Author Topic: TdF 2011 general discussion thread - likely to contain spoilers  (Read 80358 times)

After all that effort, Cav and Thor have been DQ'd from the intermediate sprint. It looks like an odd decision to me.

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Mark Cavendish (HTC-Highroad) and Thor Hushovd (Garmin-Cervelo) have both been disqualified from the intermediate sprint on stage 3 of the Tour de France after making contact in the mid-race points classification battle.

Cavendish had crossed the line in sixth, leading the bunch over the line behind a break of five riders. However, the race commissars deemed both his and Hushovd’s actions inappropriate.

Cavendish, Hushovd Relegated In Tour De France Sprint | Cyclingnews.com

After previous disqualifications (both for himself and Renshaw) you might forgive him for feeling picked on.  A couple of tweets (that's not referring to him and Thor):

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Just discovered Thor & I have been disqualified from the intermediate sprint today. Seriously no idea why?!

Just heard that Thor's offered to take the punishment solely. What a true gentleman. I reckon it won't change fuck-all though. But thank you


Re: TdF 2011 general discussion thread - likely to contain spoilers
« Reply #1 on: 04 July, 2011, 09:15:04 pm »
The commissars were clearly feeling a bit bored and in need of attention again. Thor cuts in on Cav a little bit, so Cav leans on him a little bit. Just your usual rough and tumble sprint. Load of bollocks.

Oh! Did anything happen to the guy who nearly took Cav out on the final bend?! I only saw it briefly so would need another look to see who (if anyone) was at fault...
Those wonderful norks are never far from my thoughts, oh yeah!

Re: TdF 2011 general discussion thread - likely to contain spoilers
« Reply #2 on: 04 July, 2011, 09:19:50 pm »
According to the man himself:

"NOT HAPPY! We came up a bit short so I tried to let some riders in @ 2km. Last corner tangled with Rojas & Feillu. Lost 30m. Salvaged 5th."

Re: TdF 2011 general discussion thread - likely to contain spoilers
« Reply #3 on: 04 July, 2011, 10:09:17 pm »
If Cav hadn't tried to defend his position against (oh alright, headbutted) Hushovd you know the commisaires wouldn't have just relegated Hushovd on his own and he would've just been allowed to push Cavendish out of the line.

Probably only docked points off the Norwegian, knowing he's not going for the green jersey anyway,  to appease Cavendish.




Re: TdF 2011 general discussion thread - likely to contain spoilers
« Reply #4 on: 04 July, 2011, 10:23:45 pm »
Perhaps Feillu should have been docked his points.......
...........sorry I forgot he's FRENCH  :facepalm:

Re: TdF 2011 general discussion thread - likely to contain spoilers
« Reply #5 on: 05 July, 2011, 12:15:11 am »
I filmed a stage of the Tour of Britain in 2007, because it passed the bottom of our road.
There was a sprint on a little hill that I rode up today, where Cavendish won, he was riding for T Mobile then. The finish was uphill in Kendal and Cavendish came second to a Russian rider called Serov, behind him was Feillu, who went on to win the points competition. Thomas was riding for Barloworld back then. So Cavendish has a history of at least four years with Feillu, who's a good rider himself. Cavendish is fairly poor on an uphill finish.

Re: TdF 2011 general discussion thread - likely to contain spoilers
« Reply #6 on: 05 July, 2011, 07:18:17 am »
Perhaps Feillu should have been docked his points.......
...........sorry I forgot he's FRENCH  :facepalm:

+1^

The lady that was with Cav at the end when he was giving his interview to those many microphones - was she a HTC media person?  Is his 'image' being more managed nowadays to stop the outbursts of previous years?  He was quite restrained about Feillu but his voice cracked and you could tell he was getting emotional.


fuzzy

Re: TdF 2011 general discussion thread - likely to contain spoilers
« Reply #7 on: 05 July, 2011, 09:45:52 am »
Bored, Clueless Commisars.

More dangerous to Cav as a sprinter than Feillu will ever be.

David Martin

  • Thats Dr Oi You thankyouverymuch
Re: TdF 2011 general discussion thread - likely to contain spoilers
« Reply #8 on: 05 July, 2011, 09:52:32 am »
That was hardly an infraction at all.. if anything it was Hushovds fault. Pathetic nannying by the commissaires.

..d
"By creating we think. By living we learn" - Patrick Geddes

Re: TdF 2011 general discussion thread - likely to contain spoilers
« Reply #9 on: 05 July, 2011, 10:09:05 am »
When the commie was interviewed, he implied they would have dq'd Thor only if Cav hadn't reacted. But seeing as he did, they decided to dq him too.

He could have been talking out of his arse though...
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Mr Larrington

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Re: TdF 2011 general discussion thread - likely to contain spoilers
« Reply #10 on: 05 July, 2011, 10:25:20 am »
Utter bollocks decision.  Thor shrugged it off when interviewed and Cav didn't even mention it.  If either of them had thought there was anything dodgy about it they'd have gone all mardy.
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Re: TdF 2011 general discussion thread - likely to contain spoilers
« Reply #11 on: 05 July, 2011, 10:50:45 am »
When the commie was interviewed, he implied they would have dq'd Thor only if Cav hadn't reacted. But seeing as he did, they decided to dq him too.

He could have been talking out of his arse though...

So Cav's screwed either way then, because if he doesn't defend his position when another rider impedes him, he potentially loses a bucketful of points, and if he defends his position, he's guaranteed to lose a bucketful of points via the race commissars.  :-\
"He who fights monsters should see to it that he himself does not become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." ~ Freidrich Neitzsche

Re: TdF 2011 general discussion thread - likely to contain spoilers
« Reply #12 on: 05 July, 2011, 11:02:26 am »
Obviously a transgression I missed - why has Amador of the moviestar team got -5 points in the classification?

What did he do and why did they fine him green jersey points and not give him a time penalty?
“There is no point in using the word 'impossible' to describe something that has clearly happened.”
― Douglas Adams

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: TdF 2011 general discussion thread - likely to contain spoilers
« Reply #13 on: 05 July, 2011, 11:36:11 am »
He got a five point deduction and a 10 second time penalty for drafting the team car. Seems a bit harsh. He crashed twice on the stage and was injured badly enough that he had to go to hospital for X-rays later. Apparently, he could barely walk the next morning but still turned up to ride because he didn't think it would be the done thing to quit after just one stage.

Chapeau to him, I say.

Barredo got a 20 second penalty for the same offence but wasn't docked any points.

d.
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: TdF 2011 general discussion thread - likely to contain spoilers
« Reply #14 on: 05 July, 2011, 11:37:58 am »
Perhaps Feillu should have been docked his points.......
...........sorry I forgot he's FRENCH  :facepalm:

I find it amusing that David Harmon's pronunciation of Feillu is closer to "Failure" than anything else.

d.
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

Re: TdF 2011 general discussion thread - likely to contain spoilers
« Reply #15 on: 05 July, 2011, 11:40:49 am »
Ta for that Citoyen.  :thumbsup:
“There is no point in using the word 'impossible' to describe something that has clearly happened.”
― Douglas Adams

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: TdF 2011 general discussion thread - likely to contain spoilers
« Reply #16 on: 05 July, 2011, 11:45:35 am »
I had to look up Amador yesterday after seeing his quote about riding despite not being able to walk on the official tdf site. Quite an unlucky chap, by all accounts. He's only just come back from a collarbone break that ruled him out of the Giro, and apparently he was beaten unconscious by local thugs while on a training ride at home in Costa Rica late last year.

d.
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

Re: TdF 2011 general discussion thread - likely to contain spoilers
« Reply #17 on: 05 July, 2011, 12:41:53 pm »
Armador is still 15 minutes up on the lanterne rouge.  After a fall on the opening stage, Vincent Jerome came last in Stages 1 and 3 (strange, can't find the individual results from the TTT) and is now over 19 minutes down.  For some, Paris must seem a lot further away than for others.

Re: TdF 2011 general discussion thread - likely to contain spoilers
« Reply #18 on: 05 July, 2011, 01:38:44 pm »
Thor apparently asked for Cavendish not to be punished which is nice.

Re: TdF 2011 general discussion thread - likely to contain spoilers
« Reply #19 on: 05 July, 2011, 01:39:53 pm »
Just seen this tweet from Cav:

Just heard that Thor's offered to take the punishment solely. What a true gentleman. I reckon it won't change fuck-all though. But thank you

Nice one Thor !

edit: cross posted with kcass.
I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that.

Rig of Jarkness

  • An Englishman abroad
Re: TdF 2011 general discussion thread - likely to contain spoilers
« Reply #20 on: 05 July, 2011, 01:44:39 pm »
Nice one Thor !

Especially after some of the spats that he and Cav have had in the past.  Chapeau !
Aero but not dynamic

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: TdF 2011 general discussion thread - likely to contain spoilers
« Reply #21 on: 05 July, 2011, 01:48:58 pm »
Lovely comment from Harmon just now:
"They're not the quickest calculators, the Schlecks."

 ;D

d.
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

Re: TdF 2011 general discussion thread - likely to contain spoilers
« Reply #22 on: 05 July, 2011, 02:05:29 pm »
The TDF web site is rubbish. No race analysis or news of the penalties or why they were given at all.
I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that.

fuzzy

Re: TdF 2011 general discussion thread - likely to contain spoilers
« Reply #23 on: 05 July, 2011, 02:21:58 pm »
The TDF web site is rubbish. No race analysis or news of the penalties or why they were given at all.

+1

Not a user friendly site at all.

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: TdF 2011 general discussion thread - likely to contain spoilers
« Reply #24 on: 05 July, 2011, 02:22:33 pm »
I found the Amador info on Velonews.com - they do a nice daily report on each stage, with details of who crashed and any jury decisions.

Tour de France - Le Tour de France news, photos and race results
 - VeloNews


Edit: Andrew Hood's Tour Notebook is the bit you need:

2011 Tour de France, stage 1: Andrew Hood’s Tour Notebook
Tour de France Notebook, stage 3: Van Garderen learning ropes; 4th of July first; RadioShack sitting pretty

d.
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."