The Cycling Thread

[fizzwheel]

Originally Posted by Jabba

Just coz his team-mate fell off. Not sure the whole peloton was in agreement. Cost him the yellow jersey, too.

Ah but that is the unspoken ettiquette in cycling. That was a big crash on the descent, alot of the big names who are in competition for the GC went down, so ettiquette is that you dont attack in that situation so as not to take advantage of someone else's misfortune, so Cancellera in the Yellow jersey would have said that they waited and didnt attack.

Most Pro's would want to win fair and square rather than to take advantage, theres a few "unwritten" rules like that. i.e. dont attack in a feedstation or if theres a crash etc etc.

Armstrong didnt understand alot of this when he turned pro and it made him rather unpopular in the peleton at the time.

[maviczap]

Originally Posted by fizzwheel

Ah but that is the unspoken ettiquette in cycling. That was a big crash on the descent, alot of the big names who are in competition for the GC went down, so ettiquette is that you dont attack in that situation so as not to take advantage of someone else's misfortune, so Cancellera in the Yellow jersey would have said that they waited and didnt attack.

Most Pro's would want to win fair and square rather than to take advantage, theres a few "unwritten" rules like that. i.e. dont attack in a feedstation or if theres a crash etc etc.

Armstrong didnt understand alot of this when he turned pro and it made him rather unpopular in the peleton at the time.

True Fizz, but once the Schlecks rejoined the bunch I think they should have started to race again

Hmmm..... according the BBC website, about 60 of the buggers fell off

They are blaming a fuel spill from a motorbike:

Sky team principal Dave Brailsford was left to survey injuries to a third of his nine-man team, including Wiggins, who injured his leg.

"It was ridiculously slippy," said Brailsford.

"They were coming down the last couple of descents and there were guys in the trees.

"It was carnage in the true sense of the word.

"Sixty guys must have crashed in different places."

[maviczap]

Big fuel tank then

[fizzwheel]

Originally Posted by maviczap

True Fizz, but once the Schlecks rejoined the bunch I think they should have started to race again

I hadnt watched the very end of the stage when I wrote my earlier post. I have now I think I am inclined to agree with you.

But then who else was out of the back still when the Schlecks rejoined. Cavendish finished 9 odd minutes down so wasnt back in the main bunch.

But then he's not IMHO a GC contender.

[maviczap]

No one of any significance for GC, which is why they should have started racing again

They'll all look pretty stupid if Chavanel keeps the jesey all the way to Paris

Stranger things have happened

Yep Cav was never going to do much today, but he'll never get the green jersey riding like the. Thor was in the main bunch, where Cav should've been

[fizzwheel]

Originally Posted by maviczap

Yep Cav was never going to do much today, but he'll never get the green jersey riding like the. Thor was in the main bunch, where Cav should've been

I agree, he needs to get better at or at least be able to stay in the main bunch over the climbs. That way he'll have a better chance at the end of the stage if theres more today with lumps in the middle.

I wander how much those crashes he's had this year have knocked his confidence or maybe he is feeling the bump he had yesterday and thats why he went backwards out of the bunch today.

[fizzwheel]

Bit more info from each team here

http://velonews.competitor.com/2010/...d-stage_125976

Seems that Cavendish didnt crash, so he was so far back because hes feeling the effects from Yesterday or he is really terrible at climbing...

and tomorrow its cobbles. Should be fun... might set the sky+ for it and record the coverage rather than the highlights show.

[maviczap]

Cav just isn't having a good year full stop.

As for the crash, well I don't reckon the fuel was intitally to blame. IMHO I reckon the wet roads under the trees were really greasy, which caused the Italian to come down, which then caused the bike to come down, causing the fuel spill?

You know what summer roads are like if they get a little bit of rain on them

Only the the good descenders avoided crashing

[maviczap]

Just watched the end of the stage on ITV4

I won't give the result away, but it lived up to the hype.

Great stage