It might be important to some people whether being involved in physical altercations with other competitors (regardless of who started it) appears to be an isolated incident or is part of a larger trend. To me, corrective action would be different for each scenario.
OK, Lamperti, got it. MisID on my part.
And yes, there is video of Hernández hitting Cory and causing Cory to lose control in the corner. It’s all over IG.
Turning in on him? Cory was following the wheel he had position on, Hernández was behind him and out of position.
And I agree it’s part of racing… so is losing your front wheel and doing whatever you can to stay up.”, which is all Cory did.
yes it was wrong.
But,
If Justing would have no throw punches, Hernandez would have not been penalized.
Hernandez got penalized for throwing punches AND causing the fight in the fist place.
Crit racing is hard and dangerous. ALL participants know that. If you cant take the heat, get out of the kitchen.
Its not about the fight.
Its about Legion on a fight. People are using this as an opportunity to point out how “dirty” they are.
They tend to ignore EVERYONE ride as “dirty” as Legion does.
But when is someone else, is aggressive and part of racing. When is Legion is dirty racing.
Here is what it comes down to, to me. If Legion is a cheap/dirty team, then this was bound to happen and they are the root cause. Even if this particular incident was not their fault, people over react to cheap/dirty teams.
I played enough sports to know that playing against dirty teams causes a lot of emotions. Fights almost always broke out against such teams. Why do you think "malice at the palace’ happened at the palace? Detroit was a rough, potentially dirty team (not to mention the fans).
If, on the other hand, legion is not a cheap/dirty team, then they are not at fault. While throwing a punch is never the correct reaction, I have almost got into several fights when someone took a cheap foul on my brother in bball. You know what else is not a correct reaction? Screaming in someone’s face.
A lot of good here. Stuff happens in crit racing. Most of the time it’s worked out by the competitors and cooler heads prevail. I’ve sworn at people in races and always felt like 
afterwards because there are better ways to handle it… competition brings out ugly sometimes.
Agree on the resources and differences between world tour and US crit scene. Apples and oranges in terms of resources and style of racing.
USAC officiating is doing the best it can in most cases, but that is quite often not good enough. They need more officials and better training for those officials. Tough to not get upset when it costs you (I was relegated in a race for something I didn’t even see happen, cost me a 2nd place finish), but by and large they’re trying and in a tough spot a lot of the time.
Not what I said…
If Hernandez would have gone and scream and bitch about the race to Justin, nothing would have happened.
The reason Hernandez got penalized is because Justin needed to be penalized (correctly) for throwing punches.
The extra for Hernandez, probably comes from instigating the fight.
For the brawl, I’d support this.
People are ready to throw punches while wearing spandex and bike helmet!
We have been pinged already, and I am leaving it to Ivy at this time.
If I can offer anything with no review at this time… people should step back from their devices and take some breaths. Then consider if and when to resume if it is getting heated.
i respectfully disagree, confronting someone after a race, is not instigating, its calling someone out on some (what you thought) bad moves/racing/incompetency/what ever (if you ever race a lot it happens). The fact that it was “aggressive” in its tone is to be expected post crit, or really any adrenaline filled race finish…what’s he supposed to do, ask if Cory would like to discuss it over afternoon tea?
In addition to being the recipient of the first punch Hernandez was also first pushed back by Justin, which can be argued as L39gion/Justin trying to deescalate, but its more the job of Hernandez’s best buddy squad to do this. That is also a first punch of sorts because if it really came to blows (which it did) that hand on Hernadez’ chest is basically blocking him to defend (hands up) and really do anything.
When Legion set out to redefine cycling, little did we know they wanted to bring elements of hockey to crit racing! 
Next up - look for a penalty box and power plays!
Hey everybody, I think we can all agree this weekend’s controversy was not cycling’s best moment, and further contention regarding the matter won’t make the world a better place.
Please keep this civil, or we’ll close this thread.
22 Likes
That looked more than just confronting someone. It looked heated. But we were not there. Hard to tell from videos.
So does this go before USAC now, or is this officially over? I really hope that brawls after pro-level crit races don’t become a common occurrence. I’ve taken my kids (2 and 5 at the time) to watch a USA Crit (in SLC as it turns out), but I’m not taking them if there’s brawls. We’ll go watch gravel races instead.
Every sport have browls, for better or worse.
Baseball, Basketball, Soccer, Cycling.
Its part of human nature and if happens in front of kids a learning opportunity. Teach them thats not adequate way to handle yourself.
Adam Myerson seems to think there will be more - an investigation/hearing:
Well, there goes my idea for bringing elements of roller derby to team pursuit at the velodrome.