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Tour De France Takedown

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manly said:
I'm not a cycling fan, but that's a terrible analogy. Nobody is going to "take a dive" on a bike at 40 mph trying to draw a foul.

The overhead camera could be more telling, but it's obscured by trees at the moment that Cavendish loses balance. The evidence looks like Sagan did change his line slightly. It's open to interpretation (was Cavendish already going down or did he get help) but the overhead video seems to show a fair amount of contact:
https://youtu.be/rXwZczGqWls
Click to expand...

But the other guy changed his line at least as much, at least in my limited understanding of it. After seeing it a bunch of times it looks like the two were trying to shoot the same gap and the guy that wiped out was behind the guy that got DQ'd so the guy in front couldn't possibly know another person was trying to shoot the same gap.
 
Darwin333 said:
But the other guy changed his line at least as much, at least in my limited understanding of it. After seeing it a bunch of times it looks like the two were trying to shoot the same gap and the guy that wiped out was behind the guy that got DQ'd so the guy in front couldn't possibly know another person was trying to shoot the same gap.
Click to expand...
Seconds before the failed pass, there was enough room to squeeze through the gap. By the time Cavendish tried to shoot through, the Sagan's line had edged right to close it off. Whether it was intentional or not is impossible for us to say. This is all happening in split seconds.

You could make an argument that Cavendish went for a high-risk pass and simply mis-judged the space. However, if Sagan doesn't throw the elbow, the crash doesn't look as premeditated or dangerous. The elbow may not have actually caused the fall/crash but as a non-cycling fan, it appears to be the reason they chose to DQ Sagan from the tour. According to the L.A. Times article I read, he apologized to Cavendish and it was accepted. Even if Sagan didn't cause the crash, changing his line combined with a blatant-looking elbow can easily be interpreted as intentionally trying to harm another rider.

Whether the guy who crashed this time deserved it based on his past racing history is somewhat besides the point. Nobody will shed a tear for him but the question as others have asked is whether the DQ is the right penalty.
 
If you look at the top down view it is pretty damning on Sagan's part. Granted trees block probably the most important part but the rest looks really intentional.

https://twitter.com/polocini/status/882257457535471616

This link to twitter (sorry) is top down video.

I think Sagan is in the wrong, but I think a DQ is overkill. Sucks that Cav is out though. I was really rooting for him to make a strong comeback after being out with mono. Also his bike this year is epic badass and is now trash.
 
manly said:
Seconds before the failed pass, there was enough room to squeeze through the gap. By the time Cavendish tried to shoot through, the Sagan's line had edged right to close it off. Whether it was intentional or not is impossible for us to say. This is all happening in split seconds.
Click to expand...

He doesn't have a rearview mirror so how could he possibly know that he was coming up behind him and trying for the same gap?
 
Darwin333 said:
He doesn't have a rearview mirror so how could he possibly know that he was coming up behind him and trying for the same gap?
Click to expand...

"Tactical awareness." Most of the top sprinters know each other's tendencies and if you need to look back, you just look under your armpits to see a bike length behind you.

hISYDN0.gif
 
Watch each rider separately in the clip above.

Tires sliding, elbow and knees flying, etc. from nearly all of them.

You can't isolate one elbow or move and give it any significance as right or wrong. The riders understand this.
 
FreshCrabLegs said:
"Tactical awareness." Most of the top sprinters know each other's tendencies and if you need to look back, you just look under your armpits to see a bike length behind you.
Click to expand...

Tendencies like trying to pass the person in front of them, which both were trying to do? The guy in blue also changed his "line" in an attempt to pass and I didn't see him look back in anyway.
 
Not looking "back" as much as looking down to glimpse other rider's front wheels. Combined with being able to hear other riders you get a good sense of your surroundings.
 
From the look of it, the elbow came out after Cavendish made contact and was on his way down. Sagan said he threw his elbow out for balance and it's believable. You can see him shifting his weight to his right after Cavendish leaned up against him throwing him off balance.
 
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