Tour of Ireland final stage
Comments
-
Yep, total and absolute cock up.0
-
I said cock up.0
-
SHAMBOLIC.
I believe there was a McQuaid involved somewhere.
Figures.[/b] Dave Van Der Thourenhout. Legend.
http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuse ... apped=true0 -
-
Why?Le Blaireau (1)0
-
The peleton was in a state of confusion after the three leaders lapped them: the organisers tried to come up with solutions, but there appeared to be some indecision on their part about where the peleton's race would finish.0
-
DaveyL wrote:Why?
Do you mean what happened?
It will be on A Question of Sport in a few years.
Basically the final circuit ,9 laps then 10 then 9 etc wasn't long enough so the three leaders lapped the peloton after 2 laps and the commiissaire/judge slowed the peloton to let them through. After that no-one had a clue what was happening.0 -
DaveyL wrote:Why?
Where do you start? The race finished with 9 circuits of Dublin, 2.4 km long. On the 2nd lap, the three-man breakaway caught the rear of the peloton and after that it was just a calamity of errors. Like watching Chucklevision.
No-one knew what to do, so they ended up putting moto-marshalls on the front of the pack, slowing them down and letting the breakaway through to the front. Only one of the Navigators riders wanted to join in, and ended up giving his team-mate (O''Loughlin, in the break) a good tow.
All of the riders were shrugging their shoulders and looking totally confused and not even Phil Liggett knew what was happening. The breakaway was getting tired, but of course the bunch weren't allowed to pass, so spent the end bit of the stage freewheeling 50m behind the 3 up front.
So then the jury said the race for the yellow jersey was neutralized, but what about the points? No-one had a clue. How many laps were left? No-one knew.
In the end, the 3 riders sprinted for the win -- and this is where it gets truly farcical. The yellow jersey is celebrating his win, but half the peloton keeps going, thinking there's a lap to go. They look round, see there's only about 20 riders, and they're all totally baffled. Boassen Hagen wants to race, because Breschel went into the virtual points jersey earlier in the day and his green jersey is at stake. But then the jury neutralize things again and he loses his jersey as a result.
Total shambles.0 -
I'm gutted to have missed the ITV4 highlights now! Sounds truly hilarious
0 -
I saw it but was wondering what they should have done instead once the break caught the peloton. I guess they had to let them through - perhaps a bit more clarity and decisiveness would have helped though. You could say they got what they deserved for letting a 3 man break lap them... Le Blaireau (1)0
-
Three guys on their own can get round a 2.5k circuit a lot quicker than a full peloton.
They only needed a a 2min gap going into the circuit to acheive a catch.
Is Dublin really that small that the organisers couldn't have found a bigger circuit?
Total farce. :roll:0 -
I'm sorry I missed it.
I wonder if Eneco tour are watching? It would add a bit of excitement. :P0 -
I have never seen anything like that before, and have never heard of anything like that before. I was only wondering a few weeks ago what would happen if somehow this was to occur on the Champs-Elysees.
What should have happened is that the breakaway should have stayed at the back of the peleton... like they would on a track. It may be a weird finish (ie the 3 man sprint might be in the middle of the peleton and we wouldn't have a clue), but it would have been the natural solution. Let it be the peletons job to ride so hard that they would have to drop back.
Farcical stuff. Will put off teams for next years event, like it did in last years Tour of Britain when some went the wrong way... (no Predictor, no Unibet, no Quick Step etc)0 -
The Champs-Elysees is a much bigger circuit though, and the teams are much stronger and therefore more able to control a gap. Whatever way you look at it, 2.4 kilometres is just way too small.
I was under the impression that lapped riders in a road race were supposed to be DQed. Is that right? I remember watching the Milan stage of the Giro last year and someone got lapped and was forced to stop.
Of course it would've been even more ludicrous to stop the entire peloton completely, but there seemed to be no rules at all. Surely it's happened somewhere before?!0 -
pity about the totally crazy decisions made by race referees today,ruined what was a grear return of pro racing to ireland after 15 year gap.
i loved waiting by the roadside everyday for a few moments of watching guys lucky enough to experience pro cycling.
roll on next year.
one other thing i got talking to one of the team guys in unibet and they were annoyed by the fact that evey morning they had to travel about 1 hour to stage start, instead of starting it from where it finished the evening before.0
