BDS

I'm having a hard time remembering from last year.... Is this something that the teams have phased out? It seems like Lotto or Orica-GE would have somebody trying to make sure that other sprinters have a harder time surfing wheels. I know that's a lot of armchair cycling (Herman Miller office furniture FTW!), but I'm curious....

Has anyone else noticed this? Thanks!

HardyWeinberg

I thought I saw a Greipel's leadout guy at the finish yesterday box out Sagan on his way back.

Bacciagalupe

Normally in a sprint, there's a fair amount of jostling. But unless you have a clear path, you're supposed to hold your line. If you're a lead-out, you're supposed to pull off to the side quickly, otherwise you could cause a crash, get run over, and/or get relegated.

E.g. a few years ago, Renshaw was leading out for Cavendish. In the process, he head-butted Julian Dean multiple times, and after pulling off swung far to the left to try and shut the door on Farrar -- and basically pushed Farrar dangerously close to the barriers. That got Renshaw thrown out of the Tour altogether.

The only way to really get someone off your wheel in a sprint is to out-sprint them.


Check again... Greipel was all the way to the left, Sagan was all the way to the right. Sagan was on someone's wheel and came around.

kleinboogie

What I'm seeing is a lot of guys holding lines but drifting back in the middle of a tightly packed group which seems to cause a lot of swerving. Touchy stuff and I'm hoping it all calms down soon.

Keith99

Bolding mine.

Or do what the Op was refering to, not have the actual sprinter be last in hte line. Have a teammate behind him.

At the least that means anyone passing has to come from 1 bike length further back. If the teammate backs off at just the right time it opens a gap. (back off too early and then the wheel opens up, but even there it means a burst of energy was used ot catch the wheel.)

YMCA

I have not seen true "sweepers" for decades.
Teams tend to need everyone in the train to keep the speed high.

Local amateur racing uses it sometimes though. A great tactic and perfectly safe if employed correctly.

900aero

Apropos of this:
What then does everyone make of the penalty Goss received for breaking his line in front of Sagan? Personally, I thought it was harsh with repercussions for Goss and also the race overall. In terms of movement off sprint lines, there was pretty good comparison at the intermediate sprint on the same stage when Greipel moved into Sagans path and then sat up - and no-one complained. The final sprint had Goss definitely moving left but Sagan moved right at the same time to suck onto Goss's wheel - and then dived like an Italian soccer star, hand gestures everywhere when he was met by Goss coming the other way.

The net result of this + a few days of everyone (Sagan, Hummel, Cav) sitting on GreenEdge's train before launching is that GreenEdge refused to lead on Monday and thus the stage was won by the breakaway. I wouldn't be surprised if they don't lead again.

YMCA

There was no need for Goss to throw a hook like that.
The sprint was not for the win and losing to Sagan would have only meant a single point.
I will say Sagan sure did a 1930's Oscar winning job of overacting though. Ha.

Bacciagalupe

Goss had no viable reason to change his line. He had a clear path and plenty of space.

I agree with losing a place, but losing so many sprint points was a bit much.

If Orica is going to try and control a stage, they have no cause for complaint when the rest of the peloton takes advantage of them for it. And if Greipel wanted a stage win, he should have directed Lotto to shut down the break.

It's a race, not a hugging contest.

900aero

No cause for complaint but no need to persist either - which is my point.