Giro Stage 4 - Spoiler Thread

danlikesbikes

Richmond Racer wrote:

TheBigBean wrote:

Way too early to say this, but Wiggins doesn't look good.

I was in a chuffing meeting till the last 3km. Did he look like he was having problems on the climb or something?

TBH only saw a little of him & he looked as OK as he could be for the wet conditions, not blowing or talking to the team or into the radio.

knedlicky

RichN95 wrote:

knedlicky wrote:

Enrico Battaglin, Giovanni Battaglin’s son! Dad must be pleased.
.

He's not his son. He's a "distant relative" whatever that means.

Okay, sorry, my source was wrong.

I just checked now on the Gazzetta dello Sport website, and also on Italian Wikipedia, and both make a point of saying he isn’t Giovanni’s son, his father being called Gianni, and never a professional rider although a great cycling enthusiast.

But Enrico does come from the same town as Giovanni, so probably they are distant relatives to each other, second cousins once-removed or such like.

danlikesbikes

DeadCalm wrote:

From Cyclingnews:
'According to Sky's Dave Brailsford, Wiggins was caught behind a crash and his time may be adjusted.'

Quite a few comments on twitter about him getting stuck, guess we will see Re the time

Richmond Racer

Rob Hatch on Twitter:

'According to Rai, 3 men crashed in final 3km & Wiggo group held up. ST only given to 3 crashed riders tho strangely enough'

and

'On @RaiCiclismo they also confirm that #Giro jury decisions are not able to be appealed'

alihisgreat

What a joke.

Richmond Racer

Should be one rule across all races. How the hell can they give ST to the 3 who crashed but not to everyone held up by them?

hammerite

At this stage it's no big deal though is it? I'm sure Sky aren't too fussed about leading the Giro too early, they probably didn't plan to have to defend a jersey until after the first ITT.... that said Uran could end up in it should Paolini get dropped at some point.

inkyfingers

Something tells me that if that had been Nibali then he wouldn't have been docked time.

Richmond Racer

More than a f^&king joke.

Also total opposite of decision re crash inside the final 3km of St 1

FJS

If times were adjusted it would be fair to apply that to those losing time because of it, but the issue is more - what did Wiggins do so far back anyway? A split caused by a crash could just as well have been a split caused by someone getting dropped. GC favourites need to be at the front for a reason...

TheBigBean

I know nothing of the circumstances and I'm far from being a fan of Wiggins, but there have been a few times where he has got himself caught up in a crash in the closing stages and received the same time even when he was hardly affected by the crash. Personally, I think it is a lesson: play to the whistle / ride to the line. I don't like to see riders slogging their guts out to get across the line and others rolling in and getting the same time when they have hardly been affected.

frenchfighter

Are we going to have 10 pages on Wiggins now?...

Enrico won by a decent distance.

MartinB2444

TheBigBean wrote:

I know nothing of the circumstances and I'm far from being a fan of Wiggins, but there have been a few times where he has got himself caught up in a crash in the closing stages and received the same time even when he was hardly affected by the crash. Personally, I think it is a lesson: play to the whistle / ride to the line. I don't like to see riders slogging their guts out to get across the line and others rolling in and getting the same time when they have hardly been affected.

Have you seen the incident?

deejay

inkyfingers wrote:

Something tells me that if that had been Nibali then he wouldn't have been docked time.

Much the same as the French usually do to protect a French rider.

richa

+1. Did he actually get blocked. Oer see he was 'behind' a crash and ease up. Looks like he lost 17 secs?

danlikesbikes

RichA wrote:

+1. Did he actually get blocked. Oer see he was 'behind' a crash and ease up. Looks like he lost 17 secs?

Did a quick rewind on ES and hard to make out what happened TBH, sure there might be some Youtube stuff up soon though, sure someone will put a link.

inkyfingers

I do think that riders do sometimes take advantage of a crash if they think they can get away with soft pedalling the last couple of KMs.

TheBigBean

MartinB2444 wrote:

Have you seen the incident?

No (I did say this). Just idle speculation which is the point of internet forums, right?

Richmond Racer

Well, we dont know what happened cos it was all off camera.

I'd just prefer it if there was one rule that was applied across the board.

Devon Lad

I can't understand how it could be that the riders that crashed got the same time, if the justifications for not awarding the same time to the riders caught behind it were gaps up the road???

Am I missing something?

knedlicky

Everyone is assuming Wiggins was delayed by the crash, but perhaps the three who crashed (and whose times were adjusted to their benefit) were at the back of the front mini-peloton and Wiggins and others were in a second mini-peloton already several seconds back.
Wiggins and co would then only be affected by a crash ahead of them by having to adjust their line slightly, like everyone did yesterday with two Blancos and a Scarponi down in front of everyone. Milliseconds lost.

Of course I don’t know, and could be wrong, but find it odd the way a few here get all incensed about something, the details of which they don’t know any better either.

MartinB2444

TheBigBean wrote:

MartinB2444 wrote:

Have you seen the incident?

No (I did say this). Just idle speculation which is the point of internet forums, right?

Speculation is great I just genuinely wanted to know.

RichN95.

inkyfingers wrote:

I do think that riders do sometimes take advantage of a crash if they think they can get away with soft pedalling the last couple of KMs.

Wiggins being one of them.
He should have learned his lesson from Oman.

milton50

Wiggins certainly does come across a tad lackadaisical on occasion during a race.

Anyway, the stage was a slightly too long but the racing has been great so far.

frenchfighter

dish_dash wrote:

frenchfighter wrote:

Oh yes, going to get some more Di Luca shots for the album. In fluro too.

Please post when you get them...

frenchfighter

above_the_cows

So I go to a meeting, Wiggins loses the Giro and a small diplomatic incident is brewing.

:P

Love the Giro.

knedlicky

Richmond Racer wrote:

I'd just prefer it if there was one rule that was applied across the board.

Even with one rule across the board, it’s not that simple.
If Wiggins is given the same time as those ahead of him, does he get the same time as Battaglin or the same time as Weening (7 secs ahead of Wiggins, 10 secs behind Battaglin)?
And do the group who were timed at only 4 secs behind Wiggins (which includes up to 65th place) also get given the same time as Wiggins?

Whatever you do, someone will be disadvantaged and someone gain an undeserved advantage.

I’d do away with the rule altogether. A no-rule is easy to apply across the board.

I don’t think the rule once existed, then they made a 1 km cut-off, and then later upped it to 3 km.
If it goes the way claims to terroritial waters evolved, which when they started were only 2 or 3 km, some races will apply a 50 km cut-off before every promoter eventually agrees on 12 kms. :roll:

knedlicky

frenchfighter wrote:

I like it!

frenchfighter

knedlicky wrote:

I’d do away with the rule altogether. A no-rule is easy to apply across the board.

Part of me agrees and says you should be able to win the race from pure talent. But the other part of me says it is just not fair to have a mechanical/crash incident which causes you to lose time as it is not based on talent exclusively.

There is also the issue, and likely the main issue, that if there was no rule there would be more crashes which doesn`t serve the promoters, riders, sponsors or fans well. Reason being: everyone will want to be near the front out of trouble which will cause the pace to go up and more accidents, particularly when it is pure sprinters stage and what they do is dangerous enough. Some riders could have the legs to be top 20 but don`t because of the risk of accident.