Giro Rosa 2014 *Spoilers*

above_the_cows

Art Vandelay wrote:

andyp wrote:

That's racing folks. Abbott hasn't complained publically, as she knows it's part of racing.

If you watch the footage it occurs a multiple times all the way up the final climb. I've never seen anything as blatant as that - corralling not blocking. It's racing of a sort. The only response for Mara would be to make room but she's not exactly got the physique for that.

She did try to make room with her spindly arms at one point but it went on as you say for the whole climb. There's racing and then there's cheap tactics that make you look unsporting.

Stridor

I think my irrational dislike of Marianne Vos has become a teeny tiny bit less irrational.....

dolan_driver

Very disappointing tactics from Rabobank and surprising to see Vos engaging is this kind of bullying. If they had blocked Abbot once or twice on the climb, that would be one thing but to box her in for the entire climb is pathetic. Vos has lost a little bit of her lustre.

Great to see Emma Pooley climbing so well.

DD.

PuttyKnees

A bit disappointing to see, but Abbott was particularly terrible at countering it. A bit of determination and physicality wouldn't have gone amiss.

frenchfighter

Vos and Pooley lead praise for photographer, and women’s cycling advocate CJ Farquharson:
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/vos-and ... arquharson

frenchfighter

DeVlaeminck

andyp wrote:

That's racing folks. Abbott hasn't complained publically, as she knows it's part of racing.

Couldn't disagree more - can you imagine if next year 3-4 Sky riders physically box Quintana in while Froome rides away and then swerve across the rode to stop him getting out ? That is not part of racing at any level.

thomthom

That's very poor show. It really is.

No_Ta_Doctor

DeVlaeminck wrote:

andyp wrote:

That's racing folks. Abbott hasn't complained publically, as she knows it's part of racing.

Couldn't disagree more - can you imagine if next year 3-4 Sky riders physically box Quintana in while Froome rides away and then swerve across the rode to stop him getting out ? That is not part of racing at any level.

Totally agree. There's some dirty stuff that goes on in sprints, and some nastiness that goes on anywhere that gaining a good position is important (how many times have we seen a Belgian rider put a rival into the gutter going up a Flandrian climb?) But completely blocking the road off to stop someone riding? That's shocking. If you saw that in a men's WT race this forum would explode.

Besides which, the rules of racing actually state that you're not allowed to make a sudden movement across or into the path of another rider. this isn't Formula 1, where you're supposed to try and prevent overtaking by hogging the road.

ddraver

Hmmm yes that's pretty poor. Don't fancy Ferrand-Prevot quite so much any more. As DeV says imagine if Sky did it to Nibali whilst Porte attacked tomorrow. Would be declared one of the travesties of the millenium!

fleshtuxedo

Poor commissairing innit, you can't let riders get away with that or it'll happen all the time. Abbott needs to WTFU if it happens again though, make an incident of it...

darkhairedlord

Should have use the old bidon in the spokes trick...

dolan_driver

I'd like to see the Rabo girls try that tactic with Lizzie Armistead. They might not get off so lightly.

DD.

SCR Pedro

FleshTuxedo wrote:

Poor commissairing innit, you can't let riders get away with that or it'll happen all the time. Abbott needs to WTFU if it happens again though, make an incident of it...

Unbelievable! :shock: Shocking commissairing I would say. I think I would have been throwing my bidon at their stupid heads, or going Carlos Barredo (2010) on their asses. They deserve plenty of unluck for such dirty moves.

andyp

The moral outrage of so many on here is wryly amusing.

The under 15s at my local track are taught from a young age to be assertive in holding their position and that pinning an opponent below you is a good way of neutralising their threat. What Ferrand-Prevot and Van Der Breggan do here is on the cusp of illegal, but it's also good tactics. Abbott should definitely have been more assertive but I think she is intimidated by the Rabobank trio.

What is a shame is that this incident is what is needed to get people interested in the Giro Rosa, a race that saw some aggressive and exciting racing where Vos showed, yet again, that she is without equal in the womens' peloton. That the response is moral outrage, combined with schoolboy level sexist claptrap, is annoying. You see illegal behaviour every single day on the Tour, sticky bottles, using team cars to get back on, hand slings etc, and none of you get in a fervour about that. You also see similar aggressive tactics - Boonen putting Boom in a ditch in Het Volk is an obvious example - in men's racing but you don't all wet your pants over that.

RichN95.

What Trentin did today at the Tour for his DQ was a fraction of what those Dutchies did.

adr82

andyp wrote:

The moral outrage of so many on here is wryly amusing.

The under 15s at my local track are taught from a young age to be assertive in holding their position and that pinning an opponent below you is a good way of neutralising their threat. What Ferrand-Prevot and Van Der Breggan do here is on the cusp of illegal, but it's also good tactics. Abbott should definitely have been more assertive but I think she is intimidated by the Rabobank trio.

What is a shame is that this incident is what is needed to get people interested in the Giro Rosa, a race that saw some aggressive and exciting racing where Vos showed, yet again, that she is without equal in the womens' peloton. That the response is moral outrage, combined with schoolboy level sexist claptrap, is annoying. You see illegal behaviour every single day on the Tour, sticky bottles, using team cars to get back on, hand slings etc, and none of you get in a fervour about that. You also see similar aggressive tactics - Boonen putting Boom in a ditch in Het Volk is an obvious example - in men's racing but you don't all wet your pants over that.

Oh get off your high horse. There's an ever so slight difference between "assertively holding your position" on a track and collaborating with a couple of teammates to completely box in another rider for several minutes on the way up a hill. "Sticky bottles", using the cars and hand slings all have the common feature that they don't stop other riders from racing. They might as well have been hanging onto her bloody saddle. If this is something that happens regularly in women's racing then I've got no interest in watching it.

r0bh

andyp wrote:

The moral outrage of so many on here is wryly amusing.

The under 15s at my local track are taught from a young age to be assertive in holding their position and that pinning an opponent below you is a good way of neutralising their threat. What Ferrand-Prevot and Van Der Breggan do here is on the cusp of illegal, but it's also good tactics. Abbott should definitely have been more assertive but I think she is intimidated by the Rabobank trio.

What is a shame is that this incident is what is needed to get people interested in the Giro Rosa, a race that saw some aggressive and exciting racing where Vos showed, yet again, that she is without equal in the womens' peloton. That the response is moral outrage, combined with schoolboy level sexist claptrap, is annoying. You see illegal behaviour every single day on the Tour, sticky bottles, using team cars to get back on, hand slings etc, and none of you get in a fervour about that. You also see similar aggressive tactics - Boonen putting Boom in a ditch in Het Volk is an obvious example - in men's racing but you don't all wet your pants over that.

(1) Being assertive and holding your line is a world away from three team mates kettling an opponent at relatively low speeds up a climb.

(2) I was (and remain) interested in the Giro Rosa due to Emma Pooley's fantastic performances, not this incident.

(3) How you equate any of the debate in this thread with sexism is beyond me; if (say) Nibali and two Astana teammates used the same "tactics" against Porte tomorrow they would be called out just as - probably more - vociferously.

above_the_cows

I didn't notice any "sexist claptrap" in people's condemnation of these tactics. And many of us were interested in the Giro Rosa prior to this (well I was). It's sad that this is what people will now see women's cycling as, but there you go.

This wasn't cycling it was playground bullying.

DeVlaeminck

andyp wrote:

The moral outrage of so many on here is wryly amusing.

The under 15s at my local track are taught from a young age to be assertive in holding their position and that pinning an opponent below you is a good way of neutralising their threat. ...................... That the response is moral outrage, combined with schoolboy level sexist claptrap, is annoying. You see illegal behaviour every single day on the Tour, sticky bottles, using team cars to get back on, hand slings etc, and none of you get in a fervour about that. You also see similar aggressive tactics - Boonen putting Boom in a ditch in Het Volk is an obvious example - in men's racing but you don't all wet your pants over that.

Balls.

frenchfighter

Word.

And Boonen didn't put him im the ditch on purpose. Boom should have braked as he was not winning that battle. Great photo though and subsequent Spec. ad.

Stridor

What concerns me is that there is a self appointed 'afficionado' of Women's cycling who is still defending Rabo's behavior quite vigorously, and appear to be condoning the bullying. I feel that this lack of objectivity (and the assertion that Marianne Vos can never do wrong in anything, ever, Amen) is not healthy for the sport. It's in a sick enough state as it is...

dish_dash

Mara Abbott on the Giro Rosa: http://www.cyclingnews.com/blogs/mara-a ... commitment