# Punches fistacuffs and broken shades on a climb no less, Vuelta is tough!



## BacDoc (Aug 1, 2011)

What a race this Vuelta is!


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## Marc (Jan 23, 2005)

Full contact cycling. Could make boring sprint stages a ton more interesting


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## Retro Grouch (Apr 30, 2002)

Angry, skinny men with spindly arms flailing. 

It wasn’t a pretty sight to watch.


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## Marc (Jan 23, 2005)

Retro Grouch said:


> Angry, skinny men with spindly arms flailing.
> 
> It wasn’t a pretty sight to watch.


Dubbed "Prize Fighter Brambilla", by Kirby.


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## BacDoc (Aug 1, 2011)

Cool that the cameras were on it and the narration by commentators was great too.


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## Retro Grouch (Apr 30, 2002)

Marc said:


> Dubbed "Prize Fighter Brambilla", by Kirby.


I also liked Kirby's post-donnybrook quote, "Handbags at Dawn."


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## Mike T. (Feb 3, 2004)

Retro Grouch said:


> I also liked Kirby's post-donnybrook quote, "Handbags at Dawn."


They should try balloons on sticks.


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## Karlyn (Aug 2, 2013)

That was crazy! Glad the cameras caught it all. Nothing like a cat fight on two wheels.


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## Marc (Jan 23, 2005)

Karlyn said:


> That was crazy! Glad the cameras caught it all. Nothing like a cat fight on two wheels.


..all while racing up a mountain.


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## Marc (Jan 23, 2005)

Wow. Prize Fighter Brambilla is out? Is that right? Sanctioned to the max, took long enough.


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## Jwiffle (Mar 18, 2005)

Both are out


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## Marc (Jan 23, 2005)

Jwiffle said:


> Both are out


Apparently no one has told Rovniy yet. NVM...

"Hopefully those two aren't staying at the same hotel tonight...don't worry, we have the rooming list...we'll get back to you"


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## Jwiffle (Mar 18, 2005)

Marc said:


> Apparently no one has told Rovniy yet.
> 
> "Hopefully those two aren't staying at the same hotel tonight...don't worry, we have the rooming list...we'll get back to you"


Yeah, one site says they're both out, but watching the feed he seems still to be in. ...wait, looks like Rovny is out now


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## Karlyn (Aug 2, 2013)

Jwiffle said:


> Yeah, one site says they're both out, but watching the feed he seems still to be in. ...wait, looks like Rovny is out now


I'm reading on Twitter that they both have been disqualified. Yikes!


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## burgrat (Nov 18, 2005)

Here's the video:

Vuelta 2014 - Fight between Brambilla and Rovny - YouTube


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## love4himies (Jun 12, 2012)

That was hilarious. You need something like that to liven up the stage. 

Well it was another great stage at the Vuelta.


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## evs (Feb 18, 2004)

I didn't see what started the handbag fight. Why did the saxo man turn around and start hitting Brambilla?


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## Marc (Jan 23, 2005)

evs said:


> I didn't see what started the handbag fight. Why did the saxo man turn around and start hitting Brambilla?


Theory is that it was a frank discussion of salient character flaws re: who wasn't putting any work in the break


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## jmorgan (Apr 13, 2012)

evs said:


> I didn't see what started the handbag fight. Why did the saxo man turn around and start hitting Brambilla?


OPQS guy looks like he crabs Tinkoff guys saddle (going up hill). Tinkoff guy hits his hand off the saddle then goes over for a talk putting his arm around him and the OPQS guy hits him in the face. And then continued back and forth for a little bit.


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## azpeterb (Jun 1, 2006)

Pretty good skillz, taking swings at one another without crashing. Guess that's why they're pros.


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## troutmd (Sep 7, 2007)

Are these two warriors scheduled for a Pay-4-View death match on the rest day tomorrow?


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## mpre53 (Oct 25, 2011)

The Badger needs to run an off-season clinic to teach these whippersnappers how to throw a decent punch.


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## Creakyknees (Sep 21, 2003)

burgrat said:


> Here's the video:
> 
> Vuelta 2014 - Fight between Brambilla and Rovny - YouTube


and here's the DQ... love the instant justice!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biwjqA20zJQ


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## Creakyknees (Sep 21, 2003)

better videos here:

Rovny, Brambilla come to blows at Vuelta a Espana - VeloNews.com


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## MMsRepBike (Apr 1, 2014)

This wasn't the only altercation that led to punches that day:

Deignan says he was punched "full in the face" by Rodriguez | Cyclingnews.com

Lots of hormones raging at the Vuelta, people going crazy. Must be the water.


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## love4himies (Jun 12, 2012)

MMsRepBike said:


> This wasn't the only altercation that led to punches that day:
> 
> Deignan says he was punched "full in the face" by Rodriguez | Cyclingnews.com
> 
> Lots of hormones raging at the Vuelta, people going crazy. Must be the water.





> Contacted by Cyclingnews on Tuesday morning, the Katusha team acknowledged that an altercation had taken place between Rodriguez and Deignan, but said that the contact had been accidental. Katusha added that Rodriguez will offer a full explanation of the incident in his rest day press conference in A Coruña.
> 
> “[Rodriguez] made just a gesture with his hand like ‘what are you doing?’ after Deignan hit Purito's handlebars with his handlebars, and he hit Deignan in the face by accident,” a team spokesman said by email. “He apologized and did so in the evening and the morning after. It was not his intention to touch him.”


One would think if it was accidental, then Rodriguez would have felt sorry and apologized at the time of the incident, rather than after the race.


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## J.R. (Sep 14, 2009)

"Mommy", "Jimmy hit me".

"Jimmy", "why did you hit your sister?"

"I didn't try it Mommy". "It was an accident".


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## love4himies (Jun 12, 2012)

love4himies said:


> One would think if it was accidental, then Rodriguez would have felt sorry and apologized at the time of the incident, rather than after the race.


Just read what lead up the punch:

Philip Deignan: 'Rodriguez split my lip with a punch on climb' - Independent.ie




> Going over the top of the penultimate climb on Sunday, I had my team leader Chris Froome behind me and was moving up to get into the wheels of the Tinkoff-Saxo train at the front, which I was perfectly entitled to do.
> 
> As we hurtled along in the rain at around 50kph, Katusha's Spanish team leader Joaquin Rodriguez, who is fourth overall, took umbrage to my presence and nudged me out a little bit. So I held my ground and nudged him back.
> 
> ...


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## MMsRepBike (Apr 1, 2014)

Good on him for not "cornering him in the hotel" as well. If someone punched me in the face I would not be able to handle the situation as well as he did. He must have had an adrenaline spike when it happened but stayed cool. Maybe his boxing training can be to thank for his cool head.


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## spade2you (May 12, 2009)

Lay off the Spanish beef, eh? 

I still want someone from here to come up with a Carne Astana recipe.


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## MMsRepBike (Apr 1, 2014)

There's a bit more on the Purito incident:




> A Katusha team official told Reuters the contact was accidental.
> “It was more a gesture saying ‘what are you doing?’” a Katusha press officer said. “He did not mean to touch him.”





> *UPDATE: *At a press conference held during Tuesday’s press conference, Rodriguez addressed Deignan’s claims, saying, “”I read about it this morning, and I am surprised to hear about this two days after it happened. There was nothing to it, nothing more than circumstances of the race. You get tangled up, not just with him, but 40,000 times. There are always going to be a few bumps. It certainly was not as exaggerated as he made it out to be. I certainly do not give it any importance. At the moment, we excused ourselves, and made up.”





> Sky rider Pete Kennaugh was not buying Rodriguez’s explanation of the “accidental” punch, posting on Twitter, “What a lying prick, take responsibly for your actions coward!”


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## BacDoc (Aug 1, 2011)

Too bad Sagan dropped out. With the bad blood between Sky and Katusha and OPQS and Tinkoff Saxo, the final stages will probably degenerate to a mass brawl and Sagan with his bike handling skills could punch and bunny hop his way thru the mayhem to victory with huge time bonuses!


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## evs (Feb 18, 2004)

If this is so, the way Rodriquez says, then why did he have to be led by the hand to apologize like a little school boy.
"so when his directeur sportif marched him over to our bus before the start today [Monday] and made him apologise, I swallowed my pride and simply let it go,” Deignan continued. 

Man up Rodriquez. You're not a sprinter, trying to nudge people out of the way, you're a little climber. 
Ahhh, roadie racers, you got to love em.


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## coldash (May 7, 2012)

Whack 'em Rodriquez seems to be getting a bit desperate. His form hasn't been great this year and this episode may be a bit of frustration coming out, but, in any event, Peter Kennaugh's assessment seems a fair summary.


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## kiwisimon (Oct 30, 2002)

MMsRepBike said:


> Lots of hormones raging at the Vuelta, people going crazy. Must be the *water*.


Horse meat I think.


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## r1lee (Jul 22, 2012)

Roid rage... That's all I got to say.


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## looigi (Nov 24, 2010)

I went to a fight and a bike race broke out.


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## Twinge (Apr 28, 2014)

Fighting in Hockey: Fans love it, refs allow it (to a point), people rarely get hurt.

Fighting in cycling: OMG, you are DQ'd. 

Lame.


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## BacDoc (Aug 1, 2011)

Same race, different decade.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eArlm3ukbVs


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