Stage 11 - Thursday, July 15 2010, Sisteron - Bourg-lès-Valence, 180 km

ednwireland

one for the sprinters - probably

Leaving the Alps behind for backwater breaks

This appears a relatively straightforward stage, but one with an intriguing look. It links two towns that have never hosted the Tour before on roads that rarely see the race come by.

Like the Jura, which was visited just before the Alps, the Drôme region that hosts most of today’s route is a relative backwater in France, but that makes it excellent cycling country.

Although classed as flat, this stage features regular ups and downs including the cat three Col de Cabre. This is good terrain for breakaways, but the sprinters will be eager to strut their stuff again after four days in the Alps.

IM0

Sprinters stage, far too much downhill

Lumen

bump

Poncherello

Good God Holly from Velocenter is hot !

ednwireland

Poncherello wrote: »

Good God Holly from Velocenter is hot !

not sure what your talking about


:eek:

i hate to say this but that and the last 10km are prob the most interesting thing about this stage

on_the_nickel

Robbie Hunter and Charlie Wegelius have withdrawn before the start of today's stage.

joker77

Pack all back together now. Haven't seen the pictures, only following the text update, but would I be right in saying this is by far the most boring stage yet?

At least the breakaway stayed away yesterday

ednwireland

saxobank upped the pace on th front shelling everyone else out the back
chavanel and popovych attack

on_the_nickel

joker77 wrote: »

Pack all back together now. Haven't seen the pictures, only following the text update, but would I be right in saying this is by far the most boring stage yet?

At least the breakaway stayed away yesterday

You would be right. I managed to get a versus feed and noticed that Paul Sherwen is dying the bejaysus out of his hair.

Then there was a 'Shack update so I had to switch over to Eurosport.

I had 50 quid in winnings in my Paddy Power account after the World Cup and given I'm going bike shopping on Saturday, decided to try to double my money by backing Cav. Now it's nerve wracking.

joker77

on_the_nickel wrote: »

You would be right. I managed to get a versus feed and noticed that Paul Sherwen is dying the bejaysus out of his hair.

Then there was a 'Shack update so I had to switch over to Eurosport.

I had 50 quid in winnings in my Paddy Power account after the World Cup and given I'm going bike shopping on Saturday, decided to try to double my money by backing Cav. Now it's nerve wracking.

ha ha - I backed against Cav.... we shall see!

joker77

Looks like I lose!

My God Columbia HTC are so fecking good at that. Throwing headbutts and all to keep position!!!

on_the_nickel

Phew, I was convinced he'd gone too early. I owe it all to Renshaw!

TinyExplosions

Nice headbuts!

ednwireland

cavendish !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

brilliant headbuts from renshaw on dean class !!!

cav reckoned he was boxed in and a gap appeared at 375m to go and he had to go

roche reckons judges will be looking at it

on_the_nickel

ednwireland wrote: »

cavendish !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

brialliant headbuts from renshaw on dean class !!!

From the reply, he closed the door on Farrar too. Judges might have a look at that?

TinyExplosions

on_the_nickel wrote: »

From the reply, he closed the door on Farrar too. Judges might have a look at that?

nope, basically as long as you're not pushing anyone into the barriers, and don't take your hands off the bars, it's all good

ThisRegard

That was bizarre, Roche et all think there may be something to look at.

Just looking at the replay, something I didn't notice first time around, as Cavendish went ahead Renshaw forced the guy on his tail chasing him towards the barrier and essentially stopped him competing, he's a bold boy !

tawfeeredux

on_the_nickel wrote: »

decided to try to double my money by backing Cav.

What were the odds on Cavendish for this stage as a matter of interest?

TinyExplosions

ThisRegard wrote: »

That was bizarre, Roche et all think there may be something to look at.

I can't see anything happening to be honest, there's always elbows etc, and there was nothing wrong in my view... Renshaw was simply stopping Dean from pushing him into the barrier

ThisRegard

That's what I initially thought, but when you then see him look over his shoulder and sees Cavendish being chased he swerves right over and blocks the guy right into the barrier. The two incidents in combination are not fair play.

Lumen

IM0

TinyExplosions wrote: »

Renshaw was simply stopping Dean from pushing him into the barrier

thsat not the issue being debated here, its about Renshaw [once cavendish started his sprint] goes to the left and cuts infront of farrar and deviates his line so much and quickly that farrar is impeded and 'forced' into the barrier and cost him some speed/momentum

on_the_nickel

tawfeeredux wrote: »

What were the odds on Cavendish for this stage as a matter of interest?

I got him at 1.90 (10/11) first thing this morning. He then went to 1.8 and 1.72 while the breakaway was still 2 mins up the road, didnt check after that.

joker77

Farrar apparently shaking with rage afterwards

TdF Director, allegedly, thinking about throwing Renshaw out:
http://twitter.com/39teeth/status/18612017415

IM0

on_the_nickel wrote: »

I got him at 1.90 (10/11) first thing this morning. He then went to 1.8 and 1.72 while the breakaway was still 2 mins up the road, didnt check after that.

wow! so for taking the chance betting 50 you stand to gain 55 [or lose 50]
ok then. I can see why there are so many bookies.

IM0

joker77 wrote: »

Farrar apparently shaking with rage afterwards

TdF Director, allegedly, thinking about throwing Renshaw out:
http://twitter.com/39teeth/status/18612017415

If twitter says it it must be true :rolleyes:

joker77

me@ucd wrote: »

wow! so for taking the chance betting 50 you stand to gain 55 [or lose 50]
ok then. I can see why there are so many bookies.

gain 45 for 50 on

joker77

me@ucd wrote: »

If twitter says it it must be true :rolleyes:

Gospel, yea :cool:

joker77

me@ucd wrote: »

If twitter says it it must be true :rolleyes:

Looks like it's actually happening, a couple of places picking it up now including Cyclingnews.com

mloc123

anyone have a video of the sprint?

DominoDub

Renshaw now listed on the Withdrawals" page of official Tour site.:eek:

http://www.letour.fr/2010/TDF/LIVE/us/abandons.html

Australian Mark Renshaw, the lead-out man for sprinter Mark Cavendish, has been kicked out of the Tour de France for head-butting New Zealand's Julian Dean in the finale of Thursday's 11th stage.

"Renshaw is out. We watched the film once and it was blatant. He head-butted Dean like in a keirin race," said Tour technical director Jean-Francois Pescheux.

"This is cycling, not fighting. Everybody could have ended up on their backs."

joker77

Is there an appeals process? Bit of a hit to Cav's chances of more stage wins

ednwireland

velonews reporting renshaw as out of the tour

http://velonews.competitor.com/2010/07/news/cavendish-gets-another-stage-win-at-the-tour-schleck-retains-yellow_129120

Cavendish’s lead-out man Mark Renshaw was thrown out of the Tour after the stage for head butting Garmin-Transitions lead-out man Julian Dean as each was trying to position his sprinter in the final meters.

gonna make cav's job a lot, lot harder

DominoDub

mloc123 wrote: »

anyone have a video of the sprint?

As requested !
http://www.cyclingfans.com/node/1040

IM0

forcing renshaw to lose the head and headbutt me...sore arm

forcing renshaw to lose the head and headbutt me again...sore head



completing my mission for the day and getting him thrown out of the race to kill cavs future sprints?

Priceless!

really check it...honestly

lyders

They actually kicked him out

dave2pvd

What a fustercluck.

Great job by Farrar getting 3rd (bunch) out of that mess.

Lumen

DominoDub wrote: »

As requested !
http://www.cyclingfans.com/node/1040

The headbutting draws attention, but it looks like Dean is pushing to his left, and Renshaw is butting him to keep him away from Cavendish. Dean has the whole road to his right but doesn't use it.

Cutting off Farrar looks dodgier to me, though I don't understand the rules.

Inquitus

Throwing him out seems a bit harsh tbh.

Moflojo

Agree with Lumen, cutting off Farrar was probably the worst offence of the two, in racing terms anyway.

Seems a bit mad to repeatedly headbutt an opponent like that.

Zizou Renshaw.

Mr. Presentable

While it was aggressive and out of order, it looked harmless enough

ThisRegard

Although ultimately it was harmless, the head buttee could have lost his balance and took the whole bunch down. There's no place for it, we're not at Death Race levels yet, entertaining as that could be.

TinyExplosions

me@ucd wrote: »

thsat not the issue being debated here, its about Renshaw [once cavendish started his sprint] goes to the left and cuts infront of farrar and deviates his line so much and quickly that farrar is impeded and 'forced' into the barrier and cost him some speed/momentum

Lumen wrote: »

The headbutting draws attention, but it looks like Dean is pushing to his left, and Renshaw is butting him to keep him away from Cavendish. Dean has the whole road to his right but doesn't use it.

Cutting off Farrar looks dodgier to me, though I don't understand the rules.

Arrrrgh, there's me head melted now... I could actually see if he got demoted to last place for the second swerve that fuked farrar's race, but the headbutts were nothing major, and were to stop Dean from pushing Renshaw to the barrier... how long before the tinfoil hat brigade start saying it's an ASO plot to keep Cav out of green again?

TinyExplosions

ThisRegard wrote: »

Although ultimately it was harmless, the head buttee could have lost his balance and took the whole bunch down. There's no place for it, we're not at Death Race levels yet, entertaining as that could be.

But when Dean was making his way up to Renshaw he was throwing elbows toward Pettacchi (I think) -there is contact in sprinting, it's part of the game, (for example so long as you don't take your hands off the bars, you can elbow all you want). If that's ok (which could cause people to fall off), then I don't see the problem with this. The only person likely to fall in this case was Renshaw, which would have cost Cav the sprint, so it would be karmic justice of a sort

ednwireland

TinyExplosions wrote: »

Arrrrgh, there's me head melted now... I could actually see if he got demoted to last place for the second swerve that fuked farrar's race, but the headbutts were nothing major, and were to stop Dean from pushing Renshaw to the barrier... how long before the tinfoil hat brigade start saying it's an ASO plot to keep Cav out of green again?

aaaaaarggggghhhh - they're trying to stop cav winning green again

now wheres me roll of tinfoil

petethedrummer

Who would win in a fight, Renshaw or Abdoujaparov?

TinyExplosions

petethedrummer wrote: »

Who would win in a fight, Renshaw or Abdoujaparov?

The tashkent terror, no contest

on_the_nickel

me@ucd wrote: »

wow! so for taking the chance betting 50 you stand to gain 55 [or lose 50]
ok then. I can see why there are so many bookies.

No I put 50 on and got ~ 95 back. Petacchi and Farrar were next at 6/1 or so. Thor and Ciolek 20/1 or so.

ThisRegard

TinyExplosions wrote: »

But when Dean was making his way up to Renshaw he was throwing elbows toward Pettacchi (I think) -there is contact in sprinting, it's part of the game, (for example so long as you don't take your hands off the bars, you can elbow all you want). If that's ok (which could cause people to fall off), then I don't see the problem with this. The only person likely to fall in this case was Renshaw, which would have cost Cav the sprint, so it would be karmic justice of a sort

Elbowing is one thing but such blatant head butting was a bit much to expect to go unpunished for, if he had just leaned against him with his noggin he probably would have been fine. Anyway, Eurosport news said it was for both incidents.

Signal_ rabbit

So all those people in the helmet debate who say that its more dangerous not to wear a helmet whilst cycling were wrong then!

corkandproud

Look, you can't condone that behaviour in a flat out sprint. Can you imagine wheat the other teams might try if it went unpunished, biggest bully wins.

Is it a case that you now need to create rules about racing lines in the last 50 metres and have a stewards enquiry along the lines of horse racing?