TdF Commentary 7/15

Stage 11 Recap

Another bunch sprint - another win for Mark Cavendish, Petacchi overtakes Hushovd for green jersey

Today was, for the most part, a lazy day for the Tour's riders, who still must be recovering from the events early in the race, as well as the Alps and blistering heat.  The day's breakaway containing Anthony Geslin (FDJ), Stephane Augé (Cofidis), and José Benitez (Footon-Servetto) was formed immediately following the drop of the starting flag.  Even while riding at a rather leisurely pace, the peloton limited the advantage of the breakaway to a maximum of 5'05".  Even with as much as 50 km to go, the peloton had already reduced the lead to around 1'30" without even putting much effort into a chase, and so the peloton lingered behind the leaders for a while, and an eventual bunch sprint finish was inevitable.

The catch occurred with a full 25 km from the finish, and so the peloton had to really pick up the pace to prevent late attacks.  Sylvain Chavanel made a run for his money, but with the peloton traveling at an incredible speed of around 40 mph, successful attacks were basically impossible.  The Lampre-Farnese team was organized early and had Alessandro Petacchi in prime position, but once again it was Team HTC-Columbia that pulled up their train alongside Lampre's and set up Mark Cavendish for a dominating win.

Leading up to the line, Tyler Farrar's leadout man Julian Dean was in the front of the pack, followed by Cavendish.  Cavendish's leadout man Mark Renshaw used some sketchy tactics of repeatedly headbutting Dean in order to place himself in the best position to launch his teammate.  Some contact is normal in a sprint and riders can even jostle for position as long as they maintain their line.  However, Renshaw's headbutts were very blatant and potentially dangerous.  Renshaw would even peel out directly into traffic, blocking out some of the riders behind (most particularly Tyler Farrar, who for a while was pinned between Renshaw and the wall).  This strategy is also very questionable and dangerous for the entire peloton.  As a result, it has been announced Renshaw has been thrown out of the Tour de France.  However, in the end there was no stopping Mark Cavendish regardless.  As soon as Alessandro Petacchi passed Renshaw, Cavendish made his huge acceleration and had over two bike lengths between himself and Petacchi for most of the sprint.

Once again, Thor Hushovd finished with a disappointing position in the bunch sprint.  Hushovd built a seemingly unbeatable lead in the green jersey race early in the Tour, but his underwhelming performances have cost him points on every sprint stage, and Alessandro Petacchi has chipped away enough to reclaim the jersey.  Fortunately for Hushovd, Stage 13 is a stage essentially designed for him.  Hushovd absolutely must do well in Stage 13 if he wants to wear the green jersey again.  Now without Mark Renshaw, Mark Cavendish may have a more difficult time getting stage wins, and Alessandro Petacchi will look to capitalize on that in the two remaining bunch sprints (Stages 18 and 20).

*****

Side note on Mark Renshaw's expulsion: The Tour's sprinting rules are not exactly set in stone, and the way the rules are written basically brings it down to the judgment of the organizers.  The only definite rule is that you're not allowed to drift from your line in order to cut off a rider behind you.  Other than that, the only other rule it seems is the endangerment rule, which can be interpreted in many different ways.  Generally, something like taking your hands off the handlebars to push someone will result in a penalty, whereas other types of collisions will often slide.  Sprinters will often push each other with their shoulders as they battle for position, but if they do something that the organizers deem "dangerous," then they will be penalized.  Unfortunately, this sometimes results in inconsistent enforcement of the rule, as is often the case with headbutts.

However, because Renshaw's headbutts were used in an offensive fashion (as opposed to maintaining balance), and because he was headbutting Julian Dean repeatedly and powerfully, I am in agreement with the penalty he received.  In addition, his drifting straight into Tyler Farrar's line is the same type of violation that gets many sprinters penalties, although the context is different in the case.  Usually what happens is that a sprinter will have a slight lead and then drift to the side to block off someone trying to pass him.  In this case, Renshaw wasn't contesting the sprint, and instead of peeling off away from the pack or straight backwards as leadout men usually do, Renshaw peeled back directly into a line that cut off traffic.  Typically a sprinter in violation will merely get all his points removed for the day but be able to race, but Renshaw wasn't so lucky and got a full expulsion.  This is either because he had multiple violations or because he was a leadout man not in contention for points anyway (so eliminating points would have had no effect as a penalty).

There is an excellent video great explanation of some of the inconsistencies  in enforcing sprinting penalties here.  As for my opinion on the rules, I have no problem with the rules as they stand.  Most of the time, such as today, the violations are obvious.  Once in a while there is a close call that will make someone angry no matter what, but I don't believe that it's even possible to make set rules (i.e. how do you decide "how much" someone can push or headbutt someone else?).  The best way to avoid the endangerment penalty is to sprint safely and fairly.

*****

Another Renshaw update: Renshaw claims that the reason he was headbutting Julian Dean was because Dean was using his left elbow in front of Renshaw's own right elbow in order to prevent Renshaw from moving ahead.  After looking at the replay of the sprint, that certainly seems to be the case, and it is indeed a sneaky but legal technique from Dean.  I had thought that Renshaw just wanted to knock Dean out of position, but this was not exactly the case.  Strategically then, Renshaw's headbutts were justified, but they still did seem to have enough power to be considered a dangerous maneuver worthy of penalty.  And there is no doubt that his peeling out was extremely dangerous, so his expulsion is still justified.

*****

Notable Stage Results

1	Mark Cavendish	Team HTC-Columbia	30 pts
2	Alessandro Petacchi	Lampre-Farnese	30 pts
3	Tyler Farrar	Garmin-Transitions	26 pts
4	José Joaquin Rojas	Caisse D'Epargne	24 pts
5	Robbie McEwen	Katusha	22 pts
7	Thor Hushovd	Cervélo TestTeam	19 pts

*****

Notable Points Standings

1	Alessandro Petacchi	Lampre-Farnese	161 pts
2	Thor Hushovd	Cervélo TestTeam	157 pts
3	Robbie McEwen	Katusha	138 pts
4	Mark Cavendish	Team HTC-Columbia	132 pts
5	José Joaquin Rojas	Caisse D'Epargne	122 pts

*****

Stage 12 Preview

Stage 12 is one of the weirder profiles of the Tour, because while it doesn't have very difficult climbs or very many climbs, the stage is rolling for nearly its entirety.  The most glaring portion of the course is the quasi-mountaintop finish, which is only a category-2 climb, but has grades of almost 11% close to the top.

This final climb could actually be a great opportunity for Alberto Contador to launch an attack, as he is miles ahead of the rest of the pack when it comes to climbs of 10%+ grade.  However, Contador is also very content with his position right now and may just choose to wait until the Pyrenees to become aggressive.  I expect him to just try to stay with Andy Schleck.

The breakaway is quite likely to contain the likes of Jérôme Pineau and Anthony Charteau, who are in a tight two-way battle for the polka-dot jersey before the race hits the Pyrenees.  A breakaway victory is very possible, but so is a victory by a GC contender.  Once again, it's a weird stage - GC contenders don't often get stage wins except on mountain stages and time trials, but with shortage of flat ground in this stage, they may just find themselves in front without having to go harder than they normally do.  This stage could be a good opportunity for Damiano Cunego to make another run at a stage win, as the final climb should suit him better than any other possible breakaway riders.

*****

For full Stage 11 results and overall standings, more complete info on Stage 12, and live newsflashes on race day, visit the official TdF website.  Footage of tomorrow's stage can be seen on the Versus channel live in the morning or on tape delay in the evening.  Live coverage on Versus begins at 8:30 AM (ET).