Tour de France 2024

[Jewbacca]

5 hours ago, Mountain Bru said:

It's when he goes from mashing big watts at high cadence to immediately freewheeling. The cassette basically keeps spinning and "pushes" the chain off the front chaingring causing it to drop. I'm fairly certain I've seen this before in multiple other sprints.  

Don't ruin Betaboy's agenda with common reason....

Jokes aside, it happens a lot. I remember Sagan having to put his chain back on a number of times mid stage after a fierce intermediate sprint.

Many big sprints where the winner has stopped to hug everyone after the win and then almost fallen on his face trying to ride away to the bus as the chain is off and the cranks are just spinning.

But mOToRdOpINg

[JayLow]

Anyone know why the second commentator (who always sounds bored, by the way) seemed to be unhappy about Cav peeling off to the left when he started his sprint? He mentioned something about "changing his line" but I know too little about the rules and intricacies of sprinting to read through the lines and infer any controversy.

Not sure if anyone here also picked up that awkward moment between the commentators?

[Mountain Bru]

39 minutes ago, JayLow said:

Anyone know why the second commentator (who always sounds bored, by the way) seemed to be unhappy about Cav peeling off to the left when he started his sprint? He mentioned something about "changing his line" but I know too little about the rules and intricacies of sprinting to read through the lines and infer any controversy.

Not sure if anyone here also picked up that awkward moment between the commentators?

The rules of sprinting say that once you start your sprint, you have to sprint straight without deviating or changes 'lanes'. (Lanes would be imaginary lines drawn on the road like an athletic track). So technically, Cav swinging from one side of the road to the other, is an illegal movement, and so technically he should be relegated to the back of the group.

But there's also something in the rule about not endangering other riders, and in practice this means that unless you actually cause a crash or cause another rider to have to brake aggressively to avoid a crash, the connoisseurs don't  penalise anyone. Cav swung into open space and didn't directly cause a crash, so even though his movement was against the rules, they won't punish him for it.

So it's a bit of a grey/subjective area which causes chaos sometimes, and obviously the commentators didn't want to open that can of worms right after Cav won.

[shaper]

3 minutes ago, Mountain Bru said:

The rules of sprinting say that once you start your sprint, you have to sprint straight without deviating or changes 'lanes'. (Lanes would be imaginary lines drawn on the road like an athletic track). So technically, Cav swinging from one side of the road to the other, is an illegal movement, and so technically he should be relegated to the back of the group.

But there's also something in the rule about not endangering other riders, and in practice this means that unless you actually cause a crash or cause another rider to have to brake aggressively to avoid a crash, the connoisseurs don't  penalise anyone. Cav swung into open space and didn't directly cause a crash, so even though his movement was against the rules, they won't punish him for it.

So it's a bit of a grey/subjective area which causes chaos sometimes, and obviously the commentators didn't want to open that can of worms right after Cav won.

There are quite a few videos and even post race pundits on Eurosport going into detail of the sprint which shows Cav looking to his left to make sure there were no riders that he would interfere with before switching to the left.  There was plenty of space and a free run, so he switched and I think intelligently as he could see the other sprinters all boxing each other in on the right.  So was not against the rules as he moved into open road.

 

['Dale]

That was only 5 stages thus far. What an intense and exciting Tour de France.

The team on Cannonades earns their first ever day in the maillot jaune. Carapaz crashed hard in the Tour de Suisse and could not get back on the bike for any training, barring one 3 hour ride, in the weeks leading up to the start. How he managed to get into the yellow jersey, quite remarkable.

Project 35 - mission accomplished. The 39 year old from the Isle of Man gets the record milestone, ironically, without a lead out train in the final chaotic moments of Stage 5. His first win was in 2008. Between that first and #35 he struggled with demons as he was in trouble with mood disorders, binge drinking, loneliness. He also had to call teams in the last few years for a seat on the bus at little to no salary in order to keep his professional career alive.

I thought that Epstein-Barr syndrome would have the final say on Cavendish's career as he had to virtually sit out a season to overcome this illness. However, like a zombie he just kept on coming back to chip away at stage wins at the Tour de France.

There are questions about him deviating his racing line, however, my take, it did no pose any threat or danger to others' contesting in the sprint as he was in the clear and was gapping others.

Meanwhile, a Chinese tech company is in discussion with Astana' to build a super team that can compete with the other big budget teams over the next few years. Watch the space.

Pic: @RouleurImages

[Mountain Bru]

Here's the wording of the actual rule:

2.3.036 Sprints
Riders shall be strictly forbidden to deviate from the lane they selected when launching into the sprint and, in so doing, endangering others.

I'm not a lawyer, but that rule seems to be written terribly. I don't think that anyone can contest that Cav deviated from his lane after launching into the sprint, but the "and, in so doing, endangering others" part is the mystery that causes all the debate. Who decides what's an acceptable or unacceptable level of danger in an already inherently dangerous situation? 

 

[waveduke]

How are you supposed to overtake if you are not allowed to "deviate from the lane" ?
 

[shaper]

This shows how much space he had to make his move

Edited July 4 by shaper

[Koos Likkewaan 2]

32 minutes ago, shaper said:

There are quite a few videos and even post race pundits on Eurosport going into detail of the sprint which shows Cav looking to his left to make sure there were no riders that he would interfere with before switching to the left.  There was plenty of space and a free run, so he switched and I think intelligently as he could see the other sprinters all boxing each other in on the right.  So was not against the rules as he moved into open road.

 

Agree.

[Koos Likkewaan 2]

30 minutes ago, Mountain Bru said:

Here's the wording of the actual rule:

2.3.036 Sprints
Riders shall be strictly forbidden to deviate from the lane they selected when launching into the sprint and, in so doing, endangering others.

I'm not a lawyer, but that rule seems to be written terribly. I don't think that anyone can contest that Cav deviated from his lane after launching into the sprint, but the "and, in so doing, endangering others" part is the mystery that causes all the debate. Who decides what's an acceptable or unacceptable level of danger in an already inherently dangerous situation? 

 

I am sure he looked left, picked the line on the left that was open and clear of any other riders, all done at great speed to stay ahead of the pack, and then launched into his sprint on that line, which he stayed on until the finish.😁

[Koos Likkewaan 2]

Just now, Koos Likkewaan 2 said:

I am sure he looked left, picked the line on the left that was open and clear of any other riders, all done at great speed to stay ahead of the pack, and then launched into his sprint on that line, which he stayed on until the finish.😁

Also sure Phillipsen followed him on that exact same line.

[lechatnoir]

11 hours ago, splat said:

Nice show from Ryan Gibbons
Was Jasper a Disaster again ?

https://www.instagram.com/p/C8-AgrWsEu7/

seems that Philipsen's positioning wasn't that great as he seemed to merge in from the right. Cav was positioned a bit better, slipped in in front and managed to thread the gaps more efficiently. By the time Philipsen got through, Cav was gone. The race was over at that point. Good job Cav.

I reckon he'd have gotten to 35 way sooner if it weren't for his early stage crash when the Tour started in the UK and when he tangled with Sagan (when Sags got booted). Better late than never I guess.

[Ispeed_V]

Hope that Mads is okay. 

Looked battered and bruised when he came across the line.

Clearly lost Gibbo's wheel as would of been interesting if Gibbo had not of sat up.

That bunny hop from the Cofidis ridder was insane.

 

[Irvin85]

Brilliant sprint from Cav. I really did not think he still had that kind of Top speed, his experience showed jumping from one wheel to the next to ensure he is following the correct lead out. It was pure class. 

Some Humble pie being served today. I hope he can repeat that, even if it is just for my Fantasy team. 

 

[Mountain Bru]

23 minutes ago, lechatnoir said:

seems that Philipsen's positioning wasn't that great as he seemed to merge in from the right. Cav was positioned a bit better, slipped in in front and managed to thread the gaps more efficiently. By the time Philipsen got through, Cav was gone. The race was over at that point. Good job Cav.

I reckon he'd have gotten to 35 way sooner if it weren't for his early stage crash when the Tour started in the UK and when he tangled with Sagan (when Sags got booted). Better late than never I guess.

I think Phillipsen lost this sprint when MVDP could only do a 3s leadout from 440m to go before pulling off. Alpecin's positioning wasn't good on the run in, and MVDP had to work super hard to bring him up just to get him near the front. There's a point where it opens on the right and MVDP tries to start his leadout into the space, but he barely gets out of the saddle before he has to stop. I think the story would look different if MVDP could have done the kind of leadout he did last year and dropped Jasper off at 200 to go in perfect position. 
On the other hand, Astana did a great job at keeping Cav safe and near the front until the final sprint, but then left him to surf wheels alone.

Leadout Starts:

Leadout Ends:

 

 

Edited July 4 by Mountain Bru

[Chingy182]

So here is my 5c as a weekend warrior and novice in terms of my full understanding and following of the TdF.

I absolutely love the cycling attitude of Pogi. He just loves racing his bike and causing a bit of *** wherever possible like final day in Paris last year doing a solo breakaway.

Honest question I have about Pogi is what are his realistic expectations at the end of his career on TdF stage wins as he already sits on 12? Could he be challenging into the 30's in 6-8 years from now?

Jonas I find a bit boring because he just seems to be a reactive racer and sits behind Pogi and then matches the requirement to avoid any time losses. I don't see him making many big plays.

Carapaz I have nogal grown to dislike ever since that breakaway in 2021/22 somewhere with Pogi, Jonas and himself on one of the many famous climbs, feigning being completely out of breath and struggling to hold wheel of the 2 riders just to avoid any duty up front doing some hard work.

Heard at the end of stage 2 with Remco telling Pogi at the end there "Carapaz wasn't doing any work" when trying to catch up at the finish line.

Thorough entertainment all the way and watching it every year now.

Thanks to all for your daily insights and analysis too after each stage.