_ForceD_

In all my years of watching the grand tours, and other pro cycling events I never knew this. I was watching the re-run of the penultimate stage of the Vuelta. Phil and Bob were doing their usual commenting and then Bob suddenly said "That rider will have to pay a fine for that water bottle he just tossed." I always thought they could be thrown just anywhere and were collected later. They went on and explained there are designated zones where the bottles can be discarded. If a bottle is discarded outside of those zones, the rider is fined...UNLESS...and I found this sorta funny...unless the bottle is thrown at or near a spectator. In that case, the race commissaires considered the bottle a souvenir and the rider is not fined.

Dan

SpinClassSara

I did not know that either!

slcbob

That's semi new. Save the dolphins, global warming, etc. The Badger and the Cannibal hurled bidons with impunity back in their day, and I'm pretty sure that continued well through the reign of the uni-balled one who shall not be named up until just a few years back.

But, yes, interesting commentary from Bobke on the ins and outs of the ecosystem. It does what it needs to do to continue to operate in these more environmentally aware days. Same goes for the pocket litter. It's weird to see them putting wrappers back in their pockets. But good.

CliffordK

I think there was a note earlier that they are single-use bottles. No sharing of water bottles among teammates. Not even washing them.

It would be fun if they sat down and had signature parties, and signed their water bottles pre-race, and then tossed autographed bottles to spectators.

Does throwing water bottles at unruly spectators and cameramen count?

dstrong 

Don't they also have trash zones? Where riders can discard all of the food packaging from their snacks?

Lemond1985

Fignon must've known the rules inside and out, when he famously tossed that water bottle at the CBS camera crew in the '88 Tour (he was hanging onto the team car).



Cameraman was quite forgiving. He was quoted as saying, "Let bidons, be bidons."

surak

What about at another racer?

bbbean 

LOL - I saw that during the race.

In all seriousness, though, it was bad form to throw a bottle OVER the peloton from the edge instead of throwing to the side of the road closest to you. Had the bottle landed in front of a rider, it would have been a lot less funny.

aclinjury

ban them from throwing wrappers and bottles. It looks a bit uncivilized.

tgenec86

Plastic litter is just that - plastic litter. I understand and support restricting riders from tossing bottles and trash off in forests, into a field, on a mountainside in the middle of nowhere. Trash zones make good sense and are easy enough to use.

There was one article I found to be utterly ridiculous though - it was talking about fining riders for "throwing DANGEROUS PROJECTILES" into crowds... A water bottle has now become a dangerous projectile? Twenty years from now our respective Governments won't even allow bike racing because it's so dangerous. Imagine, a group of murderous lunatics throwing projectiles, riding objects capable of producing deadly splinters and featuring rotating knives, whizzing past at lethal speed to the helpless and vulnerable spectators. The only races will be at tracks with chain link fences separating the fans - for their safety...

I can only hope I'm being sarcastic and this doesn't come to pass. I'm not too optimistic though.

panta

at least wrappers

roadwarrior

Yikes.

First of all this was a new rule this season. They have signs along the road to show the riders where to pitch them.

Second, most of them discard them to spectators for souvenirs.

Sometimes there is a reason why they get pitched over the peloton. A little kid standing there. These guys know what they are doing. Also, if there is a large crowd tossing one can create an issue like jumping for a foul ball. So they toss it the other direction.

They just didn't want trash all along the route.