In case you missed it, the Giro Rosa took place the past two weeks and it was great racing. Definitely worth catching up on the highlights and marking the event as one to follow in 2015. In the final stage of this year’s race, mountain classification leader, Emma Pooley, goes off the front on the climb. The always dangerous Mara Abbott, who is 2 minutes behind race leader Marianne Vos, wants to chase her down. Vos’ team, RaboLiv, in an attempt to preserve their spots at the top (Pauline Fernand Prevot sits second and Anna van der Breggen is in third) doesn’t want Abbott up the road. So they don’t let her chase.
Good tactics? This is what you can do when you have a strong team and they are all at the front.
Non-sporting? Should RaboLiv have raced positively instead of negatively even though tactically it was more dangerous, with Vos who has stated she isn’t as good on long climbs?
What do you think? What do you think?
Thanks for watching.
It doesn’t matter what tactics are used in any race that Marianne Vos races, because she will crush you like the grape that you all are!!!!
Very poor form indeed.
If this were a USA Cycling race, I wonder if RaboLiv were breaking rule 1N7 on page 42 of the USA cycling rulebook (https://s3.amazonaws.com/USACWeb/forms/rules/2014-USAC-Rulebook-Chapter1.pdf). It says “No rider may make an abrupt motion so as to interfere with the forward progress of another rider, either intentionally or by accident.”
It seems to me that RaboLiv broke that rule repeatedly.
If this were a sprint, they’d be DQ’d for coming off their line. But it’s not a sprint. Like all gentlewomen’s agreements, they are made to be violated. Morally reprehensible. Great tactics!