Le Tour De France 2013 * spoilers possible *

Disgusting.

I finally saw the finish of the stage...
DVR cut it off first time, and I fell asleep watching it the second time

It seemed like a pretty rude move from Cav, but at that speed, it is hard to say.
If you're a fan of Cav, I'm sure benefit of doubt, and if you're a hater.. well throw urine right?

I suppose it is just a racing incident as they say in F1. the judges would have all looked closely, and made the decision.

After watching it some more, I'll give Cav a bit more slack. The rider cost him any chance of a win with his move, he had to do something to try and make a statement to not pull that kind of shit again. I guess when all you are there for is to try for the few sprint finish stage wins, that's a fair retaliation for being taken out of it that close to the end.

BINGO

He knew exactly what he was doing - he KNEW there was a left-hand turn coming up.

That's how I saw it, too. The Argos rider clearly looks at Cav, goes left a bit and then comes right. Not sure if Cav didn't put a little extra on the shoulder, though.

I wouldn't disagree with that but I really thought he was mainly 'bracing for impact' at that point. He could see the guy coming over and he wanted to make sure HE didn't go down.

I was good with MC's move. The guy definitely tried to block him. There is a racing line, they all know it, and he was trying to move into MC's to block when he saw him accelerating, now I have seen it twenty times. They should be throwing turd at the argo guy, because that is what that move was. MC has every right to protect himself and his line. I understand it is gamesmanship, but when you play it hard and lose don't whine about it.

TT was interesting today....Froome is definitely going for it hard. Nice effort by many. Can't wait for the sorting in the Alps....

Guy is pretty much demanding an apology from Cav. Fuck knows what Cav has to apologize for - a shake of the hand, sorry you went down fine, a full-blown apology ? Not a chance....

As for the piss being thrown at Cav, disgusting, totally disgusting. Has nobody told them Cav is not actually English....

Here is my apology: "Don't get in my way again dipshit, hope you are sore enough from the last time to not forget."

Fuckin' A.

I owe you a beer...

Cavendish not ever winning again would be fine with me.

Thankfully....not likely

I saw the replay during this AM's stage. While Cav may have thrown a bit more of a shoulder than necessary, I don't see that he was significantly in the wrong.

The race jury saw it the same way.

For real 'interesting' sprinting, go back and find some Abdujaparov sprints. :eek1

M

Cavendish totally at fault, IMO. Veelers and Kittel completely outmaneuvered him with a totally clean, totally pro move by Veelers, whose movement was insignificant compared to the fact that Cav was already isolated, out of position, on the wrong side of the road, gapped and out of the sprint the moment Greipel jumped.

Veelers looked behind before it was clear that Cav was going right. In fact, he had every reason to think, since the road, Kittel, and Greipel were all going left, that Cav would, too. Because that's where a rider who isn't in the process of totally fucking up the sprint would go. And when Cav hit him, he was moving back to his left already. It should be obvious that Cav would have driven his bike into Veelers's front wheel even if Veelers had held his line. That's a dick move. Bonus: since he was hitting Veelers from behind, he had time to drop his shoulder for good measure.

Robbie McEwen thinks Cav was OK in the sprint? That should tell you all you need to know. You can bet that the next time someone brings Cav down, through bad luck, bad judgement, retaliation, or whatever, Mark will cry like a baby, question the professionalism of the other riders, and insist on relegation for shit riding. That's what he's done in the past, and that's why he's getting away with it now. Cav wants to call this a racing incident? Fine. Then let him keep his whiny mouth shut, for once and forever, when it happens to him.

So, how hard is 3:25 to overcome? One meltdown on a mountain? Does Froome melt down? They said he hasn't all year.

Hard to know, just a few years ago he was way down in the standings, like 86th or so.

Then, claims he had a rare parasite he got in Africa, which slowed him down. :eek1

Sky was going to cut him from the team, then in 2011 he does really well at the Vuelta imagine that!

Now that he beat his parasite, he comes out of nowhere to finish second last year in the
Tour, and now is blowing the doors off everyone. Hmmmmmm.

Color me a skeptic, but I think he juiced. And still does.

Not that you're prejudiced in any way.

Not a fan huh...

Veelers knew exactly what he was doing and HE is the one bitching and crying like a baby because he went down.

Chapeau to Kittel.

no Dutch treat for Cav