The jury must have felt that they were not getting enough press this year and needed to be seen. Narrow finish. Leadouts don’t have any place to go. Barriers aren’t straight. Etc etc etc.
Am rooting for the break to make it today. Carry on.
I’ll agree with Demare, but disagree with Cav. His move to the left was abrupt and dangersous in the middle of the pack. Yes, it was similar to the move he made when he won the stage, but on that case he was clear of everyone and did not impede anyone. yesterday he caused riders to grab their brakes and / or swerve to avoid him.
I thought so at first and on replay it didn’t look that bad to me. The Arkea rider freewheeling down the middle was a bigger issue and he didn’t get called out. Doesnt matter. Nobody got hurt and none of the placements changed.
Cav probably should have gone straight and stayed on GIrmay’s wheel. But that’s easy to say from the couch watching the overhead replay.
Today’s stage is cracking good for a “sprint” stage. Gotta go get my ride in so catch the finale in a few hours.
Clearly hoping for a stage win…but this is also clearly an exercise in futility. Enough speedy riders left that they are gonna come to the line together.
I strongly disagree with this as a metric for relegations
I liked both yesterday as they were consistent with earlier relegations in this race. They are being stricter here than earlier in the season, which is fine as long as they are consistent IMO
Ooof…that crash really messed up the sprint. Then LaPorte hit the front way too early and left Wout exposed. Another “easy” win for Jasper in that situation.
ETA - jeez, that shoulder bump from the Lotto rider was no bueno. He is likely gonna find himself at the back of the group and a few Swiss francs ligher.
It was tongue in cheek not a metric. We’ve seen far more egregious sprinting let go than anything that happened yesterday. The stages have been clean by pro tour standards.
Am very much a fan of relegating guys who are consistently dumb. But if the jury calls every possible infraction they will create a poor atmosphere for the sprints and they will be putting their finger on the scale.
If anything, I would relegate the people who think sprint stages should end on a relatively narrow road. But that is for a different day.
Yeah, from the front it looks really bad. From the overhead view, it looks a bit more like a survival move, as he might have been danger of hitting the barrier.