Valverde's 10 minute mechanical
07-21-13, 06:00 PM
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Valverde's 10 minute mechanical
I didn't see what happened near the beginning of the tour where Valverde lost 10 minutes due to a broken wheel, or whatever, but I understand he had to wait for the team car to do a wheel swap. His team was all around him, why didn't someone give him their wheel or bike if he was the team captain? Is there a rule against that? Thanks!
Alan
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07-21-13, 06:22 PM
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I didn't see what happened near the beginning of the tour where Valverde lost 10 minutes due to a broken wheel, or whatever, but I understand he had to wait for the team car to do a wheel swap. His team was all around him, why didn't someone give him their wheel or bike if he was the team captain? Is there a rule against that? Thanks!
Alan
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07-21-13, 06:24 PM
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He might have done better if he'd gotten a teammate's wheel or bike right away and started riding. But he didn't lose ten minutes just from waiting for the team car. They couldn't rejoin the GC group on their own because of the wind, and eventually fell back to a group behind.
07-21-13, 06:26 PM
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I thought he did take a teammate's wheel? He should've just taken the bike because the peleton was moving at a 35mph clip at that point. That's why he lost so much time, the team could never catch back up to the split peleton. That was the same day the peleton was split in two due to crosswinds after the breakaway. He only lost like 3 minutes on the fix, but they got pushed further back trying to catch back up to the front.
07-21-13, 06:29 PM
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Riding someone else's bike for any distance would suck. Then he'd need to stop again for a bike change.
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07-21-13, 06:34 PM
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Yeah, this is true, but he likely wouldn't have lost the group if he did that, instead being able to swap out once a team car got back to him. It wouldn't have had the same effect on time at that point.
07-22-13, 08:48 AM
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Valverde had the mechanical at precisely the wrong time. Even if he got a bike in 15 seconds he wasn't making the lead echelon.
In that condition, you either make the echelon, or you're f'd.
Experienced bike racers know where on a course you have conditions for this, and are prepared to react. ( see e.g. Hincapie and Armstrong f'ng over Contador a few years ago). YOu've got to be upfront turning into a cross wind section. Valverde was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
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