Pro-cycling thread

^ that really sucked.

So having thought about this a bit more, and not finding myself able to get as angry as everyone else on the internet (twitter) seems to be, some non-loaded, serious, questions:

What should have happened. No penalty? What if Porte were to win by 1 second at the end of the race? He would have lost more than that without the wheel.

What if Aru had punctured and a fellow Italian from a different team had swapped wheels allowing Aru to save time he would have otherwise have lost (to Porte), followed by him saying "We Italians help each other out" (imagine Mario accent). Fair play or would the Anglophones be chanting "conspiracy!"? And if Aru won on top of that?

It seems that sharing wheels when it doesn't really impact the results (as AndyP said above) is all good, but this is a situation where it does matter. He's a contender.

I honestly don't know what should have happened. I'm just gutted Porte is so far back now, but hopefully it will encourage him to go out on the attack and make for an even more exciting race.

Having said that, if the riders themselves decide to protest in some way, that'd be pretty right on.

Very poor decision, especially in light of how it happened. The rules are rules fair play, but it's the inconsistency of application that sticks in the craw. Just hope the Sky riders use this to forge a white hot blade of justice to plunge into the heart of the Giro. Wasn't cheering for Porte before, sure as hell am now

Solution: Use clinchers?

From Inrng? Also has this:

In cycling terms you can invest in training camps and mobile homes for “marginal gains” to save seconds but printing out a PDF of the rulebook and teaching riders the basic rules of pro cycling on a wet December afternoon could have saved minutes: Chapter 2 of the UCI rules says several times in black and white that you can’t take wheels from another team.

That's all well and good - but when you've just been dropped because of a puncture and the peleton is rushing off I would imagine the last thing on your mind is line 7, clause 3b, page 3022 of volume 7 of the UCI handbook.

I think the important thing here is how it affects the result.

Remember Wiggins waiting for Cadel, after sabatage saw him puncture repeatedly. Thats was OK in everyones book. But as Cadel was a firm GC contender. Him not losing time affects Things.

Basically -
Helping riders of a different team not lose time because of mechanicals = good.
Helping riders of a different team win time despite mechanicals = bad.

That's all well and good - but when you've just been dropped because of a puncture and the peleton is rushing off I would imagine the last thing on your mind is line 7, clause 3b, page 3022 of volume 7 of the UCI handbook.

Or it's a calculated risk (Froome in 2013 taking an illegal gel, cost him 20 seconds, but bonking could have lost him the tour).

Anyway, I'm using this as a way of procrastinating, but I agree that consistency is a problem, yet it's probably most important to use the rules when it's a GC contender who is effected by them.

As AndyP stated earlier. There are tons of rules that are seen as OK to bend. I would have thought this was one of them.

This is a perfect topic for my upcoming blog "Philosophy of Professional Bicycle Racing". Other exciting topics include: Game Theory and the Breakaway; Moral Equivocation and Doping; and, What Tubs would Kant Use?

I'd rather all rules were applied consistently, but that never happens in any sport which sometimes makes you wonder why they bother having them.

I've no problem with Porte being punished for breaking the rules yesterday, what annoys me is the severity of the punishment which effectively ends his GC hopes.

The punishment seems way out of proportion to the crime.

Hold up, what if Clarke knew what he was doing and this is part of a sabotage plot by Orica? Just sayin'

What I dislike is that on this particular case they've been so tight about it, a rider getting a wheel to limit his losses is nowhere near as bad as a group of riders crossing barriers that are down, endangering their own lives and those around them, yet which one was provoked?

And I didn't watch the stage yesterday, but I heard the camera bike was getting mighty close to the all Italian breakaway, something I can easily see, but nothing's happened...

There is talk of the mass wheel swap, a couple of Orica riders have retweeted a Dan Lloyd tweet suggesting it, hopefully the old heads put their foot down and force it.

Then again it's inconsequential for Clarke who also got 2 mins, a fine would have been much fairer for all parties

Contis. He's German.

The punishment seems way out of proportion to the crime.

This. If not Clarke but his team mate (standing on the same side of the road) would have given him his wheel he would have lost half a minute at most.

Inrng is being pretty pompous about it. Heat of the moment and all that, and as AndyP has pointed out, the circumstances of the flat caused the urgency that meant Clarke gave up his wheel. OGE and Sky to team up for the rest of the Giro, Aussies of the world unite and all that

Agree with this - Inrng's response has been pretty sanctimonious and ignores the real substance of the case.

Perhaps the punishment should have been the time taken for his team mates to get over to him - plus a few more seconds. A handicap rather than a hobbling.

The same Orica with no GC contenders who would probably love to see any Aussie from any team win the Giro? #sure

UCI once again in total fuckwit decision making explosion of cunts. Fucking idiots.

'explosion of cunts' I'm stealing that

I don't see why any rider shouldn't be able to help out a mate on another team, regardless of nationality, if it harms their own race they have to answer to their DS anyway. It's a stupid rule, and as others have mentioned has been broken loads of times when a select front group slows or at least doesn't attack if someone has a mechanical.

I don't see why any rider shouldn't be able to help out a mate on another team, regardless of nationality, if it harms their own race they have to answer to their DS anyway.

Because it is an unfair advantage from the perspective of those who did not benefit from the help. It is a race after all, and to use a sport metaphor that doesn't exactly fit, the goal is to have a level playing field.

Is it even allowed to ride the course backwards? [to help out a team member with a wheel switch with no mates behind him]

No, it's not.