The inaugural Velominati Super Prestige makes an unscheduled stop this week at the Tour de Suisse. Originally left off the VSP roster, it was decided among the Keepers that the ‘fourth Grand Tour’ is indeed worthy of inclusion in our humble tipping competition. As one of the final hit-outs for many Tour de France contenders, the Swiss race shows who might be ready to step up in July, who’s needing to pull their finger out, and who might be targeting this race as a worthy addition to their palmares. With a couple of TT’s, stages that could go to the sprinters or a daring breakaway, and some of the most picturesque mountain passes in Europe, it has something for everyone, and anyone could win.
Can Motorcus find an ‘extra gear’ and back up his 09 victory? Will the EgoTesticle show signs of his old self on the bike, or just behave like his old self off it? And are the Brothers Grimpeur finally going to do something, anything?
Let us know your thoughts, and make your picks to pick up a sweet Obey The Rules bumper sticker, in the posts section on this page. For a full rundown on the competition scoring etc, visit our VSP Schedule, Rules and Results page.
Good luck!
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View Comments
@Steampunk
Thanks for the great photo sequence. (Weird that you have to click "previous" to get the sequence in the right order.) It looks like Petacchi had the sense not to salute after getting a freebie stage like that. Respect to him for that.
@frank: here is a video on youtube
I wonder how many that one will take out of our rosters....
As much as it wouldn't bother me, I can't say its Cavs fault entirely, looks like a real accident.
@Souleur
damn. I actually felt Haussler's head hitting the tarmac there.
I'd like to know the opinion of someone who has sprinted for a finish thinks on fault for that one (I've never raced so I'm pretty unsure).
@Souleur
Thanks for the video"”not sure I want to watch it too many times, though. Cav did seem to make quite a bit of lateral movement to his left, but it does just look like bad luck. Boonen seemed to be okay. It looks as though he barely hit the ground. Haussler looked pretty scuffed up and that was quite a crack on the ol' melon. Not good.
Looking again: some nifty handling from Flecha, who managed to squeeze through the middle of the carnage.
@Souleur
Yikes. I would agree it's an accident, and they were both violating Rule 59. It's hard to tell who is veering off the most, but it certainly looks like Cavencrash goes off farther than Haussler. I hate how his wheel folds under for about 2 frames before he goes down. Brutal.
according to the bbc, cavendish is mainly road rash but unbroken and likely to race tomorrow
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/cycling/8742540.stm
no news on the ag2r guy who cartwheels on the right yet
@frank
Actually, the arial shot makes it pretty clear that Haussler is observing Rule 59, and Cav goes way across the road. He should have been regulated for that, if he hadn't turned himself into a hamburger first.
UCI Rule 2.3.036
Riders shall be strictly forbidden to deviate from the lane they selected when launching into the sprint and, in so doing, endangering others.
Or, more briefly as stated by the Velominati.
Rule 59
Hold your line.
Cavendish moves from the inside to the middle and into Haussler. Young Mark has paid the price for violating Rule 59. Let that be a lesson to those who would casually violate the Rules. (I like how the British announcer says Haussler is the one swinging over, and then apologizes for blaming Cavendish.) Haussler, also deviates a bit off his line, but nothing that would get him santioned. Haussler's blame in this is violating one of the most sacred of all rules for sprinters: keep your head up and look where you are going. Inexperienced sprinters tend to look down in the great strain of the effort. Given his vision is probably already reduced by oxygen deprivation, he might not even have seen Cavendish coming into him. Then, Haussler loses control of the bike in the strain of the effort, and swings his front wheel into Cav's pedal.
Proximate cause: Haussler putting his front wheel into Mark's pedal.
Remote cause: Mark's violating Rule 59.
I suspect the club of ProTour sprinters is going to blame Haussler entirely. The crash could have been avoided and should have been avoided but for Haussler's bad technique. A good sprinter should be able to handle someone coming over into them. It happens all the time. And Haussler had room to slide to his left. Or, if he were really slick like McEwen, he should have head-butted Cavendish in the attempt to defend his lane.