Tour de France 2016 **SPOILERS**

[ManiaMuse]

The moto into which Porte crashed was itself held up by two or three other motorbikes in front of it. WTF do they need so many of them on the race for?

Mostly to satisfy the TV director and public's demands for loads of camera angles and up to date race information. Up in the mountains is where you want more cameras on bikes as there will be more groups forming and it might not be possible to have a helicopter flying because of cloud/weather conditions.

A few for neutral service wheels (you can see one checking if Froome just needs a wheel).

A few for race information/timing.

Police escorts at front and back and crowd control (although not much crowd control seemed to be happening today).

It's tricky though when the roads get narrow there isn't really anywhere for the motorbikes to pull over especially when the crowds start to encroach. I'm sure questions will be asked of the organisers although suspect they will probably bury their heads in the sand in true French fashion.

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

The moto into which Porte crashed was itself held up by two or three other motorbikes in front of it. WTF do they need so many of them on the race for?

What are they racing each other for? It's a bike race not a moto race for the best pictures.

 

[gavroche]

Trouble with today was that it was 6Km shorter than what it would have been, but with the same amount of 'fans'

Good point that wasn't mentioned on tv.

 

[Mike_P]

Could drones be the answer tv coverage wise? Ought to be possible given the tracking on the bikes to control a drone so that it is not more than set distance away with a minimum height above ground as well. As for the issue of encroachment surely it needs better "policing" and barriers at locations where it obvious crowds are going to form.

 

[Apollonius]

I had a good look at the bikes on top of the Mavic neutral service car at Paris Roubaix. To be honest, they would be a last resort. They are pretty ancient and most of them have toe clips and straps.

 

[Mark Grant]

Could drones be the answer tv coverage wise? Ought to be possible given the tracking on the bikes to control a drone so that it is not more than set distance away with a minimum height above ground as well. As for the issue of encroachment surely it needs better "policing" and barriers at locations where it obvious crowds are going to form.

Not sure about French air law but IIRC aircraft are not allowed to fly within 1000 feet of an organised gathering under CAA regs.

 

[400bhp]

And converse

Could drones be the answer tv coverage wise?.

No. Battery life is the main drawback.

 

[400bhp]

Quintana cracked, he looked lost when Froome and Porte bounced off the front. Porte looks to be in great form, it's a shame he lost that time at the start as he could be stirring the GC right up.

He did but he only lost 20 odd seconds. Therefore it wasn't a proper crack.

 

[Crackle]

Someone posted this on twitter earlier

I don't know if it's accurate and obviously it's not really possible. I guess the main issue is the time it takes to set up barriers and take them down for moving to the next stage but......

 

[EnPassant]

At the risk of incurring the wrath of those with more knowledge on the subject, the thought occurs that at least in part the proliferation of motorcycles is our fault.... are not many of them camera bikes as mentioned? We're the ones watching their output. Then there are some neutral service bikes (wheels mostly it seems) and at least one medical one.

The money that goes to the sport and ultimately the riders comes mostly from the tv coverage I'd imagine, as it does for other sports. Thus, less bikes, less coverage, less money. And a lot of things are always about the money in the end (sadly).

Further, the root cause still appears to be the lack of control of maniac spectators. So, no spectator in the way the first bike doesn't have to brake, the riders don't run into it and the second bike doesn't run into them.

Barriers all the way up for me, spectators as a group are at the behest of the lowest common denominator, if 99% of them are well behaved it's still the 1 in 100 that cause all the trouble.

I'd also imagine that the m/c guys are pretty well schooled in how to behave and do indeed face stiff penalties if they err. Blaming them isn't exactly on a parallel with victim blaming for me, but having said that they've probably got a director in one ear telling them to get closer and if they don't they'll find somebody else who will and they're fine until this happens, then it's all their fault and never that of those putting the pressure on them.

Fix the root of the problem, the mankini men (and flag loonies and today a flare ffs).

Feel free to flame if you feel this is wrong.

 

[Salad Dodger]

Seems to me the organisers will have to set up a "finish line" at regular intervals in each days stage. If crowds cause a stoppage to all or part of the peleton, the result can be as at the previous "finish line", which should be pretty easy to do, as all bikes carry timing chips, I believe.....

 

[suzeworld]

Quintana cracked, he looked lost when Froome and Porte bounced off the front. Porte looks to be in great form, it's a shame he lost that time at the start as he could be stirring the GC right up.

Yeah - this is the worst bit of it for me too ..

As to the incident itself, I cant believe how little barrier they had - I've seen much more than that at much less "famous" finishes,and all those people from the top 6km had been squashed into the space .. terrible misjudgement there.

 

[oldroadman]

Problem is if the neutral car carried bikes with all pedal systems (Shimano/Look/Speedplay/Flats+toeclips) in at least 2 (ideally 3) bike sizes each they wouldn't have enough space to put them all on the roof!

Really it's just a sponsorship car for Mavic, as proven today it's never going to useful in the time you could just wait for your team car if you are already at the front. Although it's occasionally useful for quick wheel changes if you get a puncture. At some of the classics they sometimes have motorbikes carrying a couple of spare wheels over the cobbled sections which get taken fairly often.

In major pro races there is always a moto which is only allowed to carry wheels - UCI rules. But it's always there.

 

[oldroadman]

Mostly to satisfy the TV director and public's demands for loads of camera angles and up to date race information. Up in the mountains is where you want more cameras on bikes as there will be more groups forming and it might not be possible to have a helicopter flying because of cloud/weather conditions.

A few for neutral service wheels (you can see one checking if Froome just needs a wheel).

A few for race information/timing.

Police escorts at front and back and crowd control (although not much crowd control seemed to be happening today).

It's tricky though when the roads get narrow there isn't really anywhere for the motorbikes to pull over especially when the crowds start to encroach. I'm sure questions will be asked of the organisers although suspect they will probably bury their heads in the sand in true French fashion.

looked like a train of media motos. Not a radio tour or commissaire in there. Just too many media motos which all fight for space. they need to give a bit more on the high mountains.

 

[livpoksoc]

Not sure about French air law but IIRC aircraft are not allowed to fly within 1000 feet of an organised gathering under CAA regs.

They could sanction remote control ones on a set number of private frequencies to allow for it