• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Tour de France 2017 |OT|

I agree that Demare was dangerous also but the difference between him and Sagan was that he actually had a gap to move through, Sagan's 'gap' was full of Mark Cavendish.
 
Baffled by people trying to blame Cav for this. DQ was harsh but it was definitely dirty from Sagan, even without the elbow he just squeezed Cav into the barriers.

They were moving with the group and Cav tried to squeeze it more. To me it looks like Cav just totally miss judged his space and came right up on Sagan's arm

Good decision. This kind of scummy behavior that jeopardizes the health of other cyclists cannot be tolerated. The points/seconds penalization was a joke.

Have you ever watched a final sprint before? This kind of stuff is totally common and lots of guys try and shoot those inside lines along the barriers.
 
I agree that Demare was dangerous also but the difference between him and Sagan was that he actually had a gap to move through, Sagan's 'gap' was full of Mark Cavendish.

More like Cav's gap was full of Sagan. I'm of the opinion that the guy at the back has more responsibility because he's the only one who knows fully where he's sticking his front wheel. And Cav was almost fully behind Sagan at the start of the Demare slalom extravaganza.
 
More like Cav's gap was full of Sagan. I'm of the opinion that the guy at the back has more responsibility because he's the only one who knows fully where he's sticking his front wheel. And Cav was almost fully behind Sagan at the start of the Demare slalom extravaganza.

Well I'm afraid your opinion is dead wrong, that's not how it works. That's not even how it works outside of cycling. You cut in front of someone moving at speed and cause a crash, that's your fault. We can debate about whether it was a DQ offence and exactly how bad it was compared to other incidents, including in the same sprint, but there is absolutely no doubt about who is to blame for the crash,
 
Well I'm afraid your opinion is dead wrong, that's not how it works. That's not even how it works outside of cycling. You cut in front of someone moving at speed and cause a crash, that's your fault. We can debate about whether it was a DQ offence and exactly how bad it was compared to other incidents, including in the same sprint, but there is absolutely no doubt about who is to blame for the crash,

If you watch it slowed down, both of them are following Demare. When Demare stops moving right (our left) Sagan has the line right behind him and Cav is at angle. When Demare once again swings the opposite direction Cav tries to adjust but Sagan is right there.

I think this is more on Demare than anyone else. He moved all the way one direction then all the way back.
 
I think after watching this enough I'm in the camp of, it was a calamity of errors. Cav taking that inside line, Cav & Sagan following Demare and Demare zig zagging all over the course.
 
If you watch it slowed down, both of them are following Demare. When Demare stops moving right (our left) Sagan has the line right behind him and Cav is at angle. When Demare once again swings the opposite direction Cav tries to adjust but Sagan is right there.

Respectfully, I disagree. Cav had Demare's wheel Sagan was tow paces inside, Demare moved inside, Sagan headed for his old line, not his wheel, didn't see that Cav was already there,
 
If you watch the over head shot - the space did open up for Cav to go into, it was a risky move - but it did open up.

I still can't make up my mind though, it looks like demare causes the whole thing. Nacer had to break as he cuts across. Sagan has to rebalance and uses his elbows - which were big elbows and pushes cav up onto the barrier.

I think it is the secondary elbow that has got him punished, he obviously felt cav and he (unintentionally) sticks out his elbow again and it seems pushes Cav up onto the barriers. Seems more like natural reactions than any malice but the force of those reactions did cause a big crash. Optics i guess. But at full speed it doesn;t look good at all.

Think the original penalty was sufficient. Be interesting to hear why it was changed.
 

Fonds

Member
Pretty much all involved riders say that a DQ is too harsh after viewing all of the angles.
Even Greipel came back from his previous statements.
You guys should all watch that forward slomo once more and then tell me that Sagan deliberately elbowed Cav with 100% certainty (which a DQ should merit).
 
I don't think he should have been DQ'd. I don't think its an outrageous decision but it does seem very harsh. I do think he should have been punished though.
 
Someone put it well: UCI is punishing consequences and not actions. Which means that if Cav hits the brakes there's not punishment for anyone and probably not even a discussion beyond the normal banalities.
 
I really don't think that Cav hitting the breaks would have made any difference whatsoever. However, the thing about consequences is correct though. That's life I guess. You can do all manner of fucked-up things but if no-one else gets hurt you'll most likely be OK.
 

tba

Member
Pretty much all involved riders say that a DQ is too harsh after viewing all of the angles.
Even Greipel came back from his previous statements.
I think they feel threatened now. With this decision it looks like UCI/ASO wanted to show that now everyone can be disqualified. For as long as I remember top sprinters were untouchables. Nothing would stop them on their way to the glorious finish in Paris.
I do not know if this is a new policy or just a one-time show-off. One should not forget that the same people who punished Sagan, last year saved Froom on Ventoux.
 
Now the Germans have a real shot at the Green.

By the way, to me this looks like Cav was trying to push Sagan out of his line when he semi-interrupted him. Unfortunately for him, Sagan is built like a bull. I'm guessing he then ricocheted, lost his balance, hit Sagan again and he responded by putting his arm out (while Mark was already going down).
19702053_2129679947058923_2465779674590029675_n.jpg

Overall sad news, the two most exciting sprinters in the peloton out of the most boring Grand Tour.
 

Addnan

Member
The hate for Cav in all the different places would make you think he's the person that decide to get Sagan disqualified.
 

Joni

Member
It is victim blaming. He is out by the way, broken shoulder.

When you're boldering onwards at 65kph with nothing but muscle power, you tend become a bit less aware of your surroundings and your ability to correct yourself becomes a tad worse.

It is why they force them to stay on the line, and certainly don't expect them to use their elbows.

Safety and mass bicycle sprints don't go together, at all. They're all taking a gigantic risk just by doing it.

Most of them go just fine. It would probably be better if the GC riders just went to the back of the peloton in the last 3 kilometers but they weren't even here this time and this happened.

did this seriously happen? cav of all people got sagan dq?

fuck the tour

Yeah, turns out they don't look kindly on explicitly causing big crashes.
 

Fonds

Member
Well I guess some people won't be swayed in their views. We'll just have to wait and see if Bora's appeal will change the situation.

However you want to look at yesterday's incident, in the end it's the Tour that loses.
If Froome manages to take the yellow today, it'll be a snooze fest all the way to the Champs Elysees.
 

Joni

Member
If Froome manages to take the yellow today, it'll be a snooze fest all the way to the Champs Elysees.

That was going to be a problem either way. Sagan isn't that entertaining that he is going to spice up the mountain stages and he doesn't look as fast as the real sprinters anymore. At least this makes the fight for the green jersey more exciting again.
 

Fonds

Member
That was going to be a problem either way. Sagan isn't that entertaining that he is going to spice up the mountain stages and he doesn't look as fast as the real sprinters anymore. At least this makes the fight for the green jersey more exciting again.

Outside of Sagan, watching Cav have a go at Merckx his stage win record would've been entertaining.
Plus I'd rather watch the fight for the green be had between the top contenders instead of a watered down group.

The remark about Froome was not made in relation to the DQ. Sagan never made a chance there indeed.
I'm hoping for some unforeseen circumstances to spice things up in the GC battle.
 

Joni

Member
The fight for green can't be entertaining with Sagan in there. He just takes way more points in the mountain stages by going over the first mountain. He had a 200 point lead last year. In 2015 Greipel won 4 stages and still came up more than 60 points behind Sagan. Now you'll have Kittel versus Greipel versus Demare which will be a lot closer.
 

Fonds

Member
If you feel that watching that fight play out is more entertaining, that's fine.
In my opinion Sagan is the more all-round rider, being able to take points in more varied situations.
Kittel, Greipel and Demare can fight it out in the last 500m, but to me that isn't more entertaining.
 

Fonds

Member
Not sure why watching Froome win easily should be boring but watching Sagan do the same thing is exciting

In my view it is mostly about the field of contenders being narrowed down, rather than favorites having an easy ride.

A larger group of sprinters is more exciting, as is a larger group of GC contenders.
 
Now the Germans have a real shot at the Green.

By the way, to me this looks like Cav was trying to push Sagan out of his line when he semi-interrupted him. Unfortunately for him, Sagan is built like a bull. I'm guessing he then ricocheted, lost his balance, hit Sagan again and he responded by putting his arm out (while Mark was already going down).


Overall sad news, the two most exciting sprinters in the peloton out of the most boring Grand Tour.

You can't really take single shots in any sort of context at all. The problem with them is that they miss that when people sprint, they effectively become a pendulum. The bike and rider move from side to side.
 
Not sure why watching Froome win easily should be boring but watching Sagan do the same thing is exciting

Sky train going up a hill at threshold vs. solo antics of Sagan.

Although to Froome's credit he found a new side of his cycling self last year and was way better like that. Even though Sky the team is the worst thing to happen to the TdF since, well, Lance.
 

Joni

Member
Proper harsh to DQ Sagan, I wonder what the penalty would have been if it had been the other way round.......

Cavendish taking out Sagan? DQ. If you dare to DQ Sagan, then you probably would DQ anyone not named Froome.
It probably wouldn't have taken 2 hours if it wasn't Sagan.
 
Sky train going up a hill at threshold vs. solo antics of Sagan.

Although to Froome's credit he found a new side of his cycling self last year and was way better like that. Even though Sky the team is the worst thing to happen to the TdF since, well, Lance.

To be fair to sky they have in other races spiced up their racing over the last year, quite a fair few attacks and taking the race by the scruff of the neck. Whether they do that for the tour i don't know, but i think Movistar as made sky think we need plan b or c, whereas a few years a go all they had to do was threshold it up hills. BMC are getting stronger too in the team department.
 
Sky have a tactic that works, they aren't going to abandon it. I'm a big fan of Froome but I'll be the first to admit that watching Sky dominate the Tour year in, year out is boring as fuck. I want him to win but I want him to win on the back of MTF duel. However, unless the other teams bring it, that won't happen. Sky/Froome did pull off some brilliant moves last year though tbf, even if they weren't classic mountain duels.

It already looks pretty ominous with Froome 30 seconds ahead and only a handful of MTFs in the parcours. The other teams need to attack him today OR they need to work out a way of attacking on flatter stages.
 
Wow what a stage to miss. Gonna have to watch the incident.

I really don't find the Tour boring. I prefer the Giro as the courses tend to be better and more challenging.

Sky are the team to beat, but clever riding can still produce a winner.

I am still confident that Aru can win and will keep watching to see what he does all the way till the final stage.
 
Eurosport did a fairly decent piece on the accident. They see that Demare actions caused both sagan and Bouhanni to take evasive actions which end up collecting Cav who was in a tight spot. Which i tend to agree with the more i see it.

In a way Sagan could have avoided it all, they picked up a shoulder barge/coming together between him and bouhanni which causes Sagan to move across to the line he ended up taking.
 
Looking at the incident.

Seems harsh to DQ him. I am amazed that 95% of sprints don;t end with crashes.

Just a shame for the tour that is has lost three of its most exciting riders.

I am now down to 7 riders in my velogames teams lol. Pls don't let Aru get hurt.
 

Faddy

Banned
The hate for Cav in all the different places would make you think he's the person that decide to get Sagan disqualified.

Well the jury came to one decision where Sagan was demoted but stayed in the Tour, then Cav's team complained about the lenient punishment and Sagan was thrown off the tour.
 

Joni

Member
Well the jury came to one decision where Sagan was demoted but stayed in the Tour, then Cav's team complained about the lenient punishment and Sagan was thrown off the tour.

How else to react when you lose your lead guy?
 

LayLa

Member
Well the jury came to one decision where Sagan was demoted but stayed in the Tour, then Cav's team complained about the lenient punishment and Sagan was thrown off the tour.

According to the Eurosport commentators this isn't true, they say that Cav's team tried to lodge a complaint twice but were turned away by the jury.
 

Joni

Member
You don't even need a complaint to get kicked from the Tour. Renshaw was kicked out a couple of years ago without the victim complaining.
 
Top Bottom