"I fight to survive" - Sagan says he swerved to avoid “square pole” in the barriers; Thomas admits “going through the motions a bit” during lockdown training; Boulting, Millar and Kennaugh go golfing; Van Aert fined for giving Sagan the finger + more

WvA did move to the right, but that was well before Sagan tried to go through a gap that wasn't there. Sagan chose a position on the barriers, and then found himself boxed in with no way to go around - that's racing - sometimes you just have to accept that you've been outmanouevred, and not just try to barge through regardless.

I'll be honest I thought Van Aert moved off his line. Not necessarily to block anyone but he clearly did move over looking at the helicopter shot. Sagan over did the barging but it's understandable considering he had probably already committed to the (admittedly small) but existing gap. Suprised no one else picked it up

There's a lot of lateral movement in most sprints just from the sheer amount of power they're putting through the cranks. I've often wondered if the natural side-to-side movement that generates is perhaps reigned in slightly less as sprinters sense a rival coming up on their shoulder. It's all part of the art I'd imagine? Certainly Bennett moved as everything closed together. Seeing as no-one crashed or was injured I'd much rather see a fine and let them sort it out on the next sprint stage.

Right decision by the commisaires. Any move Van Aert made was fractional. He is a pretty clean sprinter. Sagan went the wrong way and decided to make the room himself.

As a sprinter myself, I have never seen the point in risking broken bones and bikes by changing my line, but then I have never sprinted at anything above national level.

That's right. Sagan's excuses are pretty pathetic - he should have just fessed up to barging and headbutting, and accepted the penalty.

His argument was that in the Cav incident he was in front, and this time he was behind. However the common denominator both times is that the physical aggression came from Sagan.

No, we're saying you can't deliberately barge and headbutt someone out of the way - it's pretty obvious looked at objectively.

Luckily van Aert wasn't injured. The Groenewegen/Jokobsen incident is quickly forgotten I see.

Or this one:

Neighbours furious at huge detour to park outside homes after entire street transformed into ‘Covid-secure’ cycle path

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/12617669/road-closed-poole-residents-activ...

Quote:

RESIDENTS have been left fuming as they have to take a big detour to park outside their homes after their street was transformed into a "Covid-secure" cycle path.

Large planters were installed on Churchfield Road in Poole, Dorset, to block off the street, allowing pedestrians and cyclists to use it safely - and adhering to social distancing.

Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council has closed the road to cars as part of the active travel scheme to encourage people to walk and cycle more during the coronavirus pandemic.

But frustrated neighbours say they feel the move has been implemented to "punish" motorists and are complaining about having to take a "huge detour" to park in front of their homes.

Huge detour = 1 mile = 3 minutes travel at 20mph.

I think docking is the wrong phrase. He was disqualified from the stage, so lost all the points he gained, including those at the intermediate sprint. That's my understanding, anyway.

No - it was coincidence that the points he was penalised happened to be the same as the number he won at the intermediate.

You're right, though, that what has really holed his challenge is not the points he was docked, but the ones he would have won for coming second (or even 4th if he'd finished there due to not being able to pass WvA.

mdavidford wrote:

No - it was coincidence that the points he was penalised happened to be the same as the number he won at the intermediate.

You're right, though, that what has really holed his challenge is not the points he was docked, but the ones he would have won for coming second (or even 4th if he'd finished there due to not being able to pass WvA.

Apologies, you are right. In my defence, I was repeating what they said on ITV4 last night!

The points deduction wasn't an arbitrary thing, though - it's required by the rules - if you're relegated for illegal contact in a sprint you get docked a quarter of the winner's points.

A few weeks after another sprinter was in intensive care because of " a little argy bargy" 

Better to show zero tolerance than risk another incident like that.

Sagan should have known better.  He ended his own Green Jersey battle - there was no need for that barge - it was purely to gain advantage.

He used his head to shove van Aert over to give him space !! its illegal contact in the sprint and is against the rules, we should be actually be applauding van Aerts skill at staying upright, because that could easily have caused him to lose control & crash, and at that speed a crash would have been a big one, plus it almost certainly impeded van Aerts sprint. Sagan can have no complaints about that relegation imo.