As a result of digging deeper into the facts of what happened on Stage 2, because I felt compelled to defend my opinion, I'm more convinced than ever that I'm right.
Most people's opinion that Thor Hushovd was robbed is based on his post-stage griping that Cervelo Test Team came through the crashes on the Stockeau unharmed, and that the peloton really wasn't that decimated, which is the impression you'd get from the Versus coverage showing a couple little crashes. Both assumptions are wrong.
The time gaps in the stage results indicate that Cervelo had two seriously wounded riders, and two moderately damaged ones, who benefited from the slowdown. Konovalovas and Klier limped in nearly 20 minutes behind the winner, and Lloyd and Brett limped in close to 14 minutes back. Had the 120 member pack started hammering as soon as it was kinda sorta together after the descent of the Stockeau, Hushovd would likely be down two supporting riders today, and possibly four riders, and he'd be facing a much more difficult Tour either way. Do you think he wanted to do that, or that his DS would have been pleased with him for doing that? So for Hushovd to pretend that he and the Cervelo test team were unscathed and did not benefit from the slowdown, is cynical at best and dishonest at worst.
The tiny bit of footage that Versus showed is the basis for most people's opinion, and that footage gives a false impression. It depicts one or two riders going down, or a small bunch. The reality of it is that the descent was akin to dropping a bushel basket of hand grenades into the peloton, with 80 to 100 riders crashing, and many riders crashing hard multiple times - up to four times - on the hill, losing their ghost riding bikes into the woods, and so forth. The butcher's bill for the Stockeau is here, and you'd do well to read it before taking a further position on whether Cancellara was bullying and being cynical, or responding to a legitimate crisis in the peloton.
I do feel a little bad for Hushovd because he, as commenter Ian pointed out, "turned himself inside out" to get over the hills all day. But I feel just as bad for Tyler Farrar, who broke his wrist but finished and who is back sprinting today; as I feel bad for a lot of guys whose efforts went to waste thanks to an oily road surface. But Thor in particular is one of the big boys in the peloton and capable of taking second if he wanted to attack from 10k out, or just about anywhere inside of that. That he and a couple other classics specialists didn't go, and that none of the glory hungry stage hunters from the lesser teams went, tells me the slowdown was a real pack agreement that they didn't want to violate, not something controversial to the peloton that Cancellara stitched together to benefit the Schlecks. The 120 or so surviving riders in the peloton, many of them wounded and on teams with badly dinged up guys who might not make the time cut, didn't want to fight it out for second or get their teammates in the two large meatwagon groups 14 and 20 minutes back eliminated from the Tour. Pushing Chavanel to hammer it in - an accomplished time trialist and stage hunter - would have pushed teammates out of the race. Nobody wants to be down two or more teammates with 18 stages left. That means a hell of a lot more work for everybody.
Was Cancellara being cynical? I don't think so, though the pack's interests did align nicely with Saxo Bank's. In light of the butcher's bill and Hushovd's reluctance to break the truce, Cancellara appeared to be speaking for the pack - not directing it - when he told Peschel “there had been enough injuries in the peloton today...there were (potential) leaders stuck behind and that no one wanted to sprint for second place.”
Cancellara explained it:
It was the right thing to do to wait, so everybody comes together to the finish line together. When you have everybody on the ground and people five minutes behind because they can’t find their bike then it’s only normal.Cynical? Well, sure, to the extent it's cynical and self-interested for a bus driver to hit the brakes before the bus plunges off a cliff. Saxo had more at stake than a lot of teams, but it had the same type of interests at stake, so you can't write Cancellara's actions off as solely self-interested.
So thanks for challenging me on my view. I'd love to make some of you happy and tell you that you changed my mind, but it didn't happen. To the extent it changes my opinion at all to dig this deep into the stage it makes me think Thor is a whiny asshole sometimes.
PS: Ryan has a good discussion of fan arguments about cycling.
3 comments:
Good points. As I reflect, however, FC could well have been working in Saxo's own interest through direction of Riis in his ear. No way to tell unless we were in the peleton.
Either way, if all were in agreement, then there's no bitching allowed at the end. Thor probably lost more than his competitors, but it was merely bad luck.
Also meant to mention that FC lost his yellow jersey on the stage, which should count in his favor as being forthright.
Right.
Neutralizing the stage finish was, indeed, the sporting thing to do. I fully agree. Ideally, you win the Tour, if you can, because you met the opposition face-to-face and proved yourself stronger, not simply luckier.
May the best man win the Tour, not merely the most fortunate.
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