Tour de France 2010

[KekeTheKing]

Although I'm not a hardcore Cycling fan by any means, I thought that was seriously sketchy move by Contador yesterday. Especially considering the fact that Alberto didn't even need to take the Yellow Jersey at this point. As long as he was within a couple of minutes of Schleck, which he comfortably was, he could have wiped that out on the final Time Trial Stage with ease.

Contador certainly didn't win any fans with that move, and it will probably be talked about for a long time, even if his winning margin is larger than the time he took off Schleck while he was putting his chain back on.

That was a ballsy descent by Andy though, and the rest of the Tour should be pretty interesting.

@Brogan: I just saw your post when I previewed mine, and from what I gather, you simply don't attack the Yellow Jersey if they run into a mechanical issue. What makes this situation a bit murky is the fact that Schleck went on the attack and experienced his troubles at that point.

 

[Bullfrog]

I watched some highlights and was slightly confused by some of the comments relating to "chain-gate" - see what I did there?

I must confess I still don't understand the issue.
Were all the other riders expected to stop to allow that chap to put his chain back on?

Not exactly, no-one else was really racing Schleck at that point, their nearest challengers were several minutes behind overall (despite being right next to them on the road). In this situation I wouldn't expect a rider to stop and wait or dawdle up the road until the other guy caught up but neither would I expect him to carry on at the kind of pace Contador did, and make no mistake, he cracked on at a pretty furious pace.

Granted, the climb they were on and the stage of the race overall exacerbated the situation but continuing in that fashion when it's just the two of you fighting for the GC win is really not the done thing. There's no rule on it, but it really will be frowned upon by other riders. You could equate it to football, when a player is injured and the ball is kicked out of player to allow someone to receive treatment, it's customary to give the ball back to whoever had it before the injury. It would be frowned upon to take advantage and score a goal (in fact when Overmars did just that against Sheffield United in the FA Cup a few years ago and Arsenal went on to win, Arsene Wenger petitioned the FA to have the game replayed); now imagine someone doing that in the World Cup Final, with about 15 minutes to go.

 

[Brogan]

Thanks guys, that clears it up.

So essentially the guy who sped off didn't comply with the usual etiquette.

 

[Speshal]

It was also annoying for two further reasons: Andy Schleck isn't winning anymore; and we were robbed of a great battle (and possibly a great finish to the tour) by a mechanical gremlin. It's not helped by the fact that I don't like Contador very much. He's getting some stick today for not letting Schleck catch up, although that may be a little harsh on him as it was a bit of a borderline situation.

A bit of a move by Contador but that's racing

All the teams have very similar machinery, and in a crucial difference with F1, they have plenty of it available to them whenever they need it. There are no rules preventing a rider from changing a wheel in the event of a puncture or even the entire bike if there is a serious crash. The riders have always acknowledged that it should be a test of who has the strongest physique and the most endurance, not who has the strongest bike and the best spanners.

I agree but could probably guess that Andy Schleck will now be running a chain guard from now on.....

*Mod Comment* Please either write the swear word and have the filter take care of it or used the censored smiley. Thanks, Fat Jez

 

[Bullfrog]

He was running one yesterday, it was some kind of jam on the front ring rather then a bump in the road causing it to jump off the sprocket. You could see the rear wheel come off the ground when he slows, plus ITV highlights just had a super close up showing the guard.