butts and even helmets from time to time, intentionally and not. Chances are taken—Cavendish took one himself in moving up between Sagan and the barrier, because while Sagan can move, a barrier doesn’t care who Cavendish is, and isn’t going anywhere. But aggression like that is everywhere in a sprint. Smart aggression can be rewarded. Dumb aggression can be a disaster. Emotions afterward run high.
...
What seems pretty clear among sprinters is that even if Sagan deserved a penalty for contact with Cavendish—and there’s also reports he was cited for dodgy riding before that—throwing him out of the race was a truly nuclear option. Retired Tour sprinters like Baden Cooke and Robbie McEwen lined up to disagree with dramatic expulsion...
Sagan is a supremely skilled and admired (even Cavendish likes him) rider who’s brought panache and personality to a sport that can sometimes feel personality-deprived. To be clear: That’s not a reason to keep him in the Tour if what he did clearly merited being tossed from the race. But it doesn’t seem clear. Clarity is nowhere to be found. The arguments are still raging, and likely will be for a long time.
What we’re left with is a race without Peter Sagan and Mark Cavendish—and a Tour that suddenly feels a lot less fun.
As I said before I agree with Paul Sherwin's comprehensive assessment as detailed in his stop action explanation of the incident. On the subjective side I've never heard of Sagan purposely going after someone in a sprint. But, Cavendish has a history that speaks for itself. Maybe that's why so much social media is stacking up against him.
Well, I have to admit, I have been so bummed over the Sagan decision I didn't event turn the tour on for two days. But I just can't help myself when the mountains come up, so changed my tee time and I clicked up the last 1/2 hour today.
...and I wasn't disappointed.
Young frenchman Lilian Calmejane has been touted as a future star and today he came through. He stayed with the highly rated climbers and wasn't even mentioned until the last climb where he attacked and no one could match him.
He built a 40 second lead and then inside 5K to go he got hit with a hamstring cramp and had no water left. He didn't panic. He held is composure as he slowed and stretched and clicked to lower gears as he upped his cadence to ease the pain.
Maybe it was the 1K banner and the adrenaline that goes with it that helped him hold off the charge to win his first Tour stag.
I’m a day behind so I stopped after your first paragraph. Even Phil and Paul can’t stop talking Sagan this, Cavendish that. Incredibly stupid decision. I wonder how many advertisers/sponsors they will lose because of their stupidity.
Having said that, I’m happy to see that NBC FINALLY understands the high regard for The Devil or at least they pretend to. I’ve seen him 4 out of 6 days so far. They just spotted him in stage 6 but he’s now in their highlights too.
Still nice scenery. No one has drawn me back in yet. Very disappointing.
I use Dish network which shows a Stage 8 replay tonight on NBCSP at 10:30.
Scenery! Thank you! European scenery is actually what kept me watching the TDF, since the stages are mostly so long that actual racing can be hours apart.
Now, though, I’m hooked on the competition. Even on the long stages, anything can happen, seemingly anybody can come from obscurity and shine, like on today’s stage in the mountains.
"...seemingly anybody can come from obscurity and shine, like on today’s stage in the mountains."
Boy you got that right!
Today we had quite an unexpected stage in the mountains with Contador and Quintana cracking and Richie Porte gone after a crushing wreck on the last decent.
I don't think anyone would have expected a photo finish after such a tough stage.
And I don't think anyone expected the GC to look like this.
But Chris Froome is showing what champions are made of and Dan Martin is still remarkably close after going into the rocks with Porte on that last descent.
I think everyone is welcoming tomorrow's rest day.
4 guys from FDJ missed the cutoff time today (!). And 5 guys had to withdraw (Porte, Gesink, Geriant Thomas, Mori, and Van Emden). Pretty much a carnage filled day. Not sure anyone can catch Froome at this point, but Dan Martin gets kudos from me for keeping up after being wiped out by Porte’s wreck. We’ll see what Tuesday brings...
Agree on Froome. Really strange turns of events this year find myself reading this thread first then fast forwarding through several recordings via past years when I watched live or full day recorded versions the same day
Brutal ride today. Hell of a finish though.
Yoann Offredo (Wanty-Groupe Gobert):Well, Offredo had something that he needed to get off his chest after stage 10 - “It’s frustrating. I don’t understand why only two teams, Fortuneo and Wanty, go in the break. We are small teams, we need to go into the break to have some publicity for our teams. I don’t understand why other teams help Quick Step, because it’s always the same guys winning stages. Marcel Kittel is the best sprinter in the world and nobody is trying to stop him. Maybe I’m wrong, maybe it’s my first Tour de France and I’m too enthusiastic and naive. Something’s wrong, maybe it’s me. Maybe there is not enough motivation for the guys. Why not award points to escapees? Otherwise it’s boring for everybody, for spectators behind their TV to watch a stage for today. I call on all riders who want to go in the breakaway tomorrow to join me at the Wanty bus in the morning!”
Well, Offredo had something that he needed to get off his chest after stage 10 - “It’s frustrating. I don’t understand why only two teams, Fortuneo and Wanty, go in the break. We are small teams, we need to go into the break to have some publicity for our teams. I don’t understand why other teams help Quick Step, because it’s always the same guys winning stages. Marcel Kittel is the best sprinter in the world and nobody is trying to stop him. Maybe I’m wrong, maybe it’s my first Tour de France and I’m too enthusiastic and naive. Something’s wrong, maybe it’s me. Maybe there is not enough motivation for the guys. Why not award points to escapees? Otherwise it’s boring for everybody, for spectators behind their TV to watch a stage for today. I call on all riders who want to go in the breakaway tomorrow to join me at the Wanty bus in the morning!”
For the sponsors,, that moment in the spotlight probably means a lot over in Europe and within the sport. It brings them customers, or at least eyeballs and gives aspiring riders another place to tweet up and say, "Look at me".
I never heard the names Offredo, or Wanty before today.
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