Tour de France analysis: Why the go-slow did cycling no favours on Bastille Day

Tuesday, 14 July 2009
Lionel Birnie
4 Comments

Tour de France 2009, stage 10

The official line in Issoudun was that there was no protest, but the viewers won't be fooled. The peloton dawdled towards the finish like a hoard of sulking children whose favourite toys had been taken away.

The main argument against ASO's rule change today was that removing the means of communication endangers the safety of the riders in the race and even the spectators on the roadside. With earpiece radios riders can be kept appraised of upcoming obstacles, can check with each other to find out where their team-mates are. Without them, they'd have us believe, they're in perilous danger.

There are some valid points. For example, when 'chute' is called over the official radio after a crash, the team manager can quickly check with his own riders whether any of them are down and need help. If all is well, the car has no need to go forwards to where the crash has happened. Without radio communication, every car is going to watch to rush to the scene of the accident to check whether their men need help.

In any case, the decision was made by the Tour de France organisers, and backed up by the UCI, to remove the radios for today's stage.

This morning, everyone said there would be no protest, but the way the stage unfolded suggests very clearly there was a go-slow. According to the Tour's official time schedule, the slowest projected average speed was 41 kph. The riders averaged 40.702kph, and that was with a decent tailwind for much of the stage.

Even if there was no protest, there was precious little action for the Bastille Day viewing public to enjoy.

Chalkboard times, Tour de France 2009, stage 10

Old school rules: Chalkboards revealed the time gaps

The way a breakaway works is that they attack, work hard to gain a gap, then settle into a rhythm that is roughly the same tempo that the bunch is setting, that way the gap stays constant. Then, as the chase hots up, the speed in the break rises and the job of reeling them in begins in earnest.

Today, the break ambled along because the bunch was not interested. It was only in the final 15 kilometres that the chase got going.

On reflection, the riders were clever. They avoided the shambolic protest that blighted the Milan stage of the Giro d'Italia, but demonstrated their point. Racing without radios is boring and slow.

We will wait to see how things pan out in the coming days, but the powers that be have only two options. Force the riders to do without their radios again and keep forcing the issue until they do race, or give in and accept that the technology is a valid part of modern cycling. On this issue, there is no middle ground.

Unfortunately, cycling lost again. It was Bastille Day, the French national holiday, and millions of people would have been off work, looking forward to some racing. In that way, it was a

Sectors of the public, already disengaged by years of doping scandals are going to have very little sympathy for the peloton's plight. All they will have seen was a rest day on wheels.

But, of course, there was no protest. The riders were just doing what they needed to do to race safely without their earpiece radios.

CW understands moves are afoot to drop the experiment on Friday. After today's showing, does anyone have the stomach to stand up to a sulking peloton on a matter which has such a debatable gain?

GREEN BATTLE TO BE DECIDED IN PARIS?
If he were to be starkly honest with himself, Thor Hushovd knows that he needs an extraordinary set of circumstances to beat Mark Cavendish in a head-to-head sprint.

Having driven the final kilometres of stage 10's route into Issoudun, the finish looked more Thor than Cav. There were some tricky rises and it looked like it may equalise the advantage Cavendish has in terms of pure speed.

But the Columbia-HTC sprinter was fast enough to iron out the bumps and smooth the kinks in the road. Hushovd never even got level. It was easy.

Less straightforward is the battle for the green jersey. Cavendish slipped 12 points behind when the Norwegian escaped on the Port d'Envalira on Saturday and won two intermediate sprints.

Today's victory gave Cavendish 35 more points, but Hushovd's second place netted him 30, narrowing the gap to six.

So, Hushovd's task is simple, for now. He must hang onto Cavendish's back wheel, ensure that he is the best of the rest, then either seek to win more intermediate sprints or hope something goes awry and the Manxman finishes out of the points one day.

Mark Cavendish wins, Tour de France 2009, stage 10

Cavendish's third stage win wasn't enough to unseat Hushovd at the top of the points table

Cavendish could have four more sprinting opportunities. Tomorrow (Wednesday) in Saint-Fargeau, Thursday in Vittel and Saturday in Besançon could all conceivably finish in a sprint. Then there is the Champs-Elysees in Paris on the final day.

If Hushovd keeps coming second to him, Cavendish can only make up five points a day, which could be ruled out by victory in just one intermediate sprint. But Cavendish can do no more than keep winning stages. He won't be in the hunt for the bonus sprints unless there is a clear opportunity. One may present itself this week, if no break has gone clear by the time the first sprint comes round, but equally Columbia could try to mark Hushovd out of it and deny him the points themselves while saving Cavendish's legs.

As for the rest, well, they continue to lose ground. Garmin's Tyler Farrar isn't going to make up ground finishing third, and Oscar Freire, who closed the gap a little with a third place finish in the Pyrenees conceded all that and more with today's 15th.

If Cavendish wins in Saint-Fargeau tomorrow and Hushovd is second, the gap will be down to one point. The battle for the yellow jersey promises to go all the way to Mont Ventoux. The fight for green may go right to the line.

TOUR DE FRANCE 2009 LINKS
Tour de France 2 009 - the hub: Index to reports, photos, previews and more.

STAGE REPORTS
Stage 10: Cavendish spoils Bastille Day party to take third stage win
Stage nine: Third French win as contenders content with ceasefire
stage eight: Sanchez wins from break as Tour favourites cancel each other out
Stage seven: Feillu wins at Arcalis, Nocentini takes yellow, Contador leap-frogs Lance
Stage six: Millar's brave bid denied on Barcelona hill as Hushovd triumphs
Stage five: Voeckler survives chase to win his first Tour stage
Stage four: Astana on top but Armstrong misses yellow by hundredths of a second
Live Tour de France stage four TTT coverage
Stage three: Cavendish wins second stage as Armstrong distances Contador
Stage two: Cavendish takes first sprint
Stage one: Cancellara wins opening time trial

LATEST TOUR NEWS
Tour de France 2009 News Index>>
No radios today, but experiment could be a one-off
Tour audio: Mark Cavendish after stage 10
Contador brushes aside talk of Armstrong conflict
Cavendish odds-on favourite for Bastille Day victory
The Tour de France Comment: Monday, July 13
How the favourites are doing (first rest day)
Wiggins stays with leaders at Tour
Armstrong: 'If Contador wins, I'll be second'
Wiggins 'on cloud nine' at Tour de France
Armstrong says Contador attack wasn't in the plan
Cavendish survives the first Tour mountain stage with ease
Wiggins, the Tour de France overall contender, has arrived

EXCLUSIVE VIDEOS
Garmin-Slipstream's HQ before the Tour
David Zabriskie's time trial bike
Mark Cavendish on the Tour's team time trial
David Brailsford interview
Mark Cavendish on the Tour
Jonathan Vaughters on Bradley Wiggins' chances

TOUR GUIDE
Tour de France 2009 - the hub
Tour de France 2009: Who's riding
Tour de France 2009: Team guide
About the Tour de France

FEATURES
Tour de France 2009: Who will win?
Tour de France 2009 on TV: Eurosport and ITV4 schedules
Big names missing from 2009 Tour de France
Tour de France anti-doping measures explained
Brits in the Tours: From Robinson to Cavendish
Cycling Weekly's rider profiles

TWITTER
Follow the Tour on Cycling Weekly's Twitter feed

Reader comments

Add your comments

July 14 22:34

Lennert

The thinking was that if you took the radios away the peloton would be set 'free'. They forgot that riders are completely dependent on their radios and have been so for the last 10 years. They don't know how to ride without radios. Did the UCI really think that if you took the radios away for one day they could set the time back 20 years and every rider would attack?

July 15 09:41

philip livingstone

If you love the sight of a lone break winning over the peleton then the ban on radios can only be seen as a good thing. Radios give the peleton too much information and stiffle and individuality in the form of breakaways on flat stages, leaving you with a mass sprint at the finish - is that not more dangerous?! (that's fine at the moment with Cav on top form, but i only wish Millar's solo effort into Barcelona had been successful ).
Rouleurs should be in favour of this ban, no doubt they are but their team has dictated otherwise!

July 15 10:51

SJS

It just drives you nuts, why don't they just get on with racing? All the toadying remarks from Liggett & Co. regarding 'Lance' and the lack of communal will in the bunch to go on the attack and get rid of the Bruyneel/Armstrong mentality once and for all. Another thought, more radical, try doing away with the 'races' for Green and Polka-Dot, they also have a stupifying effect on the overall picture.

July 15 12:59

N Emerson

I can sympathise with the tour riders as nowadays for safety reasons radios should be allowed. However it would have been more entertaining watching paint dry then watching the whole of stage 10, waiting for something to happen. The cyclists may be trying to prove a point, but they will only succeed in turning people away from the sport with actions like this.

Welcome to cyclingweekly.co.uk

Navigation

Tour de France analysis: Why the go-slow did cycling no favours on Bastille Day

Rate this Article

5 stars