# Stage 11: Sisteron to Bourg-lès-Valence - 180 km



## weltyed (Feb 6, 2004)

Stage 10 didn't really do it for me. I expected a frencman to really make a go for it. I also expected the group to ride more than tempo. I thought Stage 11 would be more the club ride than, but they decided to do that Stage10. I guess at least the Radio Shack win gave VS something to cheer about. And the yellow brick road was kinda cool.

Stage 11 has a Cat3 climb, but that peaks at 56k into the stage. From there it is mostly a slow descent, with just a few mini-bumps in the last 50k. There could be a breakaway, but today probably allowed the sprinters time to freshen their legs, and with a bumpy Stage 12, the quickmen will wanna do their best.

Petacchi? Cavs? Thor? Thor has the green jersey, but Thor, Petacchi, and Rocket Robbie sprinted it out for the first line in Stage 10. Only 7 pts separate Thor and Petacchi, so I see them battling every chance they get. Farrar was nearly lantern rouge. That could mean he is either resting up or in some pretty bad wrist pain. Cavs and Petacchi want a third stage, while Thor still only has one. Cavs and Petacchi have better leadout trains right now.

Cavs takes it.


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## Kaleo (Jun 15, 2008)

Looks like another boring day at the office... Petacchi


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## jd3 (Oct 8, 2004)

Cav was testing his legs today. It will probably be him, but I'm picking Tyler. Just cause I want to.


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## il sogno (Jul 15, 2002)

jd3 said:


> Cav was testing his legs today. It will probably be him, but I'm picking Tyler. Just cause I want to.


Me too. Cav will probably win it but I'm picking Tyler.


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## denversean (Jun 14, 2004)

I'd really like to see McEwen win at least one this year for old times sake. Nothing better than watching him sneak out of nowhere to steal the stage by a wheel in the last 20ft.


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## albert owen (Jul 7, 2008)

If Cav _really is_ back to his best, he should manage this one while picking his nose, doing V signs, phoning home and pedalling with one leg


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## Opus51569 (Jul 21, 2009)

Is the feeding station really at a place called "Die"? 

I'll pick Cavendish ftw.


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## Haridic (Jun 9, 2008)

Cavendish has got this one, though the HTC leadout train is looking incredibly fragile this year...


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## jd3 (Oct 8, 2004)

Robbie Hunter is out with a broken arm. Tyler has lost his best lead out man.


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## Brad the Bold (Jun 8, 2010)

Yawnfest.

The official tracker says yesterday was the slowest overall stage of the Tour. 

And today's stage is already 15 minutes slower than projected. 

They are lollygagging their way to the Pyranees.

Lollygaggers! (/Bull Durham reference)


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## Oracle7775 (Sep 16, 2009)

I think Cav will win, but I hope it's Petacchi.


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## spade2you (May 12, 2009)

Cav, but I'm hoping for Tyler, Ale Jet, Thor, Robbie Mc, etc. Anyone but Cav would be nice.


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## Geoffersonspin (Feb 12, 2010)

What a clusterf*ck of a finish.

Sucks that Tyler got cut off by Renshaw but nobody was beating Cav today anyway.


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## Marc (Jan 23, 2005)

Geoffersonspin said:


> What a clusterf*ck of a finish.


HTC/Col is now resorting to headbutting to keep Cav in his wheelsucking position?


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## jd3 (Oct 8, 2004)

Geoffersonspin said:


> What a clusterf*ck of a finish.
> 
> Sucks that Tyler got cut off by Renshaw but nobody was beating Cav today anyway.


Almost looked like WWE


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## den bakker (Nov 13, 2004)

Marc said:


> HTC/Col is now resorting to headbutting to keep Cav in his wheelsucking position?


nah that got many tricks. Riding people into the barrier as well.


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## Opus51569 (Jul 21, 2009)

Somebody call a cop...I think Farrar just got robbed. Renshaw came off his line in front of Farrar at the end.


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## MaddSkillz (Mar 13, 2007)

Well, that was strange.


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## JohnHemlock (Jul 15, 2006)

I like how every sprint Paul and Phil pump up Farrar for a big finish and every sprint he goes invisible at the end.


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## MattSoutherden (Jun 24, 2009)

Wouldn't surprise me to see HTC get penalised for that, given the previous record from last year of penalising Cav at any opportunity.


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## sokudo (Dec 22, 2007)

Marc said:


> HTC/Col is now resorting to headbutting to keep Cav in his wheelsucking position?


That, and then blocking Farrar.


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## Marc (Jan 23, 2005)

Opus51569 said:


> Somebody call a cop...I think Farrar just got robbed. Renshaw came off his line in front of Farrar at the end.


Seconded.


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## Oracle7775 (Sep 16, 2009)

It's a little-known fact that HTC helmets have retractable titanium blades built in for just that purpose.


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## Marc (Jan 23, 2005)

sokudo said:


> That, and then blocking Farrar.


VeloSnooze awarded Renshaw the "Wanker of the Day" award in their text feed.


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## Geoffersonspin (Feb 12, 2010)

I don't know that Farrar got robbed of first but probably second, by the time he got cutoff by Renshaw, Cav was already a bike length ahead of him. Still, with the fighting that was going on you see Farrar swing right then have to swing back left and then get cutoff. That really is a LOT of wasted time he could have been actually sprinting but for the bobble heads in front of him.

Poor Thor loses his green =/


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## MaddSkillz (Mar 13, 2007)

Why in the world did Tyler Ferrar drop from Julian Dean's wheel and sit in with HTC on that lead-out???


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## jd3 (Oct 8, 2004)

Thor is going to have to work harder than that to wear green in Paris.


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## nims (Jul 7, 2009)

I'd normally be annoyed at Cav winning again (making it boring) but I like the style. Beating up the competition. I guess I watch to much contact sports ;p 

I'd think that was illegal technique to head butt the opponents and then box in the rest.


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## Salsa_Lover (Jul 6, 2008)

Renshaw headbanging on the Garmin leadout man and then closing Farrar's line... he'll get a penalty I guess...


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## LWP (Jun 6, 2006)

Julian says "that's sprinting". He isn't crying so there's really no reason for anybody else to cry about it.


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## T-Doc (Apr 4, 2002)

Sorry But it looked to me like Dean was trying to push Renshaw against the barriers to box Cav in....I don't think the head butting was any different than the elbowing and shoving that usually accompanies these sprints.


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## OldEndicottHiway (Jul 16, 2007)

Behhhhhh!


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## PG_Gary (Jan 21, 2008)

Salsa_Lover said:


> Renshaw headbanging on the Garmin leadout man and then closing Farrar's line... he'll get a penalty I guess...


Cycling Weekly is reporting on Twitter that Renshaw's been DQ'd and removed from the TdF! Juliet Macur from the New York Times is reporting that Renshaw has been removed from the offical stage results.

_Edited to fix spelling of Juliet Macur's name._


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## albert owen (Jul 7, 2008)

Lots of sour grapes here. Folks must be all broken up that the man they had consigned to the box marked "Loser" has proved them wrong.
Cavendish - The best TdF sprinter for the last 20 years - bar none!


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## PG_Gary (Jan 21, 2008)

Renshaw's now on the official TdF withdrawal list:
http://www.letour.fr/2010/TDF/LIVE/us/abandons.html


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## T-Doc (Apr 4, 2002)

velonews just reported the same...


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## Marc (Jan 23, 2005)

PG_Gary said:


> Cycling Weekly is reporting on Twitter that Renshaw's been DQ'd and removed from the TdF! Juliet Mansur (sp?) from the New York Times is reporting that Renshaw has been removed from the offical stage results.


Links plz?


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## MaddSkillz (Mar 13, 2007)

Dizzam!


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## Oracle7775 (Sep 16, 2009)

Wow, Renshaw's moves looked bad, but not THAT bad...

So, who's going to be Cav's leadout man now?


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## PG_Gary (Jan 21, 2008)

Marc said:


> Links plz?


Cycling Weekly Twitter: https://twitter.com/cyclingweekly

Official TdF Abandon List: http://www.letour.fr/2010/TDF/LIVE/us/abandons.html


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## Salsa_Lover (Jul 6, 2008)

the announcement on FR2 right now : Renshaw disqualified and out of the TDF


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## MattSoutherden (Jun 24, 2009)

Told you there'd be an anti HTC bias to the penalties.

2 guys get into a real fight on st. 6 and that's fine, Renshaw gets kicked out of the Tour.

Hmmm.


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## den bakker (Nov 13, 2004)

albert owen said:


> Lots of sour grapes here. Folks must be all broken up that the man they had consigned to the box marked "Loser" has proved them wrong.
> Cavendish - The best TdF sprinter for the last 20 years - bar none!


Cavendish 
Renshaw
People mix those names up all the time....


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## T-Doc (Apr 4, 2002)

http://velonews.competitor.com/2010...overage-of-the-tour-de-france-stage-11_129140


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## Brad the Bold (Jun 8, 2010)

Wow, just wow!

A total DQ!


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## Oracle7775 (Sep 16, 2009)

Velonews reporting that the official reason for Renshaw's DQ is "Trying to headbutt rival Julian Dean."

http://velonews.competitor.com/2010...overage-of-the-tour-de-france-stage-11_129140


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## PG_Gary (Jan 21, 2008)

Oracle7775 said:


> Wow, Renshaw's moves looked bad, but not THAT bad...
> 
> So, who's going to be Cav's leadout man now?


At worst, I thought they may take the stage away from Cavendish. I wonder if there's an appeals process that HTC can use to fight the expulsion?

Bernie Eisel usually peels off right before Renshaw takes over, so maybe him? The question is, does Cavendish stay in through the mountains or pull out in the next stage or so if he doesn't have his main lead out man?


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## Salsa_Lover (Jul 6, 2008)

T-Doc said:


> Sorry But it looked to me like Dean was trying to push Renshaw against the barriers to box Cav in....I don't think the head butting was any different than the elbowing and shoving that usually accompanies these sprints.


Elbowing is usual, even running into the other sprinter's line is penalized but not considered a disqualifying fault. 

in this case he headbanged the opponent and doing so also set the other sprinters out of the spring.

Tyler Farrar said in the interview that when he saw that this affected his sprint, he has already crashed and didn't want to crash again at 65Kmh due to that.


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## heffergm (Jul 9, 2010)

JohnHemlock said:


> I like how every sprint Paul and Phil pump up Farrar for a big finish and every sprint he goes invisible at the end.


His run ins just aren't as good, I'll admit, but in this case I think he got robbed... of second anyway.


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## izzyfly (Jul 10, 2009)

albert owen said:


> Lots of sour grapes here. Folks must be all broken up that the man they had consigned to the box marked "Loser" has proved them wrong.
> Cavendish - The best TdF sprinter for the last 20 years - bar none!


Speaking of history, seeing Robie M. finish 5th at age 38 brings back nostalgic memories including stage wins and some headbanging :mad2:


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## Marc (Jan 23, 2005)

Salsa_Lover said:


> Tyler Farrar said in the interview that when he saw that this affected his sprint, he has already crashed and didn't want to crash again at 65Kmh due to that.


I was wondering about that. Looked like Farrar sat up, and didn't want anything to do with the HTC crazies after that.


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## Marc (Jan 23, 2005)

albert owen said:


> Lots of sour grapes here. Folks must be all broken up that the man they had consigned to the box marked "Loser" has proved them wrong.
> Cavendish - The best TdF sprinter for the last 20 years - bar none!


He's a great wheelsucker...now if only he could learn how to ride a straight line...


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## Brad the Bold (Jun 8, 2010)

MattSoutherden said:


> Told you there'd be an anti HTC bias to the penalties.
> 
> 2 guys get into a real fight on st. 6 and that's fine, Renshaw gets kicked out of the Tour.
> 
> Hmmm.


I have to agree. This seems harsh. Especially in light of the wheel swinging slap fight.

Maybe post race vs. in race was the difference.


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## Salsa_Lover (Jul 6, 2008)

Cavendish on Interview defending Renshaw : "Mark did that because the other guy wanted to box me, you have to do that in that situation".

So he thinks this is acceptable sprinting behaviour. what are those guys thought at HTC ?!


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## Salsa_Lover (Jul 6, 2008)

Brad the Bold said:


> I have to agree. This seems harsh. Especially in light of the wheel swinging slap fight.
> 
> Maybe post race vs. in race was the difference.


Yes, one thing is a little fight out of the race between two guys

another much different is to fight headbanging at 65kmh puting in risk a whole field sprint. absolutely much dangerous.


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## T-Doc (Apr 4, 2002)

exactly


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## LWP (Jun 6, 2006)

Whatever. The person he head butted said on camera it was no big deal. "That's sprinting". Farrar tried to make it sound like he almost took out half the field but in reality all that happened was Farrar had to change his line. It's a f'ing race. They might as well just have them stop at the 1000m point, line up the top sprinters in painted lanes, tell them they each have to stay in their lane and fire a starting gun.


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## Marc (Jan 23, 2005)

Salsa_Lover said:


> Cavendish on Interview defending Renshaw : "Mark did that because the other guy wanted to box me, you have to do that in that situation".
> 
> So he thinks this is acceptable sprinting behaviour. what are those guys thought at HTC ?!


Well they certainly don't learn manners and basic bike-handling.


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## sokudo (Dec 22, 2007)

Salsa_Lover said:


> Cavendish on Interview defending Renshaw : "Mark did that because the other guy wanted to box me, you have to do that in that situation".
> 
> So he thinks this is acceptable sprinting behaviour. what are those guys thought at HTC ?!


More to the point, is a brand damage acceptable to Columbia and to HTC, the companies who are their sponsors? I wonder what kind of mail will they get and how will they react. Do they approve winning in this way and at this price?


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## albert owen (Jul 7, 2008)

Marc said:


> Well they certainly don't learn manners and basic bike-handling.


Cav has been World Madison Champion, so he clearly has no handling skill at all  . He learnt his trade in a hard school.

HTC have been marked men for a while.

Ho Hum - When Cav wins the next sprint withour Renshaw what'll your line be then?


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## nims (Jul 7, 2009)

Ouch, that's a little extreme of a penalty. I thought it was bad behavior but not worthy of being thrown out of the race. 

A warning would have been appropriate.

Maybe their goal is to throw him out to spice up the sprinting. Cav has it too easy ya know.


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## tinkerbeast (Jul 24, 2009)

LWP said:


> Whatever. The person he head butted said on camera it was no big deal. "That's sprinting". Farrar tried to make it sound like he almost took out half the field but in reality all that happened was Farrar had to change his line. It's a f'ing race. They might as well just have them stop at the 1000m point, line up the top sprinters in painted lanes, tell them they each have to stay in their lane and fire a starting gun.


in probably whats already the most dangerous tour in recent history, an example seriously needed to be made. look at the long list of injured riders and try telling them its just a f'ing race. i can understand elbowing and closing lines (which riders already get penalized for) but renshaws flailing head was a blatant disregard for safety and he deserves getting DQ'd.


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## T-Doc (Apr 4, 2002)

anyone know of a site for a video replay of the finish?


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## paredown (Oct 18, 2006)

I'm inclined to think that Renshaw lost it a little because he was pizzed at Dean--the swing onto Farrar's line was certainly avoidable--although Renshaw afterward claimed he's a clean sprinter and has always been a clean sprinter, and of course he would never do anything like try to force Tyler off his line.

Aside from Cav--I mean how do you actually accelerate that much out of a bunch that's already ripping up the road?--how can you not be impressed with Tyler's performance--slightly better luck, slightly better positioning and he's second--and under the right circumstances he gets Cav at the line.


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## MattSoutherden (Jun 24, 2009)

tinkerbeast said:


> in probably whats already the most dangerous tour in recent history, an example seriously needed to be made. look at the long list of injured riders and try telling them its just a f'ing race. i can understand elbowing and closing lines (which riders already get penalized for) but renshaws flailing head was a blatant disregard for safety and he deserves getting DQ'd.


The problem I have is double standards.

I'm in no way trying to say that it's fine to start headbutting in the sprints, but penalties have to be consistent. They can't just let people get away with stuff for 2 weeks then start dishing out DQs.


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## nims (Jul 7, 2009)

MattSoutherden said:


> The problem I have is double standards.
> 
> I'm in no way trying to say that it's fine to start headbutting in the sprints, but penalties have to be consistent. They can't just let people get away with stuff for 2 weeks then start dishing out DQs.


Like what other incidents are you thinking about? 

I thought most other crashes were really mostly due to accidents.


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## MattSoutherden (Jun 24, 2009)

nims said:


> Like what other incidents are you thinking about? .


Mainly the tiny fines handed out for fighting on stage 6. But there's been plenty of elbowing and barging up 'til now, and some pretty dangerous swerves in the sprints.


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## ultimobici (Jul 16, 2005)

Salsa_Lover said:


> Cavendish on Interview defending Renshaw : "Mark did that because the other guy wanted to box me, you have to do that in that situation".
> 
> So he thinks this is acceptable sprinting behaviour. what are those guys thought at HTC ?!


What are they taught? - spelling perhaps?


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## LWP (Jun 6, 2006)

MattSoutherden said:


> The problem I have is double standards.


Exactly. If Julian had blocked Cavs line and Farrar had taken the sprint the same people grumbling about Renshaw would be calling it a smart move and saying "that's sprinting". And if Cav had pouted about it the way Farrar did, those same people would be saying he's just crying because he lost. Swinging his head at Julian may not have been the thing to do but his job is to get Cav to the line and he says from his point of view Julian was trying to push that door closed. Taking Farrar's line is irrelevant at this point because that's not the reason they gave for the dq.


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## T-Doc (Apr 4, 2002)

How much do you think that the penalty was due to the blatantness of the crime?...people break the rules pretty often in the tour, like the elastic water bottle, and motor pacing back into the peloton, but it is usually overlooked by the officials unless it is really blatant or obvious. Maybe the usual argy-bargy gets overlooked because it is fairly discreet, leaning into each other and throwing elbows, but this head butting right in front of the cameras embarrassed the tour officials, thus the severity of the punishment.


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## rogger (Aug 19, 2005)

MattSoutherden said:


> Told you there'd be an anti HTC bias to the penalties.
> 
> 2 guys get into a real fight on st. 6 and that's fine, Renshaw gets kicked out of the Tour.
> 
> Hmmm.


Those two guys probably wouldn't be able to hurt each other, let alone endanger the rest of the peloton.


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## mrcookie (Mar 30, 2008)

LWP said:


> Whatever. The person he head butted said on camera it was no big deal. "That's sprinting". Farrar tried to make it sound like he almost took out half the field but in reality all that happened was Farrar had to change his line. It's a f'ing race. They might as well just have them stop at the 1000m point, line up the top sprinters in painted lanes, tell them they each have to stay in their lane and fire a starting gun.


what he said and what he thinks are probably different things. if he had complained everyone would be talking about what a whiner he is.


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## LWP (Jun 6, 2006)

rogger said:


> Those two guys probably wouldn't be able to hurt each other, let alone endanger the rest of the peloton.


What they're able to do doesn't matter. If we're going to crack down on the rules with the most severe possible penalties it needs to be across the board, not in selected situations.


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## LWP (Jun 6, 2006)

mrcookie said:


> what he said and what he thinks are probably different things. if he had complained everyone would be talking about what a whiner he is.


I'd say the main reason Julian had no complaints is that he was being just as aggressive in the sprint as Renshaw, it was just a little more subtle from the camera's perspective. I also think he meant exactly what he said, that it's just sprinting.


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## LesDiablesRouges (Jul 17, 2009)

Tour De Farce lives up to its billing yet again ...

Never seen so much crying from the riders about every little damn thing.

These are great endurance athletes but some of them are petualant little babies ...:mad2:


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## tinkerbeast (Jul 24, 2009)

MattSoutherden said:


> Mainly the tiny fines handed out for fighting on stage 6. But there's been plenty of elbowing and barging up 'til now, and some pretty dangerous swerves in the sprints.


i agree that the fines are laughable and relegation of a leadout guy is pointless, but i cant think of an inbetween penalty.


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## Marc (Jan 23, 2005)

tinkerbeast said:


> i agree that the fines are laughable and relegation of a leadout guy is pointless, but i cant think of an inbetween penalty.


Being locked in a room full of vuvuzelas?


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## MaddSkillz (Mar 13, 2007)

If I were Julian Dean, I'd be pissed - not because of the headbutt incident, but the fact that I worked my ass off pulling Farrar up and he just abandons my wheel. This happened before the WWE antics.

What the hell is Farrar doing jumping into the HTC train? Why can there not be two distince lead-out trains? 

Ferrar FAIL!1!~


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## rogger (Aug 19, 2005)

LWP said:


> What they're able to do doesn't matter. If we're going to crack down on the rules with the most severe possible penalties it needs to be across the board, not in selected situations.


Circumstances. especially those where you put others at risk, are a huge factor regarding the severity of the punishment. Putting others at risk surely is an aggravating circumstance while the humiliation of getting into a girly tiff after the race might be enough punishment in itself. Different situations, different penalties.


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## Creakyknees (Sep 21, 2003)

/ random thought... I wonder how many of the posters in this thread have ever participated in the front end of a bunch sprint...


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## rogger (Aug 19, 2005)

Creakyknees said:


> / random thought... I wonder how many of the posters in this thread have ever participated in the front end of a bunch sprint...


F*ck no, solo on the flats with no significant wind I max out at 50 KPH. :blush2:


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## muscleendurance (Jan 11, 2009)

Marc said:


> Being locked in a room full of people playing vuvuzelas?


Fx'ed


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## albert owen (Jul 7, 2008)

MaddSkillz said:


> If I were Julian Dean, I'd be pissed - not because of the headbutt incident, but the fact that I worked my ass off pulling Farrar up and he just abandons my wheel. This happened before the WWE antics.
> 
> What the hell is Farrar doing jumping into the HTC train? Why can there not be two distince lead-out trains?
> 
> Ferrar FAIL!1!~


+1 and his post stage interview reminded me of a bleating sheep.


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## boneman (Nov 26, 2001)

*Went to bed right after the finish*

Asia time zone so I wake up to the DQ. After the hurly burly of sprints, this year and dating back, I'm a bit surprised they DQ Renshaw from the race. Relegation for that stage's results would have been enough. Dean wasn't that fussed about the incident. Tyler really couldn't moan too much as he left the gap that allowed Renshaw to swing off in front of him and in the run up to the line wasn't on Dean's wheel and boxed himself in by the rail. I don't believe that the results would have been different. Ale Jet is in impressive form and Missle is jumping to the finish with power.


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## paredown (Oct 18, 2006)

Creakyknees said:


> / random thought... I wonder how many of the posters in this thread have ever participated in the front end of a bunch sprint...


Not at those speeds!

But did I tell you about the time that the guy whose wheel I was on locked bars with the guy beside him, went down right in front of me in a good 60+ person sprint--I missed him, hit the rear triangle of his bike and was instantly airborne (at speed) and thought my life was over!

If your point is that sprints are mayhem, I completely agree....


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