Post by robeiae on Jul 6, 2017 9:41:51 GMT -5
I don't know how many people here besides me follow the Tour de France. It's become one of my favorites times of the year. I not only love to watch the actual race, I also love to see gorgeous scenery around the riders. I leave the TV on when I'm home nonstop during the race.
Anyone, this year there has been something of huge controversy: the DQing of Peter Sagan--world road race champion and holder of the Tour's green jersy for five consecutive years--due to a collision at the end of stage 5 of the Tour (fyi, Sagan won stage 4). The collision was with Mark Cavendish, one of the best sprinters in the world, and put Cavendish out of the race with a shoulder injury.
Who was at fault in the crash? Well, read this (and watch the vids): www.cbssports.com/general/news/watch-peter-sagan-elbows-mark-cavendish-booted-from-tour-de-france/
I was watching live and honestly was stunned. Because I thought it was as the above says: Sagan elbowed Cavendish and end sent him into the barrier.
But of course, people went back to the videos and looked more closely, with many coming to a very different conclusion (including Andre Griepel, who initially was furious with Sagan, but then backtracked and apologized to him for rushing to judgement). There are numerous alternate takes available here, like this one: www.chicagotribune.com/sports/columnists/ct-peter-sagan-elbow-tour-de-france-20170705-story.html
The argument there is that it was Cav's fault for trying to go where there was no space, that Sagan's elbow was just a natural reaction.
Other versions include analysis that seems to show that Sagan's supposed elbow never came close to Cav, that Cav's wheels were already under Sagan's bike (Cav was already going down) before the elbow, that Cav actually leaned into Sagan's body with his head first, and that it was Cav's brake that actually hit Sagan's elbow, forcing it up (and causing Sagan to kick out his opposite leg, something that is visible in slow-mo.
My own take is this: they came into contact and Cav started to go down; Sagan--being Sagan--miraculously saved himself as Cav crashed. If Sagan had gone down too--which is what would have happened to pretty much every other rider on the Tour--there's be no talk of a DQ, at all. So the UCI was wrong to DQ Sagan.
That's the story. But what is also interesting is the politics at play. A French rider won the stage--a Big Deal, really--but an honest assessment of the finish shows that this rider actually made the most dangerous move on the sprint, one that could easily have been punished. But it wasn't.
Then there's the social media angle, which--like our political threads--includes actual input from important people (in the cylcing world) and members of the actual media. And in that regard, I witnessed a lot of people talking a lot of shit on twitter and elsewhere (yeah I know, what else is new) right after the incident and on 'til today, still. Dimension Data's team director (Cav's team) for instance put up this beauty:
The #goodbye was pretty snotty, imo. To his credit, he realized this and apologized for the tweet.
But that's actually pretty tame. I didn't save all the other ones I saw, like one from a BBC reporter that was really bad. I'll not try to restate because he a) may have taken it down and b) I don't want to get it wrong. But I did do a doubletake when I saw it. The non-media, of course, have had worse stuff, slamming Sagan, slamming Cav, slamming the Tour. Indeed, there was even a meme:
And now, Cav is getting threats. So is his family:
That's horrific. And over just a bike race.
Btw, here's a gif about the crash, one that has been used for many other things:
Anyway, thoughts? Does this interest anyone else?
Anyone, this year there has been something of huge controversy: the DQing of Peter Sagan--world road race champion and holder of the Tour's green jersy for five consecutive years--due to a collision at the end of stage 5 of the Tour (fyi, Sagan won stage 4). The collision was with Mark Cavendish, one of the best sprinters in the world, and put Cavendish out of the race with a shoulder injury.
Who was at fault in the crash? Well, read this (and watch the vids): www.cbssports.com/general/news/watch-peter-sagan-elbows-mark-cavendish-booted-from-tour-de-france/
I was watching live and honestly was stunned. Because I thought it was as the above says: Sagan elbowed Cavendish and end sent him into the barrier.
But of course, people went back to the videos and looked more closely, with many coming to a very different conclusion (including Andre Griepel, who initially was furious with Sagan, but then backtracked and apologized to him for rushing to judgement). There are numerous alternate takes available here, like this one: www.chicagotribune.com/sports/columnists/ct-peter-sagan-elbow-tour-de-france-20170705-story.html
The argument there is that it was Cav's fault for trying to go where there was no space, that Sagan's elbow was just a natural reaction.
Other versions include analysis that seems to show that Sagan's supposed elbow never came close to Cav, that Cav's wheels were already under Sagan's bike (Cav was already going down) before the elbow, that Cav actually leaned into Sagan's body with his head first, and that it was Cav's brake that actually hit Sagan's elbow, forcing it up (and causing Sagan to kick out his opposite leg, something that is visible in slow-mo.
My own take is this: they came into contact and Cav started to go down; Sagan--being Sagan--miraculously saved himself as Cav crashed. If Sagan had gone down too--which is what would have happened to pretty much every other rider on the Tour--there's be no talk of a DQ, at all. So the UCI was wrong to DQ Sagan.
That's the story. But what is also interesting is the politics at play. A French rider won the stage--a Big Deal, really--but an honest assessment of the finish shows that this rider actually made the most dangerous move on the sprint, one that could easily have been punished. But it wasn't.
Then there's the social media angle, which--like our political threads--includes actual input from important people (in the cylcing world) and members of the actual media. And in that regard, I witnessed a lot of people talking a lot of shit on twitter and elsewhere (yeah I know, what else is new) right after the incident and on 'til today, still. Dimension Data's team director (Cav's team) for instance put up this beauty:
The #goodbye was pretty snotty, imo. To his credit, he realized this and apologized for the tweet.
But that's actually pretty tame. I didn't save all the other ones I saw, like one from a BBC reporter that was really bad. I'll not try to restate because he a) may have taken it down and b) I don't want to get it wrong. But I did do a doubletake when I saw it. The non-media, of course, have had worse stuff, slamming Sagan, slamming Cav, slamming the Tour. Indeed, there was even a meme:
And now, Cav is getting threats. So is his family:
That's horrific. And over just a bike race.
Btw, here's a gif about the crash, one that has been used for many other things:
Anyway, thoughts? Does this interest anyone else?
Initially, I thought Sagan had intentionally elbowed Cav, it looked egregious. But then I listened to all the pros, the ones who've been in these races themselves and I watched, repeatedly, clips from all angles. Paul Sherwin is the man I agree with and his position is that Cav tried going through a gap that wasn't there. He initiated contact with Sagan, who raised an elbow to protect and/or restore balance (looking at his in-turned leg supports a repositioning of his body to stay upright). As Paul said, it all happened so quickly that, given Cav initiating contact, Sagan had no time to do anything but react. And I didn't see any clip where the raised elbow made contact with Cav.
