Where was the Patron of the Peleton on St 1?

pedro118118

Interesting how Bertie and Sanshez were left floundering behind the crash on St 1, yet none of the influential riders insisted the bunch ease up?

Where was 'Spartacus' et al this year?

The reigning Tour Champ (put the doping/personal issues to one side for a moment) and a serious podium contender suffer extreme bad luck, yet all the other GC riders/teams continue to put the hammer down.

Pretty poor form in my view.

rick_chasey

Probably caught behind the crash too...

RichN95.

pedro118118 wrote:

The reigning Tour Champ (put the doping/personal issues to one side for a moment) and a serious podium contender suffer extreme bad luck, yet all the other GC riders/teams continue to put the hammer down.

And so they damn well should (maybe not attack, but certainly keep on racing as usual). This is a race not a primary school field trip.

Last year they should have all told Cancellara to get stuffed. (I don't blame Cancellara he did what was best for his team, the clever rascal).

Cumulonimbus

Rick Chasey wrote:

Probably caught behind the crash too...

He attacked on the final climb so he wasnt caught behind either crash.

andrewjoseph

pedro118118 wrote:

Interesting how Bertie and Sanshez were left floundering behind the crash on St 1, yet none of the influential riders insisted the bunch ease up?

Where was 'Spartacus' et al this year?

The reigning Tour Champ (put the doping/personal issues to one side for a moment) and a serious podium contender suffer extreme bad luck, yet all the other GC riders/teams continue to put the hammer down.

Pretty poor form in my view.

This is the same 'patron' who attacked andy shleck when his chain came off last year?

it's poor form that contador is riding at all.

pedro118118

andrewjoseph wrote:

pedro118118 wrote:

Interesting how Bertie and Sanshez were left floundering behind the crash on St 1, yet none of the influential riders insisted the bunch ease up?

Where was 'Spartacus' et al this year?

The reigning Tour Champ (put the doping/personal issues to one side for a moment) and a serious podium contender suffer extreme bad luck, yet all the other GC riders/teams continue to put the hammer down.

Pretty poor form in my view.

This is the same 'patron' who attacked andy shleck when his chain came off last year?

it's poor form that contador is riding at all.

I still maintain 'chaingate' was a different kettle of fish - Schleck (the younger) botched a gear shift - it wasn't a mechanical failiure or a crash. My post wasn't necessarily a dig at Fab Canc (although his neutralisation last year was ridiculous), more the other GC contenders. For me, if the likes of Basso, Wiggo, Evans, Schlecks crash later in the race, all bets are off and Bertie/Saxo Bank are well within their rights to drill it.

rick_chasey

They had a chat about this on Dutch TV the other night, with, Boogerd and Kruiswijk weighing in with their opinion. The conclusion? No patron in the current peloton.

mroli

No clear patron at the moment. Responsibility should go to the person in yellow - but 1st stage. Contador rode off Schleck after the chain drop so Schleck ain't gonna stop for him.

Millar (D) has been complaining that no respect for the yellow jersey was shown by the peloton and that Hushovd (and he for Hushovd) has had to fight for his position in the peloton. See his twitter a/c (think it is millarmind or something).

pedro118118

Certainly seems that way (no Patron), which is a shame.

The 'chain' affair from last year was blown out of all proportion............seem to recall Bertie waited for the Schlecks et al after their crashes on the Ardennes stage. Schleck seemed to use it as an excuse - always amazed how useless some bike riders are when it comes to putting a slipped chain or changing wheels etc...

Where do you draw the line between bad luck (wait) and poor decisions (fair game)?

Gingerflash

All this criticism of Cancellara from last year - if the riders objected so much, why did they go along with it? If they had ignored him and carried on racing, there's no way the result would have been neutralised.

Hushovd in particular went along with Cancellara on the bike and whined about it on twitter later. Either stand up to Cancellara on the road or go along with him and shut up.

hammerite

Wasn't last years action as a result of a series of incidents/crashes/bad weather that just happened to involve the Schlecks ? And more a protest at the state of the early stages?

Not just one crash that left the favourite and a few others adrift?

Gazzaputt

pedro118118 wrote:

Interesting how Bertie and Sanshez were left floundering behind the crash on St 1, yet none of the influential riders insisted the bunch ease up?

Where was 'Spartacus' et al this year?

The reigning Tour Champ (put the doping/personal issues to one side for a moment) and a serious podium contender suffer extreme bad luck, yet all the other GC riders/teams continue to put the hammer down.

Pretty poor form in my view.

After last year's 'chaingate' I wouldn't expect them to stop.

pedro118118

Probably best keep it simple then...........a rider suffers any kind of problem (crash, puncture, mechanical), irrespective of circumstance, they are fair game.

Seem to recall Gerrard Vroomen making the point recently that mechanicals are part and parcel of the sport and it is up to riders/teams to minimise the liklihood of problems by chosing the right equiipment.

Or in Andy Schleck's case, learn how to change gear and/or put his chain back on quickly/properly.

smithy21

I may be wrong but my recollection of stage 1 was that the pace was already high and the race was on when the crash happened. All the other big teams had taken their men up to the front with about 20km to go to avoid exactly what happened to AC.

Thats racing- did you expect the whole peloton to stop the other day and wait to see if Brajkovic was going to continue?

dougzz

Maybe Andy should do a spoof apology for it on youtube, that makes up for everything right?

hammerite

I read up last years stage when this incident happened as I couldn't remember properly. It was on the descent of Col de Stockeu, and there'd been a diesel spill or something. Riders were going down left right and centre all individual incidents. Cancellara took the initiative (rightly or wrongly) and agreed a truce on that stage, to minimise danger/protest.

Stage 1 this year was different, it was a bog standard race crash, not a particularly dangerous situation, and no show of protest needed.

Chaingate isn't related to these in any way - that was a one on one racing situation, where Andy should know better!

TheBigBean

hammerite wrote:

I read up last years stage when this incident happened as I couldn't remember properly. It was on the descent of Col de Stockeu, and there'd been a diesel spill or something. Riders were going down left right and centre all individual incidents. Cancellara took the initiative (rightly or wrongly) and agreed a truce on that stage, to minimise danger/protest.

Stage 1 this year was different, it was a bog standard race crash, not a particularly dangerous situation, and no show of protest needed.

Chaingate isn't related to these in any way - that was a one on one racing situation, where Andy should know better!

Agree with this.

I think something like 100 riders fell in that stage last year, and since then every time there is a crash Cancellara is criticised for not trying to stop the race again. He also lost the yellow jersey with his action. It was an exceptional day.

There was some story about two riders, Wiggins and Hincapie maybe, who swerved around numerous fallen riders, made it into the clear, breathed a sigh of relief, then promptly both fell in the middle of the road. They then got back on their bikes and rode off, only to look behind and see a group of 20 riders go down on the same spot they just had. It really was quite different to your average racing day.

ms_tree

There was an interesting interview with Bernie after today's stage about lack of respect in the peloton.
He's also interviewed on Velonews each day - Breakfast with Bernie - which is worth a look.

frenchfighter

andrewjoseph

Who does Hypocrates ride for?

RichN95.

andrewjoseph wrote:

Who does Hypocrates ride for?

I think he's one of the Tour doctors.