Can someone explain the rules regarding sprints

brettjmcc

So, maybe my misunderstanding, but I thought that you had to hold a line and not cross, as it was dangerous.

Reason I ask is that I was watching the 1st week round up last night and on more than one sprint Feillu seems to be mving left and right through the field across the path of other riders. Is this allowed or not just been picked up?

redddraggon

"The guys did a great job, but as usual Romain Feillu - he causes havoc in every sprint," said Cavendish.

cogidubnus

If you are coming from behind I think you can change direction to engineer a route to the front. Its more dangerous if those on the front keep changing course. Though it seems that what ever Cav does is illegal and the others can do as they like

iainf72

My understanding is it's fine as long as you don't put others at risk.

TMR

While we are asking questions about sprints, I don't understand why they all veer all over the road. Surely the fastest way from A to B is in a straight line, so why not ride in a straight line?

The only reason that occurs to me is to confuse those behind you and possibly keep them off your wheel, but I'm probably wrong there.

cogidubnus

I think thats right Mad. They want to get away from those behind so they can't be jumped

ollyridesfirst

I thought they veered across the road to find the best line? ie. avoid pot-holes, bad surface etc???

TMR

OllyRidesFirst wrote:

I thought they veered across the road to find the best line? ie. avoid pot-holes, bad surface etc???

The roads in France are almost perfect. Very few potholes or bad surfaces. I don't think it's that IMHO.

Abdoujaparov

brettjmcc wrote:

So, maybe my misunderstanding, but I thought that you had to hold a line and not cross, as it was dangerous.

Reason I ask is that I was watching the 1st week round up last night and on more than one sprint Feillu seems to be mving left and right through the field across the path of other riders. Is this allowed or not just been picked up?

The UCI rule is:

"Riders shall be strictly forbidden to deviate from the lane they selected when launching into the sprint and, in so doing, endangering others."

So, it's ambiguous on whether endangering others is a necessary condition for an infringement. They probably mean for it to be necessary, but have just written the rule like a complete fool.

Basically, the recurring theme through the UCI rule book is a lack of clarity - they leave as much open to interpretation as possible.

Pross

They have to be allowed some deviation in order to get around slower riders. The line is sort of drawn at any manoeuvre that causes another rider to take avoiding action i.e slowing down or swerving to avoid a collision. One problem is that the finishes tend to funnel slightly due to the grandstand, parking areas etc. so someone might sprint straight based on the central lines whilst getting closer to the barrier as happened in the Cav / Hushovd incident 2 years ago.

brettjmcc

Well apparently Griepel has an issue with Feillu...

Greipel accused Feillu of switching wheels several times in the breathless run-in to Lavaur and showing little consideration for the safety of his fellow sprinters. The German was particularly aggrieved by Feillu’s attempts to latch onto Roedlandt’s wheel in the final kilometre.

"Romain Feillu did a crazy sprint and he just didn’t care," Greipel claimed. "He needs to choose a wheel but he changes wheel every 50 metres. It’s pretty dangerous when somebody in the bunch is going crazy to get the right spot."