6 cyclists going off for the final sprint w/ 1Km to go… @200yds Paulo BETTINI gets to the lead followed by Baden COOKE both sprinting hard… @100yds COOKE decides to pass on the left (the tighter side but worse line)… BETTINI sees him and closes gradually the space (from 2yds to 1 yd to the side of the road) while sprinting hard… COOKE looses his balance, hits the publicity banner on the side of the road and goes down - BETTINI wins.
While COOKE walks towards the finish line w/o his bike, BETTINI comes to him appologizing… COOKE won’t talk to him - a few minutes later BETTINI is anounced DQd - then the stage clasification shows him in 4th place! COOKE is not shown in the Top 10.
I’m looking at gazzetta.it which has Cooke last at 191 but on the same time as the leader (which sounds right as he must have fallen well within the last km) - let me know if you work out where Bettini is actually placed - why would they DQ him to 4th?
They cut off the OLN live feed before the Maglia Rosa was awarded, but I assume that he has retained it. I assume that they would drop him to fourth because he moved over to spoil another riders line, and the 4th place would not give him any time bonus.
Looks to me from all of the replays as though he saw Cooke coming and deliberately pushed him over. Cooke had his wheel alongside by the time the crash occured - he hit the barriers when he moved left to avoid contact with Bettini.
GUILTY!!!
It really doesn’t make that much difference overall. Cunego will still win it, followed by Salvodelli!
yep no doubt in my mind that the officials made the correct call relegating bettini…cooke had him dead to rights and bettini edged him into the barriers…far different that yesterday when diluca pinched bettini b/c bettini took a bad line into the corner…in my mind, both the non call yesterday and the call today were correct.
gotta disagree with you on the GC…Salvodeli missed the split today…with the rest of DC…I agree with the italian media…it’ll be cunego and basso…i think cioni rounds out the podium, salvodeli fights to stay in the top ten.
It’ll be interesting to see. Tommy D should prove an excellent lieutenent for Salvodelli in the mountains… He is only 20" down on Basso at this point and there are a few more flat stages for everything to get turned around. Cunego is doing a great job at positioning himself again. Awesome rider
I don’t think he moved all that much over. I agree with the Italian guys in the cyclingnews story who said Cooke made a mistake in trying to go in that gap (and they said Bettini should not have moved that much), and Cooke even admitted he chose not to go right because he didn’t want to put his nose in the wind, even though he thought he could easily beat Bettini.
it certainly will be interesting, but unless tommy d can pedal salvadelli’s bike up the mountains, i don’t see paulo in the mix…i’d love to see tommy mix it up on a summit finish, but i don’t think salvadelli has the legs to hang with cunego, simoni, basso, garzelli et al. when the road goes uphill…he’s a better TT’er, but I predict he’ll lose a big chunk of time on at LEAST ONE of the monster climbing stages…we’ll see, it’ll certainly be exciting…
I don’t think he moved all that much over. I agree with the Italian guys in the cyclingnews story who said Cooke made a mistake in trying to go in that gap (and they said Bettini should not have moved that much), and Cooke even admitted he chose not to go right because he didn’t want to put his nose in the wind, even though he thought he could easily beat Bettini.
Well he clearly made a mistake! But, Bettini moved over what looked like a couple of feet and thats a fair way - especially when you know there’s someone in that space to start with… He closed Cooke down.
http://www.eurosport.com/home/pages/v4/l0/s18/e7297/sport_lng0_spo18_evt7297.shtml
Yeah, on the helicopter replay you are right he moved over way too much, though for me it’s hard to see where the 200 meter sign is. The first replays I saw only showed the last 150 meters. Baden Cooke could have just given up when he was pinned and may have won on relegation if he had just protested instead of forcing his way into the smaller and smaller spot.
I’ve just seen the finish and 8 replays. Bettini looks under his shoulder at Cooke and then clearly moves over to the left to shut the door on Cooke. No question about it he intended to close Cooke out, and di so with a big crash. I am glad that Cooke survived and that he didn’t punch Bettini, there wouldn’t be too many that would blame him after seeing the coverage.
Yea there was a hook, but Cooke took a chance diving into an easily closed hole. What did he think would happen there? He could have gone around the long way into the wind, or just quit and stuck a hand up.
Not saying it right, but I bet 90% of the big sprinters would have slammed him on that move every time. I think the sprinters all have reputatuions to keep and I am sure that move will be remembered and/or possibly revenged. All the sprinters get relegated sometime or another, that is their job to win stages, so if someone tries to sneak in under them oh well. Like I said before, I don’t endorse that behavior, but I won’t deny its existance either. That’s bike racing, when is the next stage?
Yea there was a hook, but Cooke took a chance diving into an easily closed hole. What did he think would happen there? He could have gone around the long way into the wind, or just quit and stuck a hand up.
Not saying it right, but I bet 90% of the big sprinters would have slammed him on that move every time. I think the sprinters all have reputatuions to keep and I am sure that move will be remembered and/or possibly revenged. All the sprinters get relegated sometime or another, that is their job to win stages, so if someone tries to sneak in under them oh well. Like I said before, I don’t endorse that behavior, but I won’t deny its existance either. That’s bike racing, when is the next stage?
Surely thats a pretty thin argument? So if someone drafts you without getting caught, thats ok because ‘well they have a reputation to keep’ and can win at all costs? I think Bettini seriously damaged his reputation today… The peloton always remembers
James, I think just the opposite. I think Bettini improved his reputation by delivering a good solid hook.Sprinters are stone cold killers and they all seem to pick up a few relegations along the way. He may be blowing it though by whining about quitting because of the relegation.
Bettini( in my opinion) has the reputation for flying early and not mixing it up with the sprinters.( Like in the Olympics and his earlier stage win.) I doubt that anyone would try that move on Robbie, Cipo, or any of the Belgium sprinters cause they know they would get slammed. I only saw the feed one time, so I may change my opinion. But the hook looked pretty obvious, but not enough for bad blood. Cooke chose the hole against the boards where he had the whole right side open. Cooke is a pretty tough guy with some track background, so I don’t think he will worry about it much. We will see as the cards play out. I stated before, I don’t agree with that kind of riding, but from what I read the Itaiian fans didn’t even cheer for the stage winner. Some folks just see that as bike racing. Makes for good highlight films.
Battini definitely moved over, but 95% of riders would have done the same. He closed him down, but didn’t foce him into the boards- Cooke did that by going for the tiny gap. He should have gone round the other side.
Bettini isn’t a dirty sprinter unlike some others.
Anyway - sprint aside - the last 10k made great watching.
Bettini has too much to lose from making an irrational move. He is at the top of his sport and has a good rep, he would not try to screw over cook. Bettini said that he notched it down one cog for the finale but didn’t have clean shift, the coverage did show a break in his form corresponding to this failing. Bettini screwed up a little bit, but so did cooke. The race organizers did a good job reconciling these two facts. It was a young gun against the most tactful racer in all of cycling; and it happened to end unfortunately.
Ah nuts. Sounds like a great stage and I was mid sangria at the time. I look forward to the replays of this… I hope Cooke wasn´t too badly damaged though…
Cooke was remarkably lucky to appear to get away with just skinned elbow etc, although he was obviously pissed off. This was clearly demostrated by the way he stood up and strode (as much as one can on cleats) along the barriers to the finishline. Bettini said in his interview that went he rode back to ask Cooke how he was he was ignored and couldn’t understand why!! I feel he was lucky that Cookie didn’t twat him, remember how McEwen reacted when his cage was broken last year?
How’s that Spanish breakfast? Siesta time now I suppose.
Just groovy. The food and wine are flowing pretty fast although my run mileage is balancing stuff out. The cyclists here in the city have riding skills you wouldn´t believe…
