Tour de France 2011 talk

[pll]

My two cents re the Voeckler situation... First, here is a video clip that shows the exchange between Voeckler and Luis León Sánchez after the accident: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGJ928miSS8
The exchange starts around 0:50. Phil and Paul interpreted this as Voeckler asking the break to slow down. Anyone speaks Dutch here?

In El PaÃ*s, the write up suggests that León felt pushed to continue as if nothing had happened, lest they gift everything to the French man, that Voeckler was only thinking of the yellow jersey:

El accidente no inmutó a Voeckler lo más mÃ*nimo -"solo pensaba en el maillot amarillo, que le esperaba en la meta", dijo Luis León-, quien siguió como si nada, sin mirar para atrás, forzando a sus compañeros de fuga a seguir [...] so pena de regalarle todo al pequeño francés.

The Spanish press seems to really dislike Voeckler. I saw one note in which he was qualified of "antipathetic and disagreeable".

[BikeDutchess]

First, here is a video clip that shows the exchange between Voeckler and Luis León Sánchez after the accident: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGJ928miSS8
The exchange starts around 0:50. Phil and Paul interpreted this as Voeckler asking the break to slow down. Anyone speaks Dutch here?

I do!

At 0:23 the commentators state "the men now have to wait" followed by descriptions (in tones of disbelief) about the incident. At 0:46, one says "what do you do when you're a Voeckler?", the other interjects "he rides on", the first continues "with 36 km to go." Then more comments about the incident, how they've never seen anything like it, etc. There is no suggestion in any of this by the commentators that Voeckler is asking to slow things down.

[pll]

I do!

At 0:23 the commentators state "the men now have to wait" followed by descriptions (in tones of disbelief) about the incident. At 0:46, one says "what do you do when you're a Voeckler?", the other interjects "he rides on", the first continues "with 36 km to go." Then more comments about the incident, how they've never seen anything like it, etc. There is no suggestion in any of this by the commentators that Voeckler is asking to slow things down.

Thanks! I think it is generally interesting how the same event can have different commentary in different countries.

[Eden]

Having been there (been in races where there have been crashes) I can so understand. You have an instant to decide what to do. I'd be willing to bet with the violence of that crash Voeckler figured neither guy would be getting back up or at very least would not be able to maintain the pace (which in fact neither could). He was in contention for the yellow jersey - which is a huge thing and didn't want to give that up. He didn't wait - but I don't think he particularly attacked the two guys who fell either. In the reality of it, it was likely not the wrong thing to do, had he and the others waited the whole break probably would have ended up back in the pack or lost enough time to lose yellow - the fallers certainly did - in fact they fell through it and finished up behind - given the horrible crash, its not a big surprise and they were both super courageous for just finishing.

The long and short of it - bike racing is a competition. It is dishonorable to attack someone who's down from a crash, a mechanical, or a nature break, but if you know that they are out or if there is something else in the race that is not under your control that requires responding to, then they are fair game. You have to remember that there almost 200 other guys that were racing too and while they may have waited for their own crash victims to catch up (and had someone more "dangerous" been up the road, its likely the peleton never would have waited as much as they did) they were certainly not going to slow down to maintain the gap while the break re-organized itself.

No one faulted the break for not slowing down when there was the big crash in the field. Technically that was taking advantage too - it certainly helped Voeckler, who may not have ever gotten far enough ahead to gain yellow and indeed appeared to be thinking more about polka dots earlier in the race. It was just a little less personal, as it didn't occur within their sight.

[bmccasland]

The Road ID commercials, when "Bobke" is trying to get someone to go for a bike ride with him.

[Deborajen]

The Road ID commercials, when "Bobke" is trying to get someone to go for a bike ride with him.

Those crack me up!

[ny biker]

Um...

http://velonews.competitor.com/2011/...-de-france-186

"The Banette Wheat girl in the publicity caravan."

So many questions. How many hours in a row does she have to be in that thing? Is she sitting down? Is there A/C in there or do they just let her swelter??

[bmccasland]

Um...

http://velonews.competitor.com/2011/...-de-france-186

"The Banette Wheat girl in the publicity caravan."

So many questions. How many hours in a row does she have to be in that thing? Is she sitting down? Is there A/C in there or do they just let her swelter??

They could have given her a yellow safety harness, would have gone better with her, um, dress. yeah, that's it, dress.

[bluebug32]

^^ LOL. And what if she's celiac!?

I like the Bobke commercials and I also love that Cannondale Evo...the DH and I are definitely drooling over that bike.

[Deborajen]

Personally, I think the whole "waiting" thing has gotten a little out of hand. When Lance Armstrong waited for Jan Ulrich after Jan flipped end over end off the ravine, that was a gesture of respect. Lance didn't want to beat Jan that way, and he wanted to make sure Jan was o.k. But TDF is still a race. Nobody waits in running, or in car racing, or in horse racing. Voekler was going for the yellow jersey - it's the main prize for gosh sakes, and it isn't unsportsmanlike to have that on your mind. It would have been really exciting to watch the five-man breakaway group work together and then race to win at the end. Two of them were cheated out of that chance by the crash, but why do the other three have to give up their chance, too?

I don't think Voekler did anything wrong. I don't blame Flecha for being pi$$ed about getting run off the road when he could've won the stage, but what would he have done if the tables were turned? There's a lot of strategic work and a lot of team effort and group effort involved which make the sport interesting to watch. But bad luck happens, too.--