Sprinting - the wild bunch

Downloaded here.

Today's crash and the rulings

Giro stage 3 gave us a bunch sprint as predicted today, but many riders hit the deck due to a dangerous manoeuvre by  Androni Giacattoli rider Roberto Ferrari. Among them reigning WC Mark Cavendish and Maglia Rosa Taylor Phinney.

The rules are quite clear: 

2.3.036 Sprints

Riders shall be strictly forbidden to deviate from the lane they selected when launching the sprint and, in so doing, endangering others. 

Not very concise if you study the text, but it is what it is and that's pretty much all there is of rules regarding sprinting. 

There is little doubt that Ferrari endangered others, a glance at Cav and Phinney tell you that, but when did Ferrari opened up his sprint? If we rewind to yesterday's sprint Cav kept his cool and looked left-right before he changed his lane as he opened his sprint, so it is possible to do so without endangering others. 

In addition to this, the rulings are there and there are officials who can react upon themselves and to any reaction from teams. Clearly Ferrari made a huge mistake, something the peloton will not forget. The riders form a tight community and riders being labelled as dangerous or hot-heads, will be treated according to group rules. Cav has also been criticised for changing lanes, remember Tour of Switzerland and the sprint where he and Haussler went down?

Development

Sprinting has developed much during the years, or perhaps the dynamic of the peloton has. Firstly, many more riders are trying to keep themselves out of trouble staying near the front. Much to the disturbance of the sprintertrains. Secondly, many teams, including pro conti teams have young riders trying to make themselves a name and/or putting the team on the map. Sometimes the team make it on the map but not necessarily the way they hoped, as today. Competitive cycling is tough these days and not many believes it will be better any time soon. Experienced riders complaining about lack of respect for jerseys and "rank". Perhaps the peloton need more governance for riders safety, either by UCI or the riders themselves?

Summary

Today a huge crash happened just 200 meters from the finish line, causing Cav, Phinney and a few more hit the deck. Rulings are limited on the subject, but are clear to when riders are exposing others for risk. I love seeing a battle for the finish line but at the same time I want this to be as safe as possible. The sprints have developed and need a joint effort to control the outcome. Broad roads last 2 k's, few hairpins etc can the organisers do but the riders need to take responsibility for their own safety.

Here the last 5 kilometres of today's stage:

Cold as ice

In 1977, the British-American band Foreigner had a great tune called "Cold as ice". Now, even though I wasn't old enough to even listen to the song back then, I have of course heard the hit during my youth, as everyone brought up in the eighties would have.

Stage 20 of the 2012 Giro

Too hard or too soon
RCS gave us a taste of the giro yesterday, with what is supposed to be stage 20. It is a monstrous stage, 218 km long, total elevation of 5900 meters (!), over Mortirolo and up the mighty Stelvio from Bormio. A monster, no doubt about that. On top of this, the stage was chosen by fans, as the organisers of the Giro, the RCS, conducted a poll where fans could vote for their favourite climb. Earlier, I wrote a post of the way RCS keeps evolving and keep challenging traditional organisation structures, using social media, more about that here.

Yesterday, David Millar and Jakob Fuglsang, let out some steam regarding the penultimate stage of next year's giro. Fuglsang criticised the fact that the stage is too extreme coming too late in the giro and Millar that the organisers hadn't learnt nothing of last year, making the race too hard. The debate continued on twitter throughout the day.

I don't disagree with the fact that this stage is hard, and that it is extreme. But, how can anyone say the Giro as a whole race is too hard, the complete Giro will be released in two weeks from now, maybe we'll all be surprised? The organisers of the Giro, the RCS in general and former Giro general Zomegnan in particular, got criticised last year for too long transfers and too hard stages, making the race too hard. How do we know this hasn't been accounted for and dealt with? When an organisation like the RCS receives criticism, like last year, I expect them to make a change. After all, the noise surrounding the 2011 Giro lead to one man loosing his job, as you all know, race director Zomegnan got fired officially in August, allthough rumoured some time earlier. I'm sure the RCS took this matter seriously.  

The current Race Director, Michele Aquarone, wrote this on twitter:

This gives an indication that things will be better than last year, and that we should be careful to judge before we have the entire scope in front of us. And yes, we can face riders saving themselves for the final stage all three weeks, something I don't believe, or we can see a blistering giro full of racing. I don't know yet, neither do you. 

One aspect I'm worried about is the tendency too increasingly making races harder. With the fight against doping going the right direction (average speed decreases on climbs, riders more tired etc), races don't need to be that extreme any longer. It is possible to get entertaining racing with stages shorter than the "normal" 200 km. This is an aspect race organisers should pay attention to, in my opinion. 

That said, I do like the idea of making one monster stage, with classical climbs, it's has the possibility for entertainment and safeguards the history of the race, its heart and soul. 

Summary

It is too early to conclude whether the 2012 Giro is too extreme. Lets wait and keep our cool until the 16th of October to find out. You can even sit ringside to check yourself, the event will be streamed live over the internet. 

The Tour - the nervous first week

This post can also be read on Cyclismas.




The first week of le Tour has given us some of the most exciting racing I've seen in ages, as well as the worst blows to several GC contenders and other riders. The number of accidents so far is high, but so are the numbers every first week of the Tour. The Tour is the biggest and most important race of the whole season, and everybody is nervous. There are many teams and many riders too, making it difficult closing in on narrow roads. Marco Pinotti, the Italian HTC-rider, tweeted about this last night, saying that there are too many riders present in the Tour.

What makes this Tour special is the of course the fact that many GC contenders are out of the race or far behind already, with Wiggin's crash yesterday fresh in mind.

Wiggo realises his tour is over for now

Photo by AP/Christophe Ena, downloaded here.

Safety - whose responsibility 

Also hard to watch was Radioshack's Chris Horner, obviously suffering from a concussion after a fall, being very disoriented coming across the finish line in Châteauroux. Horner fell in the same crash as Wiggins, which means he rode 38km in that state. The RS member who greated Horner when he crossed the finish line, said to Horner he crashed 25km from the finish, but other reports says otherwise. Of course, riders safety is the number one priority and riders in the state Horner was in yesterday is a danger both to himself and other riders. Many have argued on twitter that the UCI is more concerned with seat tilt angles than rider safety. 

Determining whether a rider has a concussion can be hard from a distance through a radio. Perhaps is it necessary to apply a rule that says that if riders hit the deck, a DS and a race doc should physically check up on the rider, making sure he is ok. What some believe is strange is that Horner receive treatment by the race doc after the crash, reports say the doctor wrote that Horner had a concussion and still left him on the bike. In addition to this, Johan Bruyneel had his team doctor driving next to Horner the last 38km. Bruyneel sais he won’t be criticized over his decision to let Horner finish the stage.

Horner finishing stage 7 with a concussion

Photo by Sirotti, downloaded here.

After all, the number of UCI commissaires is not that high to be everywhere, but this is a matter that should be number one priority. Geraint Thomas, one of Team Sky's young stars, wrote yesterday that riders safety must be the riders' responsibility. My position in this matter is that that the rider safety is divided between the rider and the team leader. When the rider is not able to take that call, then it is the rider’s leader who needs to step forward and take the responsibility.

Tactically manoeuvring

A rider and a team riding for GC that really have impressed me the first week is Cadel Evans and BMC. The team is always to be seen near the front when the terrain is difficult, or in the last important part of the race. Very tactically ridden and a nice way to keep him out of potentially dangerous episodes. Now, one could argue that this is one of the reasons crashes happens in the first place, the constant hunt for positions.

Next stage, be sure to watch out for Cadel Evans and BMC, I guarantee you, they are at the front at the right time.