2013 TdF Stage 18 Gap-Alpe d'Huez. FroomDog Penalised

corvusxiii
corvusxiii Posts: 26
edited January 2015 in Pro race
Ok ok it's taken a while for this to sink in but Chris Froome was penalised 20 seconds for taking food from the support car. via Ritchie Porte, in the last 5km of this stage. but what is the purpose of this rule? what does it discourage/ encurage? I'm struggling to to think of a justification for it. Cheers

Comments

  • The_Boy
    The_Boy Posts: 3,099
    IIRC, it's to stop team cars getting involved at the business end of the stage for safety reasons- they get in the way. Unless, of course, the race conditions are severe in which case race organisers can waive the rule - severe heat for example.

    Not really a major infraction, and if it hadn't been the yellow jersey and if they hadn't obviously been bonking then it wouldn't have been such a deal. No biggie.
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  • corvusxiii
    corvusxiii Posts: 26
    Now that's what I thought but the support car was there anyway. But is this a rubbish rule when they penalise a desperate rider for taking on food in order discourage support cars from interfering when the car was there anyway? Odd.
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,586
    corvusxiii wrote:
    Now that's what I thought but the support car was there anyway. But is this a rubbish rule when they penalise a desperate rider for taking on food in order discourage support cars from interfering when the car was there anyway? Odd.

    Only affects riders who care about GC, which is very few of them.

    When people are racing for time and GC, you don't really want cars to be interfering - magic bottles, drafting and the like.

    Also helps to penalise riders who don't plan properly. Is not hard to carry a few extra gels.
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  • corvusxiii
    corvusxiii Posts: 26
    So it's not so much that the support car is there as much as the it played a part in the race. The car can be there so long as it doesn't provide any help. Sort of makes sense, ish. BTW do i remember something about a non Sky car breaking down in such a place that blocked other support cars and that was why Froome was short of food? Might have made this up but if true it would be a horrble way for a rider to lose time. All good stuff though.
  • ddraver
    ddraver Posts: 26,388
    The rule applies to every stage. It's a lot more obvious when you think of a hectic sprint stage rather than a (relatively) quiet mountain stage.

    I think given what happened to the team car etc it was a very politically chosen penalty....
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  • DeVlaeminck
    DeVlaeminck Posts: 8,736
    corvusxiii wrote:
    So it's not so much that the support car is there as much as the it played a part in the race. The car can be there so long as it doesn't provide any help. Sort of makes sense, ish. BTW do i remember something about a non Sky car breaking down in such a place that blocked other support cars and that was why Froome was short of food? Might have made this up but if true it would be a horrble way for a rider to lose time. All good stuff though.

    I thought it was a problem with a Sky Jaguar rather than one of their cars being blocked by another - not certain on that but there was some issue with a Sky car and I thought it was t h at.
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  • Dorset_Boy
    Dorset_Boy Posts: 6,918
    I think the Sky car had a water leak from a fridge / cool box which interferred with the electrics meaning Froome couldn't refuel in the valley before the final ascent.

    That said, carrying one emergency gel wouldn't affect performance on that type of stage - problem might not have occurred then.
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 40,479
    Did Froome get penalised? I didn't think he did as it was Porte who took the feed and didn't think there was a rule permitting someone else to be penalised for benefitting from an illegal feed. I thought it was Porte who got penalised together with a fine for the team but my memory is terrible.
  • durhamwasp
    durhamwasp Posts: 1,247
    Read a rumour that some French fans chucked a bucket of water into the car on the first ascent...
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  • ic.
    ic. Posts: 769
    One of the Team Sky guys tried to get ahead of himself the night before by loading the cool boxes in the cars with the first load of ice, as they were predicting a hot day. More ice went in the next morning but the first lot was already melting, which got worse through the day. The water then leaked into the car electricals and stopped it in the valley between the 2 runs up the Alp. The first the riders knew as when Peter K went back to the car to for a feed for RP and CF and found it wasn't there.
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  • tailwindhome
    tailwindhome Posts: 18,931
    Ah Jeez. Will you have sense and stick a spoiler warning on the title.
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