Tour de France Stage 11 *spoiler*

Nashman

Bollox - hard game played by professional sportsman. Cav bashing.
OK the move left wasn't brilliant - but DQ ???

frenchfighter

Renshaw:
I'm extremely disappointed and also surprised at this decision. I never imagined I would be removed from any race, especially the Tour de France. I pride myself on being a very fair, safe and a straight up sprinter and never in my career have I received a fine or even a warning.

Julian came hard in on my position with his elbows. I needed to use my head to retain balance or there would have been a crash. If had used my elbows when Julian brought his elbow on top of mine we would also have crashed. The object was to hold my line and stay upright.

I hadn't started the sprint yet. We were still at 375m to go. After that Cavendish had to start his sprint early and I was also ready to finish off the sprint as I still had a lot left in my legs. It would have been good to try to take some more points. I only saw open space on my left. I had no idea Tyler Farrar was there. By no means would I ever put any of my fellow riders in danger.

If he did really feel like he would lose his balance then I guess the headbutt is justified. To give him the benefit of the doubt, he did look over his left shoulder before pulling over so maybe Farrar wasn't in his field of view when he looked. That being said, there is no excuse really for not rolling in a straight line. In addition he said he had good legs and wanted to take some points - he should have continued his sprint not moved to the side and slow down.

Kléber

I don't think he was using his head for balance, to lean on Dean, a defensive move that's within the rules. Instead he was using his head to hit Dean back out of the way, an agressive move that's going to see you DQd.

mididoctors

afx237vi wrote:

Seems weird to name a climb after a bloke who's not dead though, I must say.

was quite a stage thou

rick_chasey

Tom Steel's DQ was much better.

pedro118118

The term "headbutt" adds a certain element drama and menace. I don't think Renshaw headbutted Dean, more use his head to protect his position and hold his line (Renshaw;s head only ever makes contact with Dean's shoulder/torso). At the end of the day, taking hands off the bars is far worse, so in reality, he had little option (unless he was prepared to yield to Garmin, which was never gonna happen).

Cutting up Farrar looked bad, but in reality had no bearing on the result, as he was well ou of it by then.

Argy bargy and DQs aside, what is interesting is the 'tactic' being employed by the other other teams seem clear doesn't it - break up the train, neutralise Renshaw and going long on the sprint seems to be the only way to beat Cav/HTC Columbia in a flat stage finish.

Kléber

mididoctors wrote:

afx237vi wrote:

Seems weird to name a climb after a bloke who's not dead though, I must say.

was quite a stage thou

It's only the race climb that is named like that, I think for the locals it's the Croix Neuve. The Jalabert bit is just for the cyclists, to put Mende on the map as somewhere to visit for a ride or two if you like.

camerone

Kléber wrote:

I don't think he was using his head for balance, to lean on Dean, a defensive move that's within the rules. Instead he was using his head to hit Dean back out of the way, an agressive move that's going to see you DQd.

i dont disagree with what you are saying, however Dean was pushing and elbowing and in my view the use of the head to repel was fine, better than tangling elbows.

Dean was spouting some utter nonsense about trying to come round to up the speed, dragging Tyler up to the front, total nonsense he was simply trying to push HTC and block them on the barriers. he isnt man enough to admit it though. I am really disappointed in Garmin - initial tactics rough and shows they know they cannot win a clean sprint, their immediate outrage to the press is akin to a girlballer waving imaginary yellows at the ref, and their pathetic attempts to suggest they were doing anything than block HTC after the event are very lame. [none of this means i agree with the move on Farrar, that was out of order]

mea00csf

what is the reasoning behind the commisaires taking decisions sooooooo fast tho? They seem to make a snap decision, and then no matter what happens stick to the outcome, defending it to the point where they look ridiculous (I'm not just talking about this instance). I don't see any reason why they couldn't have gathered all the camera shots, investigated, slow-mo'd them, and decided an hour or two later after having reviewed evidence, it's not even like in this instance it affected the rankings for the stage or overall.

Doesn't seem much to ask of a multi million pound, pinnacle of their sport, event management team. They might then end up with some consistency in the penalties they hand out :shock: and at the very least be seen to be attempting to be fair and rational. Or is this just the way it gets done in pro cycling?

As an aside, did it remind anyone else of giraffes fighting.....

deejay

pedro118118 wrote:

The term "headbutt" adds a certain element drama and menace. I don't think Renshaw headbutted Dean, more use his head to protect his position and hold his line (Renshaw;s head only ever makes contact with Dean's shoulder/torso). At the end of the day, taking hands off the bars is far worse, so in reality, he had little option (unless he was prepared to yield to Garmin, which was never gonna happen).

Cutting up Farrar looked bad, but in reality had no bearing on the result, as he was well ou of it by then.

Argy bargy and DQs aside, what is interesting is the 'tactic' being employed by the other other teams seem clear doesn't it - break up the train, neutralise Renshaw and going long on the sprint seems to be the only way to beat Cav/HTC Columbia in a flat stage finish.

I agree with your post and with what Renshaw said.
This just proves the amount of racing knowlege on this forum.
Riding a bike, then how can you Head Butt someone, deary me children go back to mummy and cry but do not take up cycle racing until you know something about it.
Garmin clean - Garbage shite, but I pray they get nothing from this outrage.
The UCI suits need some lesson also.