Another clear deviation. Philipsen should have been relegated now on two of his three wins. Probably Grmay would have come around Cav for the win if he hadn’t been pushed into the barriers. The commissaires don’t have the guts to enforce their own rules.
I saw an interview with Kittel today. He thought it was a bit more complicated than that.
I don’t know too much about the actual rules in sprinting, but it seem to me you can never win one without pissing somebody off.
The rule states that sprinters shall not deviate from their line. When Philipsen started his sprint he was well to the left of Cav, and yet moments later he was elbowing Grmay into the barrier to Cav’s right. Grmay did the prudent thing and hit his brakes to avoid a crash, but he should never have had to.
Then the rule exists only on paper.
I’ve never seen sprinters not trying to get on others wheels,
How would you even overtake someone?
You can fight for wheels, etc. What you may not do is, after launching your sprint, swing from left to right or right to left in a way that endangers others. If you’re free and clear ahead of other competitors, you can veer about to your heart’s content. If you’re half overlapping a competitor, you may not move towards that competitor such that they are pushed into the race barrier.
It is true that enforcement of this rule is inconsistent, but after Groenewegen almost killed Fabio Jakobsen at the Tour of Poland in 2020 the UCI made lots of noise about rider safety etc etc, so it’s disappointing to see that in the first three sprint stages, the winner of all three twice forced competitors towards the barriers in a way that forced them out of the sprint, and once had his leadout man relegated (a meaningless penalty if ever there was one) for shoulder-barging.
2020 Tour of Poland Stage 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6s8f98Frj78
Cav 
I’m good with rules from F1, if you’re in front: you get to pick your line.
How far “in front”; your front wheel is an inch ahead of their front wheel, or your entire bike is ahead of their front wheel with no overlap?
I don’t know, i just think “stay on your line” is too little rules. Strictly interpreted it doesn’t allow for any of the common maneuvers in a sprint.
A lead out isn’t allowed to move to the side, you aren’t allowed to jump on your opponent’s wheel etc. etc.
You’re missing the “and in so doing, endangering others” clause.
The big problem with the rule is not that it is very inconsistently enforced.
Not often I get to celebrate a Canadian TdF stage win, and now two in two years. Nice going Woodsy!
nevermind
Phenomenal week one - really engrossing race. Who’ve you all got now that the main players have shown some stuff?
Pog is in the ascendency, if not the yellow, with two brilliant days in response to a very uncharacteristic lack of legs when it mattered on the Col de Marie Blanque midweek. Feel like JV is in the driving seat though - team JV are running the show with Pog’s men basically awol as far as setting the tempo of the race goes. Perhaps they will show better in the Alps, but right now there is a ton of pressure on Pog such that if he does crack it is likely to cost the race. Pog can take small parcels of time out of JV, which may be enough, but JV cracking in the high mountains seems unlikely.
The race is brilliantly poised either way.
Wout van Aert yet again shows he is the world’s strongest man on a bicycle, without the podiums to show for it. Had some bad luck in the finish a couple of times - was coming on massive for that stage 8 sprint but he got completely parked up by his own teammate Laporte, who had gotten squeezed from both sides.
It’s good to see Tom Pidcock showing some GC resilience - watched him a lot this winter on the cross and he put in some huge performances. In any other era you’d say he was a lock for a future TdF win with his insane W/Kg, age, skill etc, but with Pog and JV around the same age you’d have to think that’s not really on the cards as they are two levels above. A GT win does seem a realistic projection if he chooses to focus there.
Stage 9 – two US (and one Canadian) in the top 10. Powless keeps the polka-dot, and Kuss moves UP and is 9th overall.
Pogacar is slowly chipping away at Vingegaard’s lead (17 seconds! that’s is not more than 1/100th of a percent)
Brian
Nice ride by Bilbao today. As the announcers said, he rode a perfect stage.
I missed this from Stage 9. I suppose this could go in the omnibus idiots in the news thread.
As someone who’s completely ignorant of the tour and hasn’t paid much attention since Lance’s heyday – what’s the state of doping? Is there a general sense that participants are clean now? Has the sport instituted sufficient testing and protocols to verify that racers are clean?
Philipsen is a monster. That sprint was impressive.
I don’t think anyone will make that mistake again.
Sadly I fear this is wishful thinking.
How did I miss this?? Did everyone notice and appreciate the clarity and steadiness of the helicopter shots?
(Mr. Legend’s company makes gimbals for helicopters and other vehicles, and their gimbals were used by the people filming the race.)