Velominati Super Prestige: Tour de France 2017

Favorites ascending. Photo: Gruber Images.

As many of you know, I write a monthly column for Cyclist Magazine where I answer Dear Abby-esque questions, and the most recent query pertained to whether I consider the Tour the best race of the year, or whether it’s an over-publicized circus. The question made me realize something about myself: I have a weariness around the Tour de France not unlike a romantic whose heart has been broken one too many times.

The fact is, as much as I prefer a race like Paris-Roubaix or the Giro d’Italia to the mid-summer shit show that is the Tour de France, nothing gets my anticipation going quite the way the Tour does, which is undeniably the pinnacle of the season; all the classifications and stages are prestigious enough that racers of all sorts are all arriving at the start in peak form. There is a promise of hard racing from day one, but the first week consists mostly of me worrying about the big favorites crashing out. As soon as we get through that mess, my heart is usually broken on the first day in the mountains, when the favorite takes a decisive lead and the rest of the race is most about stages than the GC.

At least, these are the dreads of a man who lived through the Indurain and Armstrong eras of racing.

Nevertheless, the Tour always manages to seduce me, and this year is no different. Maybe this year, she won’t be such a cruel lover. And, maybe this year, I won’t make horrible picks in the VSP. Just maybe, just maybe. You know the drill; get your picks in by the time the clock goes to zero, and you get some swap options on the rest day. Good luck!
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frank

The founder of Velominati and curator of The Rules, Frank was born in the Dutch colonies of Minnesota. His boundless physical talents are carefully canceled out by his equally boundless enthusiasm for drinking. Coffee, beer, wine, if it’s in a container, he will enjoy it, a lot of it. He currently lives in Seattle. He loves riding in the rain and scheduling visits with the Man with the Hammer just to be reminded of the privilege it is to feel completely depleted. He holds down a technology job the description of which no-one really understands and his interests outside of Cycling and drinking are Cycling and drinking. As devoted aesthete, the only thing more important to him than riding a bike well is looking good doing it. Frank is co-author along with the other Keepers of the Cog of the popular book, The Rules, The Way of the Cycling Disciple and also writes a monthly column for the magazine, Cyclist. He is also currently working on the first follow-up to The Rules, tentatively entitled The Hardmen. Email him directly at rouleur@velominati.com.

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stooge says:

Jul 6 2017 at 9:48 am
@Pali65
@chris

@stooge

@Pali65

There are all kinds of crazy conspiracy theories getting around about Sagans DQ…

There is no Anglo French collusion to discredit Sagan or contrive to place a Frenchman in Green after years of hurt caused by English domination of yellow. None whatsoever. And there was no digital manipulation of the finish line photos.

1

Priceless picture!

In the last 2 days I’ve read so many theories including:
- this is just continuance of Munich agreement of 1938
- small countries are oppressed by ex-colonial powers
- chemtrails dropped on the heads of jury members
- same guys caused flats on Sagan’s wheels in Rio MTB race etc.
Yesterday was a day off in Slovakia and I rode my MTB in a hot and humid weather on a quite long route along Danube shore. It is a long distance European bike route and there is a segment with deep gravel surface (I would like to know which idiot decided about this) where I met a French couple who complained about the road. Cold blooded I’ve told them that this was ordered day before by our prime minister as a revenge for TdF. They frowned and then started to laugh loudly. We had a nice chat together and left as good friends. They’ve just expressed a hope that Sagan will win next year and I had to smile about this encounter for the rest of the day.

Sorry for off topic…

0
Great story. Glad they came around to the joke.
Rick says:

Jul 6 2017 at 9:55 am

@wiscot

@Rick

@wiscot

WTF? I hear talk that Bora want Sagan reinstated. Ye cannae dae that! He’s out. He’s missed at least two stages. What kind of precedent would it set? This is not a rider missing a time cut through injury or illness. The race jury threw Sagan out for dangerous riding. Ok, so he are Cav are having a bit of a lovefest over it, but Pinchy is out. It’ll be a huge mistake to let him back in.

0

Lawyers are involved. I do not think they expect him to be reinstated that is just their opening bargaining position. The Bora council’s claim is that by rule a rider can only be expelled from the race if he is given the chance to present his case and Sagan was not given this chance. My guess is that they are ultimately looking for monetary damages from the UCI and/or ASO.

0

Bora might have a case for damages for lost PR/media exposure. Sagan gets a lot of press and that is now lost. They can’t reinstate him though. The UCI will happily say to ASO – “this one’s all yours.”

0

I absolutely believe that Bora has a case for damages. If Sagan was not allowed due process by explaining his point of view as mandated by the official rules Bora is very likely to win. I am not a lawyer, however, and would love anyone who is to chime in on the subject.

PS> I also believe that the Bora legal team was 100% certain that Sagan would not be reinstated. That was an opening position which they expected to be denied. Now they can argue that they have been harmed first by the expulsion then by the denial of the reinstatement request.
stooge says:

Jul 6 2017 at 9:59 am

@wiscot

@Rick

@wiscot

WTF? I hear talk that Bora want Sagan reinstated. Ye cannae dae that! He’s out. He’s missed at least two stages. What kind of precedent would it set? This is not a rider missing a time cut through injury or illness. The race jury threw Sagan out for dangerous riding. Ok, so he are Cav are having a bit of a lovefest over it, but Pinchy is out. It’ll be a huge mistake to let him back in.

0

Lawyers are involved. I do not think they expect him to be reinstated that is just their opening bargaining position. The Bora council’s claim is that by rule a rider can only be expelled from the race if he is given the chance to present his case and Sagan was not given this chance. My guess is that they are ultimately looking for monetary damages from the UCI and/or ASO.

0

Bora might have a case for damages for lost PR/media exposure. Sagan gets a lot of press and that is now lost. They can’t reinstate him though. The UCI will happily say to ASO – “this one’s all yours.”

0

I heard that if the fine is less than 200 francs that they need not consult with the rider.

As for social media, I think team directors taking to twitter, making allegations of violence, and dictating what must be done, prior to any decision, is way out of order. I get that emotions are high, but there should be a rule around this sort of thing, and it too needs to be enforced.

It's a shame it has ended up in court.
Rick says:

Jul 6 2017 at 10:04 am

@stooge

@wiscot

@Rick

@wiscot

WTF? I hear talk that Bora want Sagan reinstated. Ye cannae dae that! He’s out. He’s missed at least two stages. What kind of precedent would it set? This is not a rider missing a time cut through injury or illness. The race jury threw Sagan out for dangerous riding. Ok, so he are Cav are having a bit of a lovefest over it, but Pinchy is out. It’ll be a huge mistake to let him back in.

0

Lawyers are involved. I do not think they expect him to be reinstated that is just their opening bargaining position. The Bora council’s claim is that by rule a rider can only be expelled from the race if he is given the chance to present his case and Sagan was not given this chance. My guess is that they are ultimately looking for monetary damages from the UCI and/or ASO.

0

Bora might have a case for damages for lost PR/media exposure. Sagan gets a lot of press and that is now lost. They can’t reinstate him though. The UCI will happily say to ASO – “this one’s all yours.”

0

I heard that if the fine is less than 200 francs that they need not consult with the rider.

As for social media, I think team directors taking to twitter, making allegations of violence, and dictating what must be done, prior to any decision, is way out of order. I get that emotions are high, but there should be a rule around this sort of thing, and it too needs to be enforced.

It’s a shame it has ended up in court.

0

I am going by the interpretation offered on the broadcast of today's stage. I seem to recall Paul consulting the rule book and confirming that the rider must be given due process prior to expulsion.
Rick says:

Jul 6 2017 at 10:20 am

Copied and pasted from UCI Cycling Regulations:

12.2.006 The Commissaires Panel may judge the matter only if the offending party has had a chance to defend his point of view or if, being present when summoned, he fails to respond.
Pali65 says:

Jul 6 2017 at 11:15 am

Have you seen Demare forcing his way around Katusha guy in the sprint no matter what? Is this negligence to hit the brakes business as usual or a dangerous reckless riding? Any penalties due?
Rick says:

Jul 6 2017 at 11:33 am

@Pali65

Have you seen Demare forcing his way around Katusha guy in the sprint no matter what? Is this negligence to hit the brakes business as usual or a dangerous reckless riding? Any penalties due?

0

Demare has done that twice now. I have to believe that if he was not French there would have been penalties. I don't understand how they can kick Sagan out and not punish Demare for the Tuesday stage. Then he veered off of his line again today.
wiscot says:

Jul 6 2017 at 12:44 pm

@Rick

@Pali65

Have you seen Demare forcing his way around Katusha guy in the sprint no matter what? Is this negligence to hit the brakes business as usual or a dangerous reckless riding? Any penalties due?

0

Demare has done that twice now. I have to believe that if he was not French there would have been penalties. I don’t understand how they can kick Sagan out and not punish Demare for the Tuesday stage. Then he veered off of his line again today.

0

Today Demare kinda kept his line, but he should have been relegated for cutting off Bouhanni on Tuesday. But he's French and this is Le Tour. Patriotisme!
wiscot says:

Jul 6 2017 at 12:50 pm

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/a-statement-from-cyclingnews-contributor-philippa-york/

Chapeau to Phillipa and all the best. And let me be one of the first to say "fuck off" to the inevitable haters who are about to crawl out from under their rocks. Even in 2017, it takes a lot of courage for a high profile person (particularly a former sportsman) to come out in this way. Good luck and best wishes with your new life.
Ron says:

Jul 6 2017 at 1:10 pm

I hope we don't see any haters around here, wiscot. One thing I find pleasant about cycling is that the fans/participants seem to be a bit more educated and open-minded than the average American ball sports fan.

With the scary political, environmental, and economic situations going on around the world, my need to care about personal choices of individuals is so far down on the list of things I think we need to be discussing. I really don't care what bathroom someone wants to use when we have a moron potentially provoking nuclear war.