Le Tour de France - starts 30 June 2012

Lunatic Dreyfus · 15 Jul 2012 at 16:13

Mad old tory said:
Gonna be waiting a while too - he's gone again.

So did Rolland break with etiquette there and just bugger off out in front when the yellow jersey group decided to ease up to let Wiggins back in?

So the Lotto boys have to chase after Rolland, which probably means Cadel is probably stuffed.

touch · 15 Jul 2012 at 16:14

BMC team time trial.

Impressive stuff.

Grimley · 15 Jul 2012 at 16:15

Commentary on Eurosport has just said that tacks HAVE been scattered onto the stage route. Whoever's done that should get the Guillotine. :mad:

Russinating · 15 Jul 2012 at 16:18

Yeah ITV confirmed as well. 28 tacs picked up off the road so far.

Jay Psi · 15 Jul 2012 at 16:20

Silly ***** dumping tacks on the road :mad:

Would the ~16 minute gap put any of the breakaway back into top 10 GC contention?

shawsy109 · 15 Jul 2012 at 16:22

who on earth would do that with tacks? what a joke

Lunatic Dreyfus · 15 Jul 2012 at 16:24

shawsy109 said:
who on earth would do that with tacks? what a joke

I'm actually surprised it doesn't happen more often.

touch · 15 Jul 2012 at 16:24

Jay Psi said:
Would the ~16 minute gap put any of the breakaway back into top 10 GC contention?

Nah, Sandy Casar was the best placed of the front group at 44mins behind wiggins.

Nexus · 15 Jul 2012 at 16:28

shawsy109 said:
who on earth would do that with tacks? what a joke

It's one of two things I reckon....

It may just be complete hooligans getting their kicks.

The other option is that it could be to do with fixing bets. Given that this happened up the mountain, the spectators are all likely fans and had to put effort in to get up there and wait. It's not like its a town where there are just trouble makers milling about. So it could well be somebody trying to influence the results of the race. Do any bookmakers also offer any odds on punctures or bike changes?

Russinating · 15 Jul 2012 at 16:34

Nice that Sky and co waited for Evans. Sportsmanship like that gives me tingles!

shawsy109 · 15 Jul 2012 at 16:36

Ive not seen betting on punctures on paddypower, and they go nuts for that sort of stuff. Could be down to something like that. My guess is just some knobheads who want to **** people off and get their kicks

Bear · 15 Jul 2012 at 16:39

I wonder if it was the other way round, would Evans kill the race off so Wiggins could catch up or take advantage to make time up.

shawsy109 · 15 Jul 2012 at 16:45

I wouldnt stop, punctures are punctures and they happen, thats life, id ride my heart out and get further ahead.

Hamster · 15 Jul 2012 at 16:49

Boardman mentioned that the Europcar team are running tubeless tyres. Didn't know they were used in the tours.

Bear · 15 Jul 2012 at 16:55

shawsy109 said:
I wouldnt stop, punctures are punctures and they happen, thats life, id ride my heart out and get further ahead.

The problem with being selfish is the same could happen to you and would ruin your whole race. I'm glad sports have these gentlemen that care more of the competition than the out right win.

semi-pro waster · 15 Jul 2012 at 17:11

shawsy109 said:
I wouldnt stop, punctures are punctures and they happen, thats life, id ride my heart out and get further ahead.

Punctures may just happen but it's a bit different when there's a strong suspicion that the punctures have been caused maliciously, I think it was the right decision to wait for Evans there, sure they probably could have dropped him but it's not the way that someone like Wiggins would want to win and it would show a distinct lack of respect to the defending champion. Incidentally Pierre Rolland did make a bit of a breakaway just after the spate of punctures and you could see how easily he was reeled in by the main group, maybe he stopped trying but I reckon he'd have been caught regardless.

That was the first stage that I've got round to watching this year and it was certainly quite an exciting one. Peter Sagan was looking impressive although I was starting to get a bit fed up of the commentators going on about his descending ability.

Russinating · 15 Jul 2012 at 17:12

shawsy109 said:
I wouldnt stop, punctures are punctures and they happen, thats life, id ride my heart out and get further ahead.

The difference is the punctures were malicious and not down to bad kit/team etc.

shawsy109 · 15 Jul 2012 at 17:12

Bear said:
The problem with being selfish is the same could happen to you and would ruin your whole race. I'm glad sports have these gentlemen that care more of the competition than the out right win.

Problem is, you rely on others to be gentlemen. There is no rule, its an unwritten rule among them. Do you think Cadel Evans would do the same for Bradley Wiggins? I dont think he would. I wouldnt. If thats selfish, so be it. To be at the top of a sport, you have to be ruthless and capitilize on others misfortune.

Bear · 15 Jul 2012 at 17:18

shawsy109 said:
Problem is, you rely on others to be gentlemen. There is no rule, its an unwritten rule among them. Do you think Cadel Evans would do the same for Bradley Wiggins? I dont think he would. I wouldnt. If thats selfish, so be it. To be at the top of a sport, you have to be ruthless and capitilize on others misfortune.

Of course you rely on others to do the same but I would like to think if they benefitted from the gesture then they would hopefully return the favour. Do I think Evans would do the same thing, I don't know, which was why I asked the question earlier up the thread.

Nexus · 15 Jul 2012 at 17:19

shawsy109 said:
Ive not seen betting on punctures on paddypower, and they go nuts for that sort of stuff. Could be down to something like that. My guess is just some knobheads who want to **** people off and get their kicks

Paddy Power seems to have less bet options now than they did earlier in the Tour (when I used my free bet). The other thing is that Paddy Power is just a UK bookmakers, it could well be that French bookmakers offer more betting options given how big cycling is over there.

shawsy109 said:
Problem is, you rely on others to be gentlemen. There is no rule, its an unwritten rule among them. Do you think Cadel Evans would do the same for Bradley Wiggins? I dont think he would. I wouldnt. If thats selfish, so be it. To be at the top of a sport, you have to be ruthless and capitilize on others misfortune.

I believe while it's not necessarily a written rule, the history of the Tour holds a lot of traditions and the race directors can choose to make decisions if they see fit (as they often do).