TdeF 2017

[Torslanda]

When do we expect the manufacturers to come up with a dedicated, super lightweight hub dynamo so that SuperErgoDeeYihTooEPS won't run out of power . . . ? Or would that fall foul of the UCI's 'mechanical doping'?

Should make them all use Mavic Mechtronic or Zap. That should see a conversion back to cables sharpish!

[Veloman]

Froome looking pretty strong.

Am I mistaken in thinking that there seems to be more gear shifting trouble this year?

Uran had a bent hanger after a collision which caused a problem of misalignment so Mavic Service car just yanked it out and effectively trashed it into the 11 tooth.  Front mech was OK and he changed from 39 to 53 so battery OK.

Froome had gear problems and reason not known (or being divulged).  How many others?

[Mr Larrington]

Didn't Cav have an issue with them on one stage last year?

ETA: I think Pantano had a gear problem yesterday too, and much earlier in the stage than Froome.

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

Interesting comments from Thomas on his crash:

http://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/racing/tour-de-france/geraint-thomas-massively-disappointed-to-crash-out-of-tour-de-france-340724

“I knew something was wrong. Normally, you can just get up and get going again. You just have to accept it.”

Obviously not on what Tyler Hamilton used to take.

[T42]

I note that after the race Aru said he didn't know Froome had an issue. Video evidence suggests he launched his attack from behind Froome as soon as he saw Froome raise his arm and look back for assistance.

Every good story needs a villain.

+1.

You can make the video fit that story but you can't actually see it.

http://sport.francetvinfo.fr/tour-de-france/video-tour-de-france-2017-9e-etape-aru-attaque-froome-au-ralenti

From what I heard on the radio, Aru cut his attack when he heard that CF had problems.  That didn't stop CF trying to shove Aru off the road a bit later on. You don't hear so much about that.

[Mr Larrington]

Can't see the video because of rights, but assuming its the same footage we saw over here, indeed, you can't really be certain of the relative positions of Froome and Aru when Froome put his arm up.  Even Froome said he wasn't sure. Aru's frustration at the neutralisation of his attack was pretty evident a bit later, though.  *** and Super D did comment on Froome's shoulder barge, with a combination of incredulity and wry amusement, but I don't recall anyone asking Froome about it afterwards.

Perhaps a hard-hitting investigative journalist will bring it up during the rest day

[psyclist]

From what I heard on the radio, Aru cut his attack when he heard that CF had problems.  That didn't stop CF trying to shove Aru off the road a bit later on. You don't hear so much about that.

You get a good picture of what happened via the various interviews on the cycling podcast. The protatgonists are trying to downplay both events (the Aru attack, and the Froome 'shove'), but my feeling is that both events happened, given what has been said by those cycling around them at the time.

Aru's denial is compared to the Trump denial of Russian involvement in their elections, and Froome is most probably aware that downplaying the whole situation is better from a media perspective than making something of it, which could quite easily backfire.

[citoyen]

Gosh, imagine how much we'd be talking about Aru's attack if it had actually had any bearing on the outcome of the race.

[Samuel D]

I am tired of people expecting riders to wait for others’ mechanical problems, crashes, toilet breaks, etc. Treating the race as a race would simplify things for everyone.

[Mr Larrington]

If Aru had managed to get away, win the stage and take yellow it'd be on the front page of the Daily Heil as yet another example of how beastly FOREIGNS are and how "we" can't trust them over Brexit

[Ian H]

I am tired of people expecting riders to wait for others’ mechanical problems, crashes, toilet breaks, etc. Treating the race as a race would simplify things for everyone.

Etiquette in pro-cycling has a long reach back into history. 

[Beardy]

Well we can't trust them. Over Brexit. I mean, they don't have our best interest at heart. Which is just wrong, because our best interest are more important than there tiny little insignificant 27 country alliance.



Warning: This post may contain IRONY

[Veloman]

I am tired of people expecting riders to wait for others’ mechanical problems, crashes, toilet breaks, etc. Treating the race as a race would simplify things for everyone.

But it was the riders who made the decision, so if you don't like it then go and complain to the riders!

Or simply stop watching it and go and watch something where 'anything goes'.

Etiquette in pro-cycling has a long reach back into history. 

And an important aspect of the sport which is passed from generation to generation.

[Samuel D]

The history of etiquette in cycling is pretty chequered. Even in epochs and circumstances where there existed a general expectation to stop, it was flaunted often enough to make the trend debatable.

Mechanical problems are extremely common nowadays, with electric derailleurs that can’t be trusted to last a stage, ultra-fast tyres that puncture more often in 200 km of beautiful tarmac than my tyres do in 1000 km of Paris streets, etc.

There should be a cost to these choices of equipment, notionally chosen as they are for marginal gains. Likewise, there should be a cost to falling off on a corner while others don’t, botching a shift, or getting sick. It’s a race! Own your decisions and race.

Waiting is not even good sportsmanship if it’s expected. It is this expectation (especially by the victim, e.g. Froome yesterday) that frustrates the race, not the act of sometimes waiting, which might indeed be good sportsmanship if the expectation didn’t exist.

[spesh]

ITYM "flout", not "flaunt".

Nothing personal, but it's amazing how many times I have seen that word confusion occur across the interwebs.

[Samuel D]

I certainly do! Thanks for pointing that out.

[Pingu]

The use of etiquette seems vary. Quintana wasn't so kind to Tom Dumoulin in the Giro as he was to Froome yesterday.

[pdm]

I suspect that, except for a very few, the crowd that waited were on the rivet at the time and welcomed the respite the respect to Yellow provided!

[T42]

Warning: This post may contain IRONY

Like the one Didier Rous ran into in 2002.

[T42]

I am tired of people expecting riders to wait for others’ mechanical problems, crashes, toilet breaks, etc. Treating the race as a race would simplify things for everyone.

But it was the riders who made the decision, so if you don't like it then go and complain to the riders!

Or simply stop watching it and go and watch something where 'anything goes'.

Etiquette in pro-cycling has a long reach back into history. 

And an important aspect of the sport which is passed from generation to generation.

...and boils down to "sprinters may behave like thugs but climbers are gentlemen". 

[Veloman]

The use of etiquette seems vary. Quintana wasn't so kind to Tom Dumoulin in the Giro as he was to Froome yesterday.

And that is why there was so much rejoicing when Tom beat Nairo.  Perhaps Nairo benefitted from a debrief on what he should/could have done instead of what he did.

[spesh]

Etiquette appears to be whatever the peloton decides it is at the time, and because there are times when rival riders or teams may need to work together for mutual benefit, it is as much a matter of naked self interest as it is altruism. Favours and karma are vital currency, and if you flick others too often, no-body is going to shed any tears if, say, you get caught the wrong side of a cross wind-induced break.

[woollypigs]

withdrawals ...

[rafletcher]

There should be a cost to these choices of equipment,

But who decides what equipment is used? The team, or the sponsor providing said equipment?

[T42]

Remembering the hoo-hah when Jeannie Longo insisted on using her own pedals, I'd guess it'd be determined by the team's contract with the sponsor.

http://www.nytimes.com/1992/06/06/sports/06iht-bike.html

Her next, and bigger, fight involved the federation. Although the French team had a contract to use Look pedals exclusively, Longo insisted that she could not use any but the pedals made for her by the Time company. It was not a question of endorsements, she insisted, noting that she did not receive a fee from Time, but a matter of fit.

Fearing the loss of a major sponsor because she refused to switch pedals, French officials dropped her from the 1991 world championship squad. When she announced that she was considering changing citizenship and riding for Monaco or Luxembourg in the Olympic Games, the federation said that it would not stand in her way. She did not pursue the option, choosing instead to skip the world championships and sue the federation.