TDF 2017: 13 July - Stage 12: Pau - Peyragudes 214.5kms *Spoilers*

blazing_saddles

Ho ho ho, Avondetappe have caught Bardet red handed taking the water.
Showed it in slow motion and ringed and there is no doubt.

r0bh

RichN95 wrote:

Pross wrote:

Pleased to see Uran doing well, I keep seeing a Cannondale rider there at the end and wondering who it is - ridiculous that he isn't the team leader and has no support while Rolland gets a free reign to waste time in doomed breaks.

And Talansky. Where the hell is he?

50 minutes down on GC. Won't be heard of again until the annual "Talansky ready to hit the big time" VeloNews article sometime next spring

Pross

RichN95 wrote:

Pross wrote:

Pleased to see Uran doing well, I keep seeing a Cannondale rider there at the end and wondering who it is - ridiculous that he isn't the team leader and has no support while Rolland gets a free reign to waste time in doomed breaks.

And Talansky. Where the hell is he?

Who?

dolan_driver

Blazing Saddles wrote:

Ho ho ho, Avondetappe have caught Bardet red handed taking the water.
Showed it in slow motion and ringed and there is no doubt.

It will be interesting to see if the same rules apply to all riders or if there are different rules for different riders.........

DD.

RichN95.

Blazing Saddles wrote:

Ho ho ho, Avondetappe have caught Bardet red handed taking the water.
Showed it in slow motion and ringed and there is no doubt.

ITV did too. Commissaires are saying they can't see him drinking from the bottle - ITV footage is clear he did. Most interestingly is that Bardet denies it.

takethehighroad

Polemica! I love it

Francois Thomuzeau would know a water drinker at ten paces. He'd even know the brand of water...

Pross

The safest thing for them to have done would have been to ignore the others, they have to act now. Why is it even a rule anyway? Surely for the health of riders they should be able to take a drink up to the finish line?

onyourright

Urán has been brilliant. Nice to see.

Froome again benefited from his aura of invincibility. If Aru had tested him earlier, his weakness might have been apparent early on, and the stage might have ended up being a free-for-all with Froome losing minutes.

But Aru tested nobody until the end, too fearful of making a fool of himself. And neither did anyone else, except as usual the legless Contador.

Bennett’s 20-second penalty is harsh, but then again, it’s dumb to break this rule. Bardet too. Why risk that for water with a few kilometres of full effort to go? Water is only wetting the mouth at that point. It’s too late for hydration.

tailwindhome

Pross wrote:

Why is it even a rule anyway? Surely for the health of riders they should be able to take a drink up to the finish line?

I imagine it's to keep cars back from the riders at the business end of the race

RichN95.

Pross wrote:

The safest thing for them to have done would have been to ignore the others, they have to act now. Why is it even a rule anyway? Surely for the health of riders they should be able to take a drink up to the finish line?

They don't ban it. You just have to take a penalty. It was the same when Froome took a gel in 2013?, maybe 2015?

dolan_driver

According to JV;

1. Rigo got a bottle from a Cannondale France employee who was there as a spectator and simply handed up the bottle of his own volition. Rigo docked 20 secs.

2. George Bennett received a bottle from a spectator and was seen to drink from the bottle. Bennett docked 20 secs.

3. Romain Bardet received a bottle from the very same spectator as Bennett. The commissaire states that they have not observed him consume water from the bottle. No sanction against Bardet.

If footage of Bardet imbibing from the offending bottle surfaces, the commissaires ain't gonna look good out of all of this.

DD.

onyourright

Pross wrote:

The safest thing for them to have done would have been to ignore the others, they have to act now.

Ha! I predict they don’t act. It’s not even that Bardet is French, just that he won the stage. It’s too late to fix this cleanly, so they’ll just bury their heads in the sand and wait till the storm blows over. Which should take a mere 12 hours, based on past experience. Observers have low expectations of justice in cycling.

RichN95.

Dolan Driver wrote:

According to JV;

1. Rigo got a bottle from a Cannondale France employee who was there as a spectator and simply handed up the bottle of his own volition. Rigo docked 20 secs.

2. George Bennett received a bottle from a spectator and was seen to drink from the bottle. Bennett docked 20 secs.

3. Romain Bardet received a bottle from the very same spectator as Bennett. The commissaire states that they have not observed him consume water from the bottle. No sanction against Bardet.

If footage of Bardet imbibing from the offending bottle surfaces, the commissaires ain't gonna look good out of all of this.

DD.

As I've previously mentioned, ITV showed clear footage of him drinking. The twitter clips cut out before this.

onyourright

RichN95 wrote:

As I've previously mentioned, ITV showed clear footage of him drinking.

Did he swallow?

Pross

RichN95 wrote:

Pross wrote:

The safest thing for them to have done would have been to ignore the others, they have to act now. Why is it even a rule anyway? Surely for the health of riders they should be able to take a drink up to the finish line?

They don't ban it. You just have to take a penalty. It was the same when Froome took a gel in 2013?, maybe 2015?

Yeah, I just don't see any need to penalise it. I assume there's some rationale behind it like not wanting soigneurs getting in the way at a crucial point but otherwise I don't see any logic.

Lanterne_Rogue

Don't believe Bardet drank anything. Inspired by the suggestions here on making the race more interesting, he was merely handicapping himself by adding weight to his bike. Should be awarded bonus seconds for his initiative and dedication to levelling the race, imho.

Pross

OnYourRight wrote:

Pross wrote:

The safest thing for them to have done would have been to ignore the others, they have to act now.

Ha! I predict they don’t act. It’s not even that Bardet is French, just that he won the stage. It’s too late to fix this cleanly, so they’ll just bury their heads in the sand and wait till the storm blows over. Which should take a mere 12 hours, based on past experience. Observers have low expectations of justice in cycling.

I assume he'd keep the stage though, they didn't relegate Uran just docked him time. I'd rather they hadn't dicked anyone as I want a close race. I still thing riders are nuts to take a drink off a stranger at the side of the road though and would throw a fit if I was their DS.

tailwindhome

Sanctions being applied against sportspeople based on input from TV viewers is a very unsatisfactory situation

Pross

TailWindHome wrote:

Sanctions being applied against sportspeople based on input from TV viewers is a very unsatisfactory situation

Wasn't there a golfer DQd recently after someone grassed him up for playing a ball from the wrong position or something?

RichN95.

TailWindHome wrote:

Sanctions being applied against sportspeople based on input from TV viewers is a very unsatisfactory situation

A lot of me agrees with that. But when one person gets a penalty for taking water from a man and another doesn't for taking water from the same man, it's clearly unfair.

RichN95.

Pross wrote:

TailWindHome wrote:

Sanctions being applied against sportspeople based on input from TV viewers is a very unsatisfactory situation

Wasn't there a golfer DQd recently after someone grassed him up for playing a ball from the wrong position or something?

Yes , but golfers are a-holes though.

bobmcstuff

RichN95 wrote:

TailWindHome wrote:

Sanctions being applied against sportspeople based on input from TV viewers is a very unsatisfactory situation

A lot of me agrees with that. But when one person gets a penalty for taking water from a man and another doesn't for taking water from the same man, it's clearly unfair.

It's BS.

above_the_cows

Did their parents never tell them not to accept sweets from strangers?

RichN95.

Above The Cows wrote:

Did their parents never tell them not to accept sweets from strangers?

Charley says never take things from strangers (unless you are dehydrated at a Prodigy rave)

above_the_cows

RichN95 wrote:

Above The Cows wrote:

Did their parents never tell them not to accept sweets from strangers?

Charley says never take things from strangers (unless you are dehydrated at a Prodigy rave)

That actually looks a bit like a chubby version of the French Exchange Student - only because I have no idea what George Bennett actually looks like and am only now convinced he actually exists because of this time penalty thing. Even his wee attack in the last 1k was not enough to convince me my eyes were not conjuring a phantom.

Obviously it's not Uran as the dude in the picture looks under 50.

wombly_knees

Pross wrote:

TailWindHome wrote:

Sanctions being applied against sportspeople based on input from TV viewers is a very unsatisfactory situation

Wasn't there a golfer DQd recently after someone grassed him up for playing a ball from the wrong position or something?

Lexi Thompson. Got a two stroke penalty for a wrongly placed ball (and it was clearly wrong, not to mention quite likely deliberate and a foot away from the hole). Then a further two stroke penalty for signing the wrong scorecard.

Harrington did the same four or five years ago, but the penalty for signing the wrong scorecard then was disqualification.

My opinion is that it would be remiss if there was footage of rules being flouted and nothing happening regardless of who points it out. Not to mention, I would like to see Bardet penalised for the laughs.

FocusZing

DeVlaeminck

Anyone got a link to a clip of Bardet drinking?

FocusZing

https://twitter.com/julienpretotRTR/sta ... 3363248128
Not actually drinking, but judging by the angle of the bottle to his head?

DeVlaeminck

I've seen one from the back on youtube, yours is more suggestive that he is drinking but possibly enough room for doubt. Unless there is something more conclusive I'd say he's dodged a bullet.