Stage 14 - Colmar - Besancon SPOILER

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  • afx237vi
    afx237vi Posts: 12,630
    Ugh, looking at Twitter, it appears the peloton actually rode past the scene of the accident today and many people saw the body. Not nice.
  • frenchfighter
    frenchfighter Posts: 30,642
    I don't like Hincapie so don't care if he didn't get the jersey. In any case, if he wants it he should bloody well fight for it, which he wasn't doing in the last 10km.

    As for Astana, it is quite clear that they wanted him to have the jersey, make no question of that. Columbia are a solid team and AG2R were on their last legs.

    As for Garmin, US rivalry.

    As for that lead out train, very bizzare but Cav looked like he was have a chat and still managed first, but then that was cos he blocked Thor.

    Congratulations Ivanov. A great move.
    Contador is the Greatest
  • doddy178
    doddy178 Posts: 66
    Look at the replay, watch the barriers on the right. There is a barrier bulge in there forcing Hushovd behind Cavendish.
  • blazing_saddles
    blazing_saddles Posts: 22,711
    Cavendish relegated to 154th, in the process.
    So, in trying to give George a day in yellow, they've screwed up the pursuit of green.
    Hushovd now has an 18 point lead.....
    .....so If Columbia spit out their collective dummy, that's effectively put an end to the one competitive jersey battle.
    Nice one, Monsieur le commisaire.... :oops:
    "Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
  • takethehighroad
    takethehighroad Posts: 6,812
    To be honest I'm not surprised about Cav being relegated. Maybe it's a bit harsh on his own sprint but he did put Thor into the barriers and the Columbia train in general was being dangerous. It's a bit sh1t in terms of the green jersey competition.

    As far as Astana chasing George down, please, do you honestly think that would ever happen? I'm not the world's biggest Astana fan but even I can see the connection between not only Lance and George but Johan and George as well.

    According to Vaughters on Twitter it was 'cos Wiggo got caught out in a split the other day and they didn't want it to happen again, but I think they also kinda wanted to keep Wiggins up there 'cos they're not so sure how long he's gona be around the top 10, and every day he is there they get more exposure. It's still surprising though given Vaughters and Hincapie track record.
  • campagchris
    campagchris Posts: 773
    Diabolical decision,and I would say the same thing if it had happened to Thor.Its killed the maillot vert competition now. :twisted:
  • mididoctors
    mididoctors Posts: 18,874
    edited July 2009
    Timoid. wrote:
    Columbia farked up. Shoulda slowed the whole thing down and not bothered with the sprint.

    Karma's a *****

    +1

    greedy

    or just done a decent lead out.
    "If I was a 38 year old man, I definitely wouldn't be riding a bright yellow bike with Hello Kitty disc wheels, put it that way. What we're witnessing here is the world's most high profile mid-life crisis" Afx237vi Mon Jul 20, 2009 2:43 pm
  • aurelio_-_banned
    aurelio_-_banned Posts: 1,317
    TakeTheHighRoad wrote:
    To be honest I'm not surprised about Cav being relegated. Maybe it's a bit harsh on his own sprint but he did put Thor into the barriers and the Columbia train in general was being dangerous. It's a bit sh1t in terms of the green jersey competition.

    From the bikeradar live ticker...

    ...we've just heard that Mark Cavendish has been relegated for that sprinting incident. So Hushovd's chances of winning the Green Jersey take a boost. Given that Cavendish was looking back before it happened, it looked pretty clear it was deliberate.

    http://www.bikeradar.com/race-live/96th ... age-14-559
  • afx237vi
    afx237vi Posts: 12,630
    Lance is having a Twittergasm by the look of it... and becoming more illiterate with each update. Some rattled cages today, eh?
  • rjh299
    rjh299 Posts: 721
    I hope they reverse their decision on Cav. The green jersey comp has been the only highlight of the 09 tour. Admittedly it should get more interesting with GC from now on but they just ruined the best part. WRONGLY aswell!!!
  • frenchfighter
    frenchfighter Posts: 30,642
    Reuters

    610x.jpg
    Contador is the Greatest
  • rjh299
    rjh299 Posts: 721
    haha
  • takethehighroad
    takethehighroad Posts: 6,812
    afx237vi wrote:
    Lance is having a Twittergasm by the look of it... and becoming more illiterate with each update. Some rattled cages today, eh?

    Is Twittergasm gona be one of those gay words that appear on the right hand side of the page?

    Garmin really don't like making friends do they? First Columbia now Astana
  • mididoctors
    mididoctors Posts: 18,874
    TBF to Astana they had a problem there

    they had to entice Ag2R to ride at some stage... if they totally sat up ta 13 man group could have killed the tour...

    and I think NO ONE was going to help them if some absurd situation arose....

    this is why I think opportunities were missed over the last week to hurt Astana by forming these alliances


    to entice Ag2r they had to make it doable

    if they did nothing Ag2r could bluff them and sit up....

    the fact is Ag2r played it really well
    "If I was a 38 year old man, I definitely wouldn't be riding a bright yellow bike with Hello Kitty disc wheels, put it that way. What we're witnessing here is the world's most high profile mid-life crisis" Afx237vi Mon Jul 20, 2009 2:43 pm
  • aurelio_-_banned
    aurelio_-_banned Posts: 1,317
    iainf72 wrote:
    aurelio wrote:
    As I just said, for a long time I got the impression that they were just tapping through and so, by deterring all the others teams from organising a more determined chase, were actually helping Hincapie's group to maintain their lead.
    This is a day I never thought would come. Aurelio and Lance have reached an accord :wink:
    Just reporting on what I thought I was seeing!
  • afx237vi
    afx237vi Posts: 12,630
    TakeTheHighRoad wrote:
    afx237vi wrote:
    Lance is having a Twittergasm by the look of it... and becoming more illiterate with each update. Some rattled cages today, eh?

    Is Twittergasm gona be one of those gay words that appear on the right hand side of the page?

    Garmin really don't like making friends do they? First Columbia now Astana

    Personally, I thought I just made that word up, but apparently not:

    http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.p ... wittergasm

    Wiggins says: This man does'nt quite understand what went on today. @ghincapie is a legend and deserves to be in yellow tonight!

    Zabriskie says: Pawns in their game...
  • frenchfighter
    frenchfighter Posts: 30,642
    Twitter update:

    As far as I have seen, only Cadel and Wegelius have mentionned the death today.

    Wiggins:
    This man does'nt quite understand what went on today. @ghincapie is a legend and deserves to be in yellow tonight!

    Vaughters:
    That had nothing to do with George or Columbia. Wiggo almost lost 15 seconds the other day due to a split. We can't have that happen again.

    Lance:
    St14 done. Sounds like there's quite a bit of confusion over this one... Noone, and I mean noone, wanted George in yellow more than me.
    Our team rode a moderate tempo to put him in the jersey by at least 2 mins. Ag2r said they would not defend then they started to ride.
    Until 10km to go he was solidly in yellow until GARMIN put on the gas and made sure it didn't happen.
    And I reiterate. @ghincapie deserves to be yellow tonight. He deserves more than that. Look to who pulled the last 50k to see who to blame..
    Contador is the Greatest
  • mididoctors
    mididoctors Posts: 18,874
    edited July 2009
    even better they (Ag2r) put a wedge in various alliances Lance had in the peloton...

    FFS they are hav'in it out in public on twitter..

    how good is that....

    garmin... a good move IMO
    "If I was a 38 year old man, I definitely wouldn't be riding a bright yellow bike with Hello Kitty disc wheels, put it that way. What we're witnessing here is the world's most high profile mid-life crisis" Afx237vi Mon Jul 20, 2009 2:43 pm
  • GemmaAtkinson1
    GemmaAtkinson1 Posts: 161
    sat at work and going through the picture feeds from AFP and saw the aftermath of the accident. horrible horrible stuff. hope celebrations are a bit subdued today in respect.


    Also loving this public twitter fest hahaha. its like the schoolyard again!
  • afx237vi
    afx237vi Posts: 12,630
    Anyone got a video of Hincapie's interview? Was it in the heat of the moment, straight off the bike?
  • mgcycleguy
    mgcycleguy Posts: 292
    afx237vi wrote:
    Lance is having a Twittergasm by the look of it... and becoming more illiterate with each update. Some rattled cages today, eh?

    ... he's even complaining about the prawns now !!!!







    .. oh hang on, he said pawns.... :wink:
  • afx237vi
    afx237vi Posts: 12,630
    edited July 2009
    frenchfighter wrote:
    Twitter update:

    As far as I have seen, only Cadel and Wegelius have mentionned the death today.

    Steven de Jongh as well.

    My thoughts go out to the family of the women why died today ! It's was a awful sight!

    I was pulling in front of the peleton , and suddenly there were a lot of motorpieces on the ground , then I saw the the women .....
  • mididoctors
    mididoctors Posts: 18,874
    edited July 2009
    afx237vi wrote:

    Wiggins says: This man does'nt quite understand what went on today. @ghincapie is a legend and deserves to be in yellow tonight!

    Zabriskie says: Pawns in their game...

    I think wiggins is wrong "big george" was nodding with disapproval long before Ag2r came up.. he understood what Astana were doing...

    and TBF to Astana they were hoping Ag2r failed but they were not going to sit on at pace all day... they have a tour to win


    the problem was the balancing act they were trying to achieve fell on the wrong side...

    if hincapie had the jersey by 5 secs it would be all's well...


    people are going to talk about this for a long time.
    "If I was a 38 year old man, I definitely wouldn't be riding a bright yellow bike with Hello Kitty disc wheels, put it that way. What we're witnessing here is the world's most high profile mid-life crisis" Afx237vi Mon Jul 20, 2009 2:43 pm
  • mididoctors
    mididoctors Posts: 18,874
    afx237vi wrote:
    Anyone got a video of Hincapie's interview? Was it in the heat of the moment, straight off the bike?

    had to be...

    came out too soon
    "If I was a 38 year old man, I definitely wouldn't be riding a bright yellow bike with Hello Kitty disc wheels, put it that way. What we're witnessing here is the world's most high profile mid-life crisis" Afx237vi Mon Jul 20, 2009 2:43 pm
  • doddy178
    doddy178 Posts: 66
    Cavendish sprint
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzbvcNdb67Y

    For some reason youtube squished it up, no idea why

    Edit: look at the barriers for the "hushovd situation"
  • marinerrr
    marinerrr Posts: 81
    Video of the Cav-Thor sprint here.

    To be honest, I don't see that it looked dangerous enough to warrant relegation. Will be very interesting to see what Columbia have got to say about today though, on top of all this finger-pointing from LA over Hincapie and Garmin.
  • afx237vi
    afx237vi Posts: 12,630
    Hmm, yeah, watching it live I did think Cav moved across Hushovd's line, but watching that, the barriers definitely squeeze inwards. Very harsh to be relegated for that.
  • takethehighroad
    takethehighroad Posts: 6,812
    Cav knew the barriers were there though didn't he? And he was looking round for where Hushovd was rather than going for the sprint.

    He benefitted in the Giro last year when Bennati could have put him in the barriers but didn't
  • deal
    deal Posts: 857
    deliberate imo, Cavendish spent more time looking back than forward.
  • frenchfighter
    frenchfighter Posts: 30,642
    Thanks for the video. I have seen much worse (they didn't even make contact and Thor didn't even have to move, just let up a little) and frankly it wasn't as if Thor would have come passed him in any case.
    Contador is the Greatest

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