# Giro d'Italia 2015 - Stage 10



## LostViking (Jul 18, 2008)

​
*Stage Ten:* Civitanova Marche - Forli, 200km

This stage is one for the sprinters - perhaps "The Gorilla" will strike again? Tinkoff-Saxo, Astana and Sky will likely be out front keeping their GC contenders close and safe, but the sprinter's teams will be expected to do the heavy lifting towards the end.

With a Rest Day under his belt and what appears to be a flat Sprinter's stage ahead of him, our wounded Maglia Rosa has had and will have time to recover. He was tested in the previous stages and came through retaining the pink. Rested and somewhat healed, his rivals will find it tougher to take advantage.

Aru continues to try and will likely try again to take a second or two out of Contador, but what of Richie Porte? Can the Tasmanian afford to wait?
An ITT looms in Stage 14 and Porte can be expected to outperform both Contador and Aru here - if the other two continue their incremental warfare, could Porte take the Pink in the ITT and hold it to the end?

Looking forward to Week Two!

*Stage Ten Map:*








*Stage Ten Profile:*


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## love4himies (Jun 12, 2012)

You can try to give your GC every advantage to give him marginal gains, but you can't predict a mechanical 4 km from the end.


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## Jwiffle (Mar 18, 2005)

love4himies said:


> You can try to give your GC every advantage to give him marginal gains, but you can't predict a mechanical 4 km from the end.


Yep. That sucks for Porte. He may not be out of contention, yet, but 47 seconds was definitely a blow.


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## LostViking (Jul 18, 2008)

Bad luck for Porte.

I could see him beating both Conti and Aru at the upcoming ITT, maybe even winning the stage - but over a minute is a big ask!


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## 32and3cross (Feb 28, 2005)

Add 2 mins to that for receiving assistance from a non teammate.

Giro d'Italia: Richie Porte docked two minutes | Cyclingnews.com


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## love4himies (Jun 12, 2012)

Just saw that. And the reasoning for that rule would be??? To reduce the chances of throwing the race?? Seems kind of harsh, seeing as Clarke was punished enough that he gave up his front wheel. Any idea where the team cars were? Did they have to turn off before that point in the race?


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## robdamanii (Feb 13, 2006)

The reasoning would be that it prevents multiple teams from ganging up on one rider to eliminate them (sure, it does happen all the time, but it's less of a material exchange than an agreement made on the road.)


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## stan01 (Apr 30, 2014)

I've seen riders get help from other teams all the time in various races including the TDF. So what gives here?? Maybe it's the Italians ganging up against the Aussies. Don't know but the race jury sure seems stoopid!


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## LostViking (Jul 18, 2008)

It's a clear rule infraction. To get mad at the race commissars for enforcing the rule seems a bit partisan. I wonder, if the same had happened to Conti and some Movistar rider had been a good sportsman and helped him out, would all the people crying foul on the interwebs still be doing so? Somehow, I doubt it.


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## MMsRepBike (Apr 1, 2014)

Bet that motor home isn't feeling so comfy this evening.


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## love4himies (Jun 12, 2012)

LostViking said:


> It's a clear rule infraction. To get mad at the race commissars for enforcing the rule seems a bit partisan. I wonder, if the same had happened to Conti and some Movistar rider had been a good sportsman and helped him out, would all the people crying foul on the interwebs still be doing so? Somehow, I doubt it.


Porte had a teammate just standing by watching Clarke change the wheel, he could have given up his wheel or bike to help out Porte as what would have happened had it been any other team. Porte should be ashamed of himself for allowing Clarke to do that.

Edit:

Pro Riders should know the rules of the race they are in so ignorance of a rule is not an excuse not to get sanctioned for breaking it.


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## love4himies (Jun 12, 2012)

MMsRepBike said:


> Bet that motor home isn't feeling so comfy this evening.


Of course it is, he's now hidden away inside it with the blinds closed so he doesn't have to answer to the media.


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## love4himies (Jun 12, 2012)

robdamanii said:


> The reasoning would be that it prevents multiple teams from ganging up on one rider to eliminate them (sure, it does happen all the time, but it's less of a material exchange than an agreement made on the road.)


That makes sense.

Wasn't there some DQ at the last summer olympics in ping pong because teams were throwing the game to get better playoff spots or something like that?


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## dnice (Jul 12, 2012)

cycling is the ony sport that would shoot itself in the head while aiming for the foot. i think this is a perfect storm of controversy for the giro, which always finds a way to combine the ridiculous with the sublime.


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## Jwiffle (Mar 18, 2005)

love4himies said:


> Porte had a teammate just standing by watching Clarke change the wheel, he could have given up his wheel or bike to help out Porte as what would have happened had it been any other team. Porte should be ashamed of himself for allowing Clarke to do that.


Except I doubt Porte or Clarke knew they were breaking a rule. And Continue and Tiralongo weren't docked a few years ago when Conti helped him win a Giro stage a few years ago.

I don't remember Horner being docked when he gave another rider a ride on his bike to the finish (at least, I think it was horner. Correct me if my memory is off)


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## Cinelli 82220 (Dec 2, 2010)

Jwiffle said:


> Except I doubt Porte or Clarke knew they were breaking a rule. And Continue and Tiralongo weren't docked a few years ago when Conti helped him win a Giro stage a few years ago.


There is a big difference in those two situations.

Contador and Tiralongo are close friends and former team mates. Tiralongo was a very hard worker for Contador but had few wins. Contador let Tiralongo cross the line first and there was little or no effect on the overall race. Gifting a win from a major star to a minor rider has always been common. It is a big deal for Tiralongo to win the stage but not a big deal for Contador who is looking at the overall classification.

Porte and Clarke are on different teams and there is no reason for Clarke to give Porte his wheel. Clarke is going to lose time, Porte is going to save time by not waiting. As pointed out, Porte had a team mate waiting who could have given up a wheel, but by using Clarke's wheel the Sky duo could pace each other back to the bunch. I have never seen a rider from one team give another team's rider a wheel. A wheel off a car is common, but not off a bike.

Very weird. I've watched races since the 70s, never seen this before.


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## robdamanii (Feb 13, 2006)

Jwiffle said:


> Except I doubt Porte or Clarke knew they were breaking a rule. And Continue and Tiralongo weren't docked a few years ago when Conti helped him win a Giro stage a few years ago.
> 
> I don't remember Horner being docked when he gave another rider a ride on his bike to the finish (at least, I think it was horner. Correct me if my memory is off)


Ignorance of the rules does not give you carte blanche to break them.

The IRS doesn't care if you "didn't know" you have to report gambling winnings on your taxes. They still follow the rules.

It was a teammate as I recall (though I could be wrong on that.) And gifting a stage win it's impossible to say "you gifted that" as opposed to "he attacked me and I couldn't catch him."



stan01 said:


> I've seen riders get help from other teams all the time in various races including the TDF. So what gives here?? Maybe it's the Italians ganging up against the Aussies. Don't know but the race jury sure seems stoopid!


UCI rule 2.3.012 about the 'Rights and Duties of Riders' is very clear, however:



> All riders may render each other such minor services as lending or exchanging food, drink spanners or accessories.
> 
> The lending or exchanging of tubular tyres or bicycles and waiting for a rider who has been dropped or involved in an accident shall be permitted only amongst riders of the same team, The pushing of a rider by another shall in all cases be forbidden, on pain of disqualification.


Look at the last sentence: according to the final part of that rule Porte and Clarke could be lucky to still be in the race, although to be fair, according to the rules, only the 4th incident results in DQ.


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## Cinelli 82220 (Dec 2, 2010)

Sorry I wasn't more specific, Contador and Tiralongo are close friends and were team mates. They were not team mates when Contador gifted him the win.


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## den bakker (Nov 13, 2004)

LostViking said:


> It's a clear rule infraction. To get mad at the race commissars for enforcing the rule seems a bit partisan. I wonder, if the same had happened to Conti and some Movistar rider had been a good sportsman and helped him out, would all the people crying foul on the interwebs still be doing so? Somehow, I doubt it.


in the same set of rules sticky bottles are explicitly forbidden. 
crossing rail crossings when the bars are down are explicitly forbidden.


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## MMsRepBike (Apr 1, 2014)

And not only did the race jury decide to pull this crap and "enforce a rule" they also decided to "enforce a rule" by pulling the caravan when he flatted so that he couldn't be helped back up to the peloton. They really did everything in their power today to "enforce the rules" against Porte. Strange how I never hear of them doing so any other time. The riders are ignorant of the rules for a reason, because they're never enforced like that. Nobody can argue because rules, but this smells deeply of bullshit.


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## Jwiffle (Mar 18, 2005)

robdamanii said:


> Ignorance of the rules does not give you carte blanche to break them.
> 
> The IRS doesn't care if you "didn't know" you have to report gambling winnings on your taxes. They still follow the rules.
> 
> ...


I get what you're saying, and can agree. I only meant that I don't think Porte should feel ashamed about accepting Clarke's offer to help him out. But, you're right, while ignorance is bliss, it's not an excuse to break the rules.


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## Jwiffle (Mar 18, 2005)

Questions: if Porte had taken his teammate's wheel while Clarke paced him back up to the peloton, would they still have been docked?


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## love4himies (Jun 12, 2012)

MMsRepBike said:


> And not only did the race jury decide to pull this crap and "enforce a rule" they also decided to "enforce a rule" by pulling the caravan when he flatted so that he couldn't be helped back up to the peloton. They really did everything in their power today to "enforce the rules" against Porte. Strange how I never hear of them doing so any other time. The riders are ignorant of the rules for a reason, because they're never enforced like that. Nobody can argue because rules, but this smells deeply of bullshit.


Porte had a teammate right beside him who could have given up his bike so Porte would loose minimal time.


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## love4himies (Jun 12, 2012)

Jwiffle said:


> Questions: if Porte had taken his teammate's wheel while Clarke paced him back up to the peloton, would they still have been docked?


No. It's OK to give up your bike/wheel for your teammate.


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## Jwiffle (Mar 18, 2005)

love4himies said:


> No. It's OK to give up your bike/wheel for your teammate.


But what about Clarke helping to pace him? Would have been same effect as what happened, but within the rules. Which means the rules are flawed.


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## love4himies (Jun 12, 2012)

den bakker said:


> crossing rail crossings when the bars are down are explicitly forbidden.


Not sure why that wasn't enforced at the P-R.


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## den bakker (Nov 13, 2004)

Jwiffle said:


> Questions: if Porte had taken his teammate's wheel while Clarke paced him back up to the peloton, would they still have been docked?


it reminds me a bit of the big lebowsky (NSFW) 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjibEkDoXQc


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## dnice (Jul 12, 2012)

define "waiting for a rider who has been dropped"... who was the spanish rider from euskaltel who helped conti on mt ventoux when froomey dropped him? where was the penalty then?


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## robdamanii (Feb 13, 2006)

Jwiffle said:


> I get what you're saying, and can agree. I only meant that I don't think Porte should feel ashamed about accepting Clarke's offer to help him out. But, you're right, while ignorance is bliss, it's not an excuse to break the rules.


I don't think he should feel ashamed at all. It's a great gesture. Don't let that get away from this.

The problem with that great gesture is that it's flat out against the rules.



MMsRepBike said:


> And not only did the race jury decide to pull this crap and "enforce a rule" they also decided to "enforce a rule" by pulling the caravan when he flatted so that he couldn't be helped back up to the peloton. They really did everything in their power today to "enforce the rules" against Porte. Strange how I never hear of them doing so any other time. The riders are ignorant of the rules for a reason, because they're never enforced like that. Nobody can argue because rules, but this smells deeply of bullshit.


And people have been tossed off the Giro for holding onto cars. They've been thrown out of races for getting a little "argy bargy" with one another.

And you don't see the list of fines and infractions after each stage typically. Usually it's not insubstantial, but typically those who are docked are not the big GC guys because they know better than to break the rules that will result in them losing time. 

Porte screwed up badly this time. Can't blame anyone except him and Clarke. You don't take that wheel, you lose 15 more seconds getting a wheel from Eisel (I think that's who's in the photo foreground that shows the wheel change), Eisel takes the wheel from Clarke, and the result is this: Porte loses 1 minute. Eisel loses 2 and gets fined. Nobody cares about the jury fining Eisel.

Sorry, but I can't blame anyone but Porte and Clarke for this one. Porte mostly....he's been a pro for 10 years.



love4himies said:


> Not sure why that wasn't enforced at the P-R.


My guess is you'd end up DQing half the peloton.


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## den bakker (Nov 13, 2004)

love4himies said:


> Not sure why that wasn't enforced at the P-R.


Commissaires say "spirit of rule" was respected. 

which probably had nothing to do with the national jersey stuck under the bar:


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## love4himies (Jun 12, 2012)

den bakker said:


> Commissaires say "spirit of rule" was respected.
> 
> which probably had nothing to do with the national jersey stuck under the bar:


I watched it live and thought there were a couple of riders who would have no problems stopping and should have been sanctioned.


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## davidka (Dec 12, 2001)

dnice said:


> cycling is the ony sport that would shoot itself in the head while aiming for the foot. i think this is a perfect storm of controversy for the giro, which always finds a way to combine the ridiculous with the sublime.


A better analogy couldn't have been written. They've eliminated one of the main protagonists of the race and likely thousands of viewers from markets that he attracts. Cycling has a long history of "discretionary" application of the rules. They couldn't have messed this up much worse.


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## spookyload (Jan 30, 2004)

love4himies said:


> Porte had a teammate right beside him who could have given up his bike so Porte would loose minimal time.


This is exactly why they likely sanctioned him. Spot on. Wasn't it last year when Sky blatantly gave bottles from the team car to riders past the allowed point at the end? Believe it was the 2013 Tour. They got a pass from officials that day even though they were called out on it.


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## BikeLayne (Apr 4, 2014)

GC should not be determined with a rule like this. A flat tire is enough bad luck. Curious as to the nationality of the guys that made the call.


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## Jwiffle (Mar 18, 2005)

spookyload said:


> This is exactly why they likely sanctioned him. Spot on. Wasn't it last year when Sky blatantly gave bottles from the team car to riders past the allowed point at the end? Believe it was the 2013 Tour. They got a pass from officials that day even though they were called out on it.


Well, froome and Porte were docked 20 seconds that day. Froome already had a sizeable lead at that point.

Honestly, I think they got the severity of the infractions mixed up. Should have been 2 minutes for that infraction, 20 seconds for this one.


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## robdamanii (Feb 13, 2006)

BikeLayne said:


> GC should not be determined with a rule like this. A flat tire is enough bad luck. Curious as to the nationality of the guys that made the call.


Multi national.

What makes you think this is some thinly veiled racism? 

He violated a rule. He received the prescribed penalty. 

Sucks to be him, but that's the rule.


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## den bakker (Nov 13, 2004)

robdamanii said:


> Multi national.
> 
> What makes you think this is some thinly veiled racism?
> 
> ...


like the rule about not drafting vehicles? the one ignored at every single mechanical or crash? like the sticky bottles rule? you know, not holding bottles for a few seconds getting a pull. How about holding on to the car while the seatpost is being "adjusted"? 
those rules are rules? 
railway crossings where the rule was ignored but "the spirit was there"? 
time cuts being ignored when it pleased the organizers. 
those kind of "rules are rules"?


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## dougydee (Feb 15, 2005)

The inconsistency of how the uci commissionaires apply the rules is probably the biggest thing to take away from this. They pick and chose when to apply rules which many teams, fans and riders can then interpret how they wish.


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## Jwiffle (Mar 18, 2005)

den bakker said:


> like the rule about not drafting vehicles? the one ignored at every single mechanical or crash? like the sticky bottles rule? you know, not holding bottles for a few seconds getting a pull. How about holding on to the car while the seatpost is being "adjusted"?
> those rules are rules?
> railway crossings where the rule was ignored but "the spirit was there"?
> time cuts being ignored when it pleased the organizers.
> those kind of "rules are rules"?


Yep. I remember a few years ago at the tour the gruppetto didn't make the time cut on a mountain stage, by several minutes. Well, having the remaining flat stages (including champs-elysees) without any sprinters would be boring, so they let all 40 some riders continue. Said it was 'extenuating circumstances.'

But when Ted King missed time cut by 7 seconds, then it was just 'the rules.'


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## BikeLayne (Apr 4, 2014)

robdamanii said:


> Multi national.
> 
> What makes you think this is some thinly veiled racism?
> 
> ...


 I would not know anything about racism so I will have to pass on that. 

As far as the rule goes it apparently is a rule and he got busted for it. It will certainly take some pressure off Aru and Contador.


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## burgrat (Nov 18, 2005)

dougydee said:


> The inconsistency of how the uci commissionaires apply the rules is probably the biggest thing to take away from this. They pick and chose when to apply rules which many teams, fans and riders can then interpret how they wish.


Absolutely agree. If you are going to make rules, enforce them consistently, not sometimes. Why pass on the Roubaix incident and now enforce this rule? What about the rule that says the riders must ride on the course, but we continue to see riders riding on the side foot path on the cobbled races? 
Be consistent.


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## aclinjury (Sep 12, 2011)

In every sport, there is always some controveries on some calls after the game, but THIS incident has got to be up there with one of the biggest and stupidest blunder by a player, for many reasons.

1. there were his teammates standing around NOT giving up their front wheels, but instead leaving up to another rider on another team to offer the (illegal) help. Where is the Sky teammate mentality?

2. then you have all these riders oblivious to the rule they're breaking. Don't lash out the official, or question their nationalities, when you don't know the rules

3. then you go on Tweeter to tweet your appreciation and post images relating to the illegal act, right after the stage. This has got to be one of the dumbest WTF moment. Porte, during the pursue back, was on his radio yabbing, why didn't he communicate to his DS that Orica guy gave him his front wheel in hope that the Sky boss might tell what Orica guy did was illegal and to keep everything under wraps. If Porte didn't tweet, he might have gotten away clean, and none in here would be screaming eh. Athletes should stop using tweeter. Shht when you have images out there on the net on you doing something illegal, man, it's like you open that can of worms, can't expect the officials to ignore it because you can bet other contending riders and teams will bring up that image to the officials. Stuuupid.

Porte deserved it. Hopefully lesson learned for him. Maybe Sky should focus a bit less on marginal gain and start educating the boys about the rules.

edit:
If Clarke didn't give up his front wheel to Porte, I suppose all the other Sky teammates would just stand there clueless as what to do as the clock ticks away, which will end up with Porte losing more time anway. And yes, from the images, the other Sky riders were deer-in-headlights clueless. SKy DS should be the one taking some of the blame, but so far Sky upper echelon has been quite and just letting their man take the fall (and hoping that the English speaking fans would throw a fit over the Italians?). Great leadership eh. Lastly, I wonder if Clarke would be so fast to help if it was Contador or Aru? Probably not. Ah well it is what it is. I now wonder if/when Porte and Sky will pack it up and go home and get ready for TdF?


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## ultimobici (Jul 16, 2005)

MMsRepBike said:


> And not only did the race jury decide to pull this crap and "enforce a rule" they also decided to "enforce a rule" by pulling the caravan when he flatted so that he couldn't be helped back up to the peloton. They really did everything in their power today to "enforce the rules" against Porte. Strange how I never hear of them doing so any other time. The riders are ignorant of the rules for a reason, because they're never enforced like that. Nobody can argue because rules, but this smells deeply of bullshit.


Seems like you're watching a Giro in a parallel universe. The cars had not been pulled out at all. Otherwise how were they able to draft behind one??


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## aclinjury (Sep 12, 2011)

ultimobici said:


> Seems like you're watching a Giro in a parallel universe. The cars had not been pulled out at all. Otherwise how were they able to draft behind one??


you're absolute correct. Sky team car was right there.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zt8WX5lhvWI


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## il sogno (Jul 15, 2002)

MMsRepBike said:


> And not only did the race jury decide to pull this crap and "enforce a rule" they also decided to "enforce a rule" by pulling the caravan when he flatted so that he couldn't be helped back up to the peloton. They really did everything in their power today to "enforce the rules" against Porte. Strange how I never hear of them doing so any other time. The riders are ignorant of the rules for a reason, because they're never enforced like that. Nobody can argue because rules, but this smells deeply of bullshit.


Hold on there now. When Oscar Gatto flatted they warned him about hooking onto the caravan too.


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## love4himies (Jun 12, 2012)

aclinjury said:


> In every sport, there is always some controveries on some calls after the game, but THIS incident has got to be up there with one of the biggest and stupidest blunder by a player, for many reasons.
> 
> 1. there were his teammates standing around NOT giving up their front wheels, but instead leaving up to another rider on another team to offer the (illegal) help. Where is the Sky teammate mentality?
> 
> ...


Good post.


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## coldash (May 7, 2012)

AIUI, the sequence of events was:

Porte punctured and for some, as yet not clear, reason his team mates couldn't get to him (maybe cars, maybe because he stopped on the left of the road, against the convention).

There being no Sky guys with him (a major screw up), Clarke saw what was happening and gave Porte his front wheel. 

The new wheel was already on the bike when the Sky guy in the photo turned up (i.e. the deed was done before the photo with the Sku gut watching was taken).
Sky and "Bling" Matthews (OGE) helped pace Porte back towards the bunch.

The photos were posted on the net first and then reposted by the Giro organisers with a comment about how they showed cycling in a good light. Porte then posted the photos as an example of "Aussie mates". The UCI at some point picked up on the photos and used them as evidence of rule breaking (and by inference, detrimental to the sport).

Other "background" information/context factors are:

On a previous stage in the Giro, Contador was seen by on live TV coverage removing his helmet during the stage. Under the UCI rules, this is an DQ offence but the UCI chose not to impose it, so the rules appear to be discretionary.

On May 11, Gianni Meersman posted "I crashed in the final downhill because of a puncture. Had to wait for 10min to get another front wheel. Thx @TeamSky for the help #fairplay", yet no UCI sanctions were applied.

By the letter of the UCI rules the Porte incident was an offence. That being the case, why is Contador still in this Giro?

Personally, I have no favorites and just want to see a good contest between the top guys in this Giro and that may now be down to a two horse race now. Between the Giro organisers and the UCI, cycling has been seen to use this incident as an example of sportsmanship that should be punished (that's the way the general media are reporting it) – not good.


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## robdamanii (Feb 13, 2006)

aclinjury said:


> Where is the Sky teammate mentality?


It went out the window when bubble-boy Porte started sleeping all by his lonesome in a fancy camper van.


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## love4himies (Jun 12, 2012)

coldash said:


> AIUI, the sequence of events was:
> 
> Porte punctured and for some, as yet not clear, reason his team mates couldn't get to him (maybe cars, maybe because he stopped on the left of the road, against the convention).
> 
> ...


Wasn't Contador stung by a bee?

The problem with Porte is he publicly thanked Clarke for the wheel, it was all over the internet with pics so how could the commissionaires ignore that? Did Meersman do the same (with pics) so the commissionaires would have the same level of proof? Had the wheel change been kept hush, hush I bet there wouldn't have been a penalty.


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## love4himies (Jun 12, 2012)

robdamanii said:


> It went out the window when bubble-boy Porte started sleeping all by his lonesome in a fancy camper van.


:lol: I was thinking the same thing. I wonder how his teammates are feeling about Porte's special treatment.


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## MMsRepBike (Apr 1, 2014)

Porte gets his own hotel room anyway. Having a coach outside instead of a single room isn't really all that different.


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## den bakker (Nov 13, 2004)

love4himies said:


> Wasn't Contador stung by a bee?


so much for rules are rules. 

meersman also publicly thanked the donors of the wheel. Guess it's the last time sky does that.


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## coldash (May 7, 2012)

love4himies said:


> Wasn't Contador stung by a bee?
> 
> The problem with Porte is he publicly thanked Clarke for the wheel, it was all over the internet with pics so how could the commissionaires ignore that? *Did Meersman do the same (with pics) so the commissionaires would have the same level of proof?* Had the wheel change been kept hush, hush I bet there wouldn't have been a penalty.


As stated, it is on his twitter account. Who needs photos when a "confession" has been published?

To re-iterate, I think it's a pity that the Giro has again been impacted by inconsistent UCI application of rules (remember the Stelvio "red flag" of 2014) because it's my favourite GT.


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## coldash (May 7, 2012)

... and for the completeness, I don't want to see Contador DQ'ed, although, by the book, he should be..


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## love4himies (Jun 12, 2012)

coldash said:


> As stated, it is on his twitter account. Who needs photos when a "confession" has been published?
> 
> To re-iterate, I think it's a pity that the Giro has again been impacted by inconsistent UCI application of rules (remember the Stelvio "red flag" of 2014) because it's my favourite GT.


Once again, was there *definite* proof that Quintana went in front of the red flag? I even saw that in this Giro that riders went slightly in front of the red flag when the road was rough going down hill. 

As for Meersman's tweet:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">I crashed in the final downhill because of a puncture. Had to wait for 10min to get another front wheel. Thx <a href="https://twitter.com/TeamSky">@TeamSky</a> for the help <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/fairplay?src=hash">#fairplay</a></p>— Gianni Meersman (@GianniMeersman) <a href="https://twitter.com/GianniMeersman/status/597829780256460800">May 11, 2015</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

I don't see where he blatantly admitted to taking a wheel from Sky. It is insinuated, but had the commissaires threatened to sanction, I'm sure he could have argued that it was sarcastic. That Sky just whizzed by him. The rules are very clear and there was very clear evidence that Porte & Clarke broke them. Just like they broke the rules in the TdF when Porte gave Froome food. Maybe Sky should be reviewing the rule book with their riders.


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## coldash (May 7, 2012)

Read into it what you want to see. Given the rules are rules stance, I take it that you support the immediate DQing of Contador. I don't and IMV, the Officials should have "taken a view" like they do with other rule breaking eg riding across roundabouts, cutting off corners (Armstrong Beloki in TdF) etc. 

IMV, cycling has been done no favours by the UCI here

(I actually think that Contador and Aru have been looking stronger than Porte, so it might all be academic. We may never know now)


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## Cinelli 82220 (Dec 2, 2010)

Meersman situation is totally different. It's common for team cars to give out wheels, and teams can agree to cover each other's riders.

Surely the Porte /Clarke case is different. Clarke is a rider, not the team car, and giving up a wheel took him out of action until his own car arrived. 

Why would a racer give up a wheel to rider from another team? Why would a racer want to stand by the road for two or three minutes - the Orica car was way back - instead of finishing with the bunch? Clarke is acting as a domestique for Porte. This is collusion, forming a combine between Sky and Orica, and that is exactly what the rule is against.

This is not a Sunday morning group ride with a bunch of friends, these guys are supposed to be competing.


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## coldash (May 7, 2012)

Update. Contador has removed his helmet again on Stage 11! (No bees about!)

As for collusion, it happens all the time - remember the Vuelta when Contador (who I do not dislike) was being paced by a rider from another team who was receiving instruction and bottles from Contador's team car

Anyway Stage 11 is on at it's raining, so maybe some more excitement today.


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## den bakker (Nov 13, 2004)

Cinelli 82220 said:


> Meersman situation is totally different. It's common for team cars to give out wheels, and teams can agree to cover each other's riders.


yes it is. 
however: 
2.3.029 Riders may only receive technical support from the technical personnel of their team or from one of the neutral support cars or else from the broom wagon.


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## LostViking (Jul 18, 2008)

Saw an interesting observation on the interwebs:

Why would an Orica rider help Porte?

Perhaps because Porte's contract with Sky is up at the end of the year?

Hmmmmmm


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## BikeLayne (Apr 4, 2014)

Just whatever Durianrider says.


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## love4himies (Jun 12, 2012)

LostViking said:


> Saw an interesting observation on the interwebs:
> 
> Why would an Orica rider help Porte?
> 
> ...


Yes, Orica does need a GC on their team.


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## robt57 (Jul 23, 2011)

LostViking said:


> Saw an interesting observation on the interwebs:
> 
> Why would an Orica rider help Porte?
> 
> ...



Or the two team have the same wheels sponsors? Or the two riders are friends??

Rules are rule, but bad day when you loose almost a min from the flat, then another two as relegation.


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## love4himies (Jun 12, 2012)

Would we be having this conversation if Porte was an hour down on the GC? Or should rules only be for those not on the GC? How do to Commissaires distinguish between a good gesture and collusion?


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## 32and3cross (Feb 28, 2005)

MMsRepBike said:


> nice writeup on velonews


Good think you copy and pasted the whole thing, denying them click throughs and ad revenue so they can't pay the writer that wrote that.


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## Coolhand (Jul 28, 2002)

*Moderators Note*

Please repost with a link, and maybe not the whole article


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## MMsRepBike (Apr 1, 2014)

Commentary: Cycling shoots itself in the foot, again - VeloNews.com

oh my bad. just click to go read.


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