Tour de France 2017 ***SPOILERS***

[jarlrmai]

View: https://twitter.com/Laura_Meseguer/status/882300130686377985


Not sure if this has been posted, Cav's hoods come into Sagan's wrist and his shoulders into the elbow of Sagan, Sagan moves his arm away from him as Cav comes into contact which contributes to Cav moving sideways and coming off, but by the time his elbow is extended Cav is already off There's just no room for bike and rider on the inside of Sagan, Cav went for a gap that wasnt there, look how compact he's trying to make himself, but still there's just no room there. A racing incident for sure but not DQ worthy IMO.

 

[Jimidh]

GCN reporting he is deffo out with a broken shoulder

That's a bummer for him and all of us who were looking forward to seeing what he could do in the tour.

No Cav or Sagan makes the tour a duller spectacle.

 

[Beebo]

I won't subject you to my worthless opinion, but I will say that I'm very sad that two such riders are out of the tour (or probably out in Cav's case).

It has rather spoilt the tour.

We have all offered a worthless opinion. What makes you imagine your opinion is any more worthless than our amateur guff?

 

[gavroche]

The mountains are coming and neither Cav or Sagan would have played a role in it so still more excitement to come. Cycling is a dangerous sport and casualties sometimes happen, no matter who the riders are. Yes, it is bad to see both riders out of it but the Tour will go on.

 

[Fight.The.Power]

Good discussion today and interesting bifurcated views.

From my POV and regardless of intention from Sagan or whether or not the punishment was appropriate or not, I would have preferred Sagan to have remained on the tour with a hefty Points deduction as was the initial judgement.

This would have escalated the excitement and competition for the green jersey and not diluted it. Even if Demare does win green (which is far from certain) everyone will always think Sagan 'would have' won it and take the shine off any victory now.

Earlier in the thread there was a post of 'having a go at the French'. I LOVE France, the French and their Tour. However, they are notorious for bending the rules just sufficiently to see their guy win. I think we would be a touch naive to think this was not at play today in at least a small part.

For Cav fans such as myself who was on the line at Bastia and in Harrogate and on the Champs Elysees. At least we were not expecting him to win today anyway. Get well Mark.

 

[thecube]

why was Demare allowed to cut across Bouhanni? did the commissaires think that was OK? Some very dodgy decisions today.

 

[Fight.The.Power]

why was Demare allowed to cut across Bouhanni? did the commissaires think that was OK? Some very dodgy decisions today.

Bouhanni despite being of the Tricolour is not the French Poster-Boy that Demare is.

 

[Bollo]

GCN reporting he is deffo out with a broken shoulder

Just read the same in the Grauniad, so it must be true.

My 1.8 pence - Sagan moves across in a bad way, Cav leans in to rescue his space, Sagan instinctively elbows out to counter the lean and it all goes t1ts. Points loss, relegation and slapped back of legs. Shouldn't have been DQed.

 

[Bollo]

why was Demare allowed to cut across Bouhanni? did the commissaires think that was OK? Some very dodgy decisions today.

Boardman and others made the same point in the punditsphere. I guess because it didn't end up in carnage and, if you're cynical, because it resulted in a French stage win. Nacer isn't someone I'd want to pish off though.

 

[david k]

I thought Cav was looking really good there, I was sure he was going to win the stage, I'm gutted he missed that opportunity and has now left the tour

Sagan being disqualified is harsh, but maybe they want to make a statement

 

[thecube]

on the plus side, at least we don't have to see Sagan promoting his ski goggles again.

 

[EasyPeez]

Apologies if this has been asked already, but is there any rhyme or reason to when the itv player makes the day's highlights available? I got in late tonight and was looking forward to watching the action, but still no sign of today's highlights programme being available. I thought it normally appeared on the on-demand player within an hour or so of the highlights programme going out - i.e around 9pm?

 

[lyn1]

View: https://twitter.com/Laura_Meseguer/status/882300130686377985


Not sure if this has been posted, Cav's hoods come into Sagan's wrist and his shoulders into the elbow of Sagan, Sagan moves his arm away from him as Cav comes into contact which contributes to Cav moving sideways and coming off, but by the time his elbow is extended Cav is already off There's just no room for bike and rider on the inside of Sagan, Cav went for a gap that wasnt there, look how compact he's trying to make himself, but still there's just no room there. A racing incident for sure but not DQ worthy IMO.

As it says on the tweet, that is the crash. It starts too late. Sagan started to close the gap earlier than that when he tried to get onto Demare's wheel. He is still coming across at the start of the video, judging by the angle of his wheel..

 

[Buddfox]

Apologies if this has been asked already, but is there any rhyme or reason to when the itv player makes the day's highlights available? I got in late tonight and was looking forward to watching the action, but still no sign of today's highlights programme being available. I thought it normally appeared on the on-demand player within an hour or so of the highlights programme going out - i.e around 9pm?

It's completely random, and often later than 11pm. Very frustrating. (It's not unique to Tour highlights either)

 

[Jon George]

There's an interesting question here, I feel, about punishment being appropriate to the results of the crime. To my eyes, it appears like every full-on sprint I have ever seen - bullish egos charging for the win - and that should be par for that type of finish.
And after a few hours reflection, I find I cannot concur with the Chris Boardman's assessment that it is unfair that Segan is being punished for the results of his actions, rather that his actions, in and of themselves (as others were doing something similar), and my argument is this: if you were to punch a person, you might be charged with assault, but if I were to punch a person, and they fell, hit their head and died, I might be charged with manslaughter.
The results of a person's actions do matter.
Personally, I think if you design a stage for a sprint finish for entertainment, you should impose only the bare minimum of conditions on the egos fighting it out - they know the risks.
The 2017 race will be slightly poorer for both their absences.