TdF Stage 14 SPOILER

[accountantpete]

The head on view looks like Cav saw Thor and then drifted into his line tbh

But what was Cav doing? looking left then right. Since when did anyone sprinting for the win (or points) start looking left and right to see who is coming?!!!
He messed up

He was trying to win the sprint by going as slow as possible - for his team mates benefit.Which is a great credit to Cav.

 

[montage]

I guess he reckons Astana had lifted the pace too much to chase him down....

.....but it didn't look that way to me....maybe he had talked with Armstrong beforehand and wanted Astana to keep the pace slow...

 

[Paul_L]

yeah i didn't get the Hincapie rant at Astana! Did he really expect Bruyneel / Armstrong / Bertie to strike a deal whereby they would let the chase go without a fight.

And Cav has been shat on from a great height. The aerial shot makes it clear he didn't push Thor into the barrier, the barriers filtered into the road.

I hope they overturn the decision, otherwise the green jersey comp is over.

 

[marinyork]

Just heard what Thor said on Eurosport. Thought this had been some kind of ruling not deliberate fiddling from him and his team. You don't brag on tv about making a complaint and getting points taken off someone, what a jerk. Not impressed.

 

[buggi]

so does this mean that the french will end up hating Cav as much as they hate Armstrong?

i can see that Cav is a brill sprinter but i heard he threw his toys out the pram yesterday (i missed that one) and i don't think he has endeared himself to the other riders.

you can be brilliant and keep your feet on the ground at the same time. he just seems so much more ego that someone like Wiggins and it can rub people up the wrong way, but maybe its a age thing.. he is still a young'un

 

[Flying_Monkey]

On this occasion, I don't think this reflects well on Hushovd. Basically he has been reduced to trying to get Cav disqualified to beat him. I couldn't see much wrong with that from the overhead view (the front-on view is deceptive).

 

[alecstilleyedye]

i can see how hushovd can think he was squeezed, but the overhead footage clearly shows that it's the road that changes, not cav's line.

 

[DanRVV2006]

the cav situation is a tricky one! he is clearly looking left and right to locate where thor is! he may have altered his line slightly if not very little, and i agree the barriers moved more than cav buttt and this is the thing.......CAV knew full well Thor was coming up the inside of him as he had just looked straight at him, and with the road conditions changing Cav should hav allowed room for movement for Thor knowing full well he was going to get squeezed, in my opinion Cav should hav gave a little more room knowing full well Thor was coming up the inside as this could have resulted in a big spill for both of them and others!

 

[Skip Madness]

On this occasion, I don't think this reflects well on Hushovd. Basically he has been reduced to trying to get Cav disqualified to beat him. I couldn't see much wrong with that from the overhead view (the front-on view is deceptive).

I agree. Normally I might dismiss it as him being a bit of a diva in the heat of the moment, but I have lost a lot of respect for him over this combined with his tantrum at Peter Velits yesterday.

 

[Flying_Monkey]

I agree. Normally I might dismiss it as him being a bit of a diva in the heat of the moment, but I have lost a lot of respect for him over this combined with his tantrum at Peter Velits yesterday.

It's a shame, as Thor has been one mu favourite riders for some time...

 

[yello]

so does this mean that the french will end up hating Cav as much as they hate Armstrong?

head ---> wall, head ---> wall

Oh, btw, the race commissioner sounded Dutch to me.

Personally, I do think Cavendish does take Hushovd's line... I didn't think that was a problem though and happens all the time. I didn't think it pushes him towards the barriers though, I just thought it left him nowhere to go. But I'm going to see if I can look at footage again.

I find the Hincapie rant for more interesting. Was he having a go at Astana.... or Garmin?

Astana/Columbia had done a deal to put Hincapie in yellow, Astana to ride a "moderate" pace to not chase down the breakaway but give Hincapie a lead in the GC of less that 2 minutes. However, AG2R decided to defend and Garmin helped. The latter has pissed off Bruyneel, who sees is a revenge action against Columbia and has branded it bullshit/idiocy (depending on how you want to translate 'conneries'!). Aw shucks... that's racing Johan, you can't control everything!

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/fuse-lit-once-again-in-columbias-rivalry-with-garmin

http://www.lequipe.fr/Cyclisme/breves2009/20090718_191757_hincapie-et-astana-rient-jaune.html

Amusing quote from Columbia's Bob Stapleton from the first link, talking of Hincapie...

He’s the most liked cyclist in America and the second most known," Stapleton said

I do like the distinction!

(Aside: so Garmin have got to let someone take yellow because he's a senior figure and the US's favourite cyclist? How weird do these deals get?)

 

[dellzeqq]

http://www.lequipe.fr/Cyclisme/breves2009/20090718_191757_hincapie-et-astana-rient-jaune.html

my french is near to nothing but 'bout de souffle'!!!??? Lumme! All it needs is a concerto for clarinet!

Garmin joining the chase was, in pure racing terms, perverse. There had to be some backstory.

 

[zacklaws]

I'd like to see it again too when I get the time, it will be on the ITV website as every stage is for about 20 days.

But having seen it about three times, and I may be wrong, but looked at in a different light, Cav remains in formation with all the other riders to his left and not moving away from them to his right as you would see a bigger gap appear to his left and the other riders, but off top of my head, it does not happen, which clearly shows he did hold his line and the barrier does come inwards.

But there again it can be argued that his line should also have moved outwards in relation to the barrier, and also having read many times how he studies the end part of a course meticulously and also gets briefed up by his people at the end, maybe he knew before he got there that the barriers came in and would help him by following a certain line that anyone coming up the inside to the right would fall into a trap and be caught out.

Don't I talk crap. (Am I allowed to use that word on a Sunday?)

 

[Bigtwin]

I think it's for TH to deal with the lay out of the road at the end of the stage, not for Cav to actively assist him by moving over; of course he can't deliberately impede, but I can't see that he did. TH was in a bad position with the road narrowing, and that's what caused the problem.

Nor come to that does Cav have to bust a gut to spring for the line.

So all-in-all, TH essentially just got himself boxed in behind Cav and screwd his sprint up. That Dutch or whatever he was lunatic did him a big favour.

 

[Spinney]

Cav interviewed before today's start looked like he was trying to keep himself under control!

But I don't understand why Hincapie (and Cav) say it was unfair that Hincapie didn't get the yellow jersey. They seemed to imply it was owed to him in some way.