Seems like Evans is blaming Sky then

Corporate Ascents

Nightmare stage for Wiggins another crash fest. Evans seems to think Sky was to blame.

Due to a problem with the recording I only caught the last 8kms so I'd be keen to know others thoughts.

Here's what Evans has said;

"I kept myself at the front for 216 kilometres, but then I made a turn and all of the Sky riders hit the ground. I hit the ground too and I was never able to get back up front. It is very frustrating. You keep yourself at front all day then a super team, as they call it, crashes to the ground," Evans continued.
"There was not even wind in that section, why did they have to crash there at 10 kilometres to the line? We were not even going fast. I don't know if the riders don't know how to ride their bikes anymore or they don't know how to concentrate. Obviously, there are traffic islands and so on, which are very cycling friendly for commuters, but you can't see them when racing because they are so small and low"

FJS

What I find interesting is to know whether the Sky rider in Evans' wheel in the immediate chase after the crash was indeed Wiggins. Cyclingnews' photo of the couple seem to suggest it was. The Sky rider gave up the chase, while Evans reached the group in front of them.

If that was the case, Wiggins, Sky, and all their fans don't have any reason to complain about the GC time lost.

andylav

Wiggins was still on the ground while Evans was already up and chasing.

The Sky rider was called back to help Wiggins try to regain the group

wicked

Bum face his usual charming self then :roll:

fungus_the_muffin_man

It wasn't wiggins it was one of the guys who had not been caught in the crash. Wiggins was with 4 of his guys and had lost his chain. The guy dropped back to help bring wiggo back up. Hence why at the end of the race a sky train of about 6 riders came in all together.

Sounds a bit childish of cuddles to blame sky. Unless of course they did it on purpose to destroy any chnace to wiggins competing for gc

Corporate Ascents

Hope the TdF doesn't start this way. Its killing the Giro

finchy

wicked wrote:

Bum face his usual charming self then :roll:

The man with 2 arses on his face.

Pross

It's standard procedure to blame Sky for everything. I wouldn't be surprised to find they have rigged the recent blood tests that saw a few riders booted out of the Giro before it started, it's part of the marginal gains to take out your opposition

FJS

Corporate Ascents wrote:

Hope the TdF doesn't start this way. Its killing the Giro

How is it killing the Giro? The only GC riders losing serious amounts of time have been those losing time because of the wind and echelons. That's like saying that the mountians are kiling the Giro, or the TTs.

VDV and Wiggins were never riding for the GC anyway. Both are just focused on July, and both are completely unsuited for climbs like the Zoncolan and Mortirolo which will decide the GC.

Av it

Corporate Ascents wrote:

Hope the TdF doesn't start this way. Its killing the Giro

Surely its adding some more elements to what would otherwise be a dull first week? Imagine how people would complain if they did 3 stages on pan flat courses with no wind or danger?

Corporate Ascents

I'd like to have seen Wiggins still up there - if he was he would have pushed for GC.

I think he should have targeted the Giro this year over the Tour anyway, had a good chance this year.

iainf72

Is he wrong though?

SpaceJunk

wicked wrote:

Bum face his usual charming self then :roll:

So Evans gets asked a question by a journalists and answers it.

Yeah, what a displeasing thing to say in response. Disgusting butt face man.

FJS

Corporate Ascents wrote:

I'd like to have seen Wiggins still up there - if he was he would have pushed for GC.

I think he should have targeted the Giro this year over the Tour anyway, had a good chance this year.

With only 23 flat TT kms, and climbs like the Zoncolan, Corones and Mortirolo? This couldn't be a worse grand tour route for Wiggins

Corporate Ascents

Is who wrong - Evans or Wiggins?

iainf72

I don't think he's "blaming" them. Was the fact he lost time because Sky crashed? Yes it was. You can't argue about that.

blazing_saddles

iainf72 wrote:

I don't think he's "blaming" them. Was the fact he lost time because Sky crashed? Yes it was. You can't argue about that.

Well you can.
You could blame the other factor, which apparently he did, before a bit of verbal back tracking: his team, or rather lack of.
Not one support rider for the last 80kms.

Fact is, his Giro could be over, had he had a puncture inside the last hour or so of the race.

Tom Butcher

The route is bad for wiggins but with the exception of Evans there are no riders targetting the Giro who are genuine GT contenders in prime form - it would have been an opportunity to get on the podium at least.

As for blaming Sky - I think it's interesting that he does that and his choice of words about them being a supposed super team whether they were really at fault or not - suggests maybe they still aren't that popular in the peloton which could be important if they are ever in need of allies.

iainf72

Blazing Saddles wrote:

Well you can.
You could blame the other factor, which apparently he did, before a bit of verbal back tracking: his team, or rather lack of.
Not one support rider for the last 80kms.

Well, yes, that's going to annoy him, but would it have helped in this case. Of course, because Sastre got back up to the front group with the help he had...didn't he?

Nothing else changing aside from Sky decking it, would he have finished in the front group? Yes.

Neil McC

^ with the asence of his team around him yesterday, it could be Evans that may be more in need of allies?

Bernardus

Corporate Ascents wrote:

Hope the TdF doesn't start this way. Its killing the Giro

???

It's a GT, there are 21 stages were the GC riders can win and lose time. It's not illegal for GC riders to win/lose time without a mountain in sight. Wind and crashes are just as much part of cycling as time trials and cols.

Also the fact that many climbers are so far behind, means they'll have to attack earlier and more often. Riders like Sastre, Pozzovivo, Masciarelli (white jersey) and even Evans have to win back time from Basso and friends.

intothe12

I thought Sky did a decent job all day yesterday, and Wiggins at least seemed up for it seeing as though at one stage he was doing up and over with vino. Saying that, after his crash, I was surprised he did not get up off his arse quicker and re-mount, he seemed to flaff about for a while messing about with the chain. I know his main focus is the Tour, but yesterday his licking of the wounds cost him the Giro. Compared to Cuengo who has said he is not going for the GC, he was getting caught behind everything and hitting the deck, then chases for 40km and gets back to the Evans group, true grit and hard riding.

I think Wiggans needs to dust off his cravat and Paul Smith attire and harden the f*ck up. So what, you crashed, we have all crashed hard in races, but when you go down with 10km to go, you get up fast and tidy yourself up after the race.

Predictions for the Tour: Wiggins has a strop somewhere around the cobbled section in Belgium, losses ten minutes, and then moans and bitches on Twitter about why cobbles should not be in the Tour. Suck it up!!

frenchfighter

Evans is admirable.

Bettini

disgruntledgoat

Bernardus wrote:

Corporate Ascents wrote:

Hope the TdF doesn't start this way. Its killing the Giro

???

It's a GT, there are 21 stages were the GC riders can win and lose time. It's not illegal for GC riders to win/lose time without a mountain in sight. Wind and crashes are just as much part of cycling as time trials and cols.

Also the fact that many climbers are so far behind, means they'll have to attack earlier and more often. Riders like Sastre, Pozzovivo, Masciarelli (white jersey) and even Evans have to win back time from Basso and friends.

What he said

With no clear favourite, this is making the race for me.

emadden

I have a mate with whom I cycle quite a bit and when he drops a chain he has to stop, get off his bike, and slowly put the chain on... he's a bit of a novice still...

But he reminds me a bit of Wiggins... Wiggins seems to have terrible difficulty in figuring out how to get a chain back on once it falls off.. Footage from yesterday shows Wiggins lifting up his dogma and spinning the cranks around, looking puzzled before putting the bike back down. Then one of his team mates bent over and put the chain on for him

celbianchi

frenchfighter wrote:

Evans is admirable.

Bettini

Good pic.

dulldave

wicked wrote:

Bum face his usual charming self then :roll:

If it were me I'd probably be effing and blinding about them and regret it later when everything had calmed down. So given that Evans is targeting the Giro, I find his comments quite restrained. Whether he's right or wrong is another matter. I didn't see it so I don't even have an opinion on that.

Rodrego Hernandez

intothe12 wrote:

I thought Sky did a decent job all day yesterday, and Wiggins at least seemed up for it seeing as though at one stage he was doing up and over with vino. Saying that, after his crash, I was surprised he did not get up off his ars* quicker and re-mount, he seemed to flaff about for a while messing about with the chain. I know his main focus is the Tour, but yesterday his licking of the wounds cost him the Giro. Compared to Cuengo who has said he is not going for the GC, he was getting caught behind everything and hitting the deck, then chases for 40km and gets back to the Evans group, true grit and hard riding.

I think Wiggans needs to dust off his cravat and Paul Smith attire and harden the f*ck up. So what, you crashed, we have all crashed hard in races, but when you go down with 10km to go, you get up fast and tidy yourself up after the race.

Predictions for the Tour: Wiggins has a strop somewhere around the cobbled section in Belgium, losses ten minutes, and then moans and bitches on Twitter about why cobbles should not be in the Tour. Suck it up!!

Sky made an excellent road block whilst they all stood there looking at their bikes and generally looking like they had never seen an unshipped chain before. Surely between them all they could have got Wiggins on a workable bike and got him riding, it was only a few KM to the finish. Only themselves to blame both for their own losses and for getting in the way of the others.

disgruntledgoat

Rodrego Hernandez wrote:

intothe12 wrote:

I thought Sky did a decent job all day yesterday, and Wiggins at least seemed up for it seeing as though at one stage he was doing up and over with vino. Saying that, after his crash, I was surprised he did not get up off his ars* quicker and re-mount, he seemed to flaff about for a while messing about with the chain. I know his main focus is the Tour, but yesterday his licking of the wounds cost him the Giro. Compared to Cuengo who has said he is not going for the GC, he was getting caught behind everything and hitting the deck, then chases for 40km and gets back to the Evans group, true grit and hard riding.

I think Wiggans needs to dust off his cravat and Paul Smith attire and harden the f*ck up. So what, you crashed, we have all crashed hard in races, but when you go down with 10km to go, you get up fast and tidy yourself up after the race.

Predictions for the Tour: Wiggins has a strop somewhere around the cobbled section in Belgium, losses ten minutes, and then moans and bitches on Twitter about why cobbles should not be in the Tour. Suck it up!!

Sky made an excellent road block whilst they all stood there looking at their bikes and generally looking like they had never seen an unshipped chain before. Surely between them all they could have got Wiggins on a workable bike and got him riding, it was only a few KM to the finish. Only themselves to blame both for their own losses and for getting in the way of the others.

The sky Jag was nowhere to be seen either. They must have been stood in the road for minutes before anybody from the team came to their aid.

frenchfighter

He is quite a character.

My apologies too...after the finish, I firmly defended my young compatriot Richie Porter from the stampede of an inconsiderate cameraman, sorry....I don't have much tolerance for those who treat others like manure.

He writes a diary:
http://www.cadelevans.com.au/cadelsdiary.aspx

Le Commentateur

frenchfighter wrote:

Evans is admirable.

Bettini

That was that crazy hairpin corner just before Evans rejoined the rump of the front group (as Vino & others were breaking away).