Renshaw Ejected from the 2010 Tour de France

[DanB]

So Mark Renshaw was tossed from the Tour de France yesterday because he tossed a couple of head-butts during the final sprint. (story, video)

Was it a dick move? Sure was! But did it warrant ejecting him from the Tour? I don't think so.

There's this guy named Abdujaparov who was a sprinter back in the 90's. He had a bunch of nicknames -- shit like "the Tashkent Terror" and "Abdu-Knock-Em-Off"... With names like that it's obvious that he sprinted like a belligerent drunk. I remember this guy leaning into people, causing untold number of crashes, and being completely unable to hold a line in a sprint. And I don't recall him ever getting ejected by the organizers.

Sure, they want to crack down on this shit hard, but ejection from the Tour? Really? Thoughts?

[batjerk]

I don't know, really. I cannot watch the video right now, but the story seems to focus on Cavendish's win and only really mentions the headbutting as an aside. I think that with the headline, the news story fails to deliver any details relating to its headline. It is, therefore, difficult to ascertain what exactly went on and whether or not the punishment meted was proportional to the behavior mentioned, but never described.

I mean, I envision a "headbutt" as one man facing the other and ramming his forehead into the face or forehead of the opposite man. I cannot see how that could really happen on bikes during a race. Regardless, I think that I have too little information to draw much of a conclusion, but my first thought is the punishment is probably out of line.

Then again, the French are just pissed that they cannot ever win this race.

[DanB]

I mean, I envision a "headbutt" as one man facing the other and ramming his forehead into the face or forehead of the opposite man. I cannot see how that could really happen on bikes during a race. Regardless, I think that I have too little information to draw much of a conclusion, but my first thought is the punishment is probably out of line.

Renshaw pulls up alongside and smashes the side of his head/helmet into the side of Julian Dean's head/helmet. Twice. It's clearly intentional.

Then again, the French are just pissed that they cannot ever win this race.

Yeah, 1985 was their last win. If the Vikings hadn't won the Superbowl in 25 years, I'd be...oh, wait. That's right. They haven't. Ever,

[batjerk]

Well, then. Given the circumstances of the intentional, er, pushing perhaps a DNF or something like that. Kicked out seems kinda harsh, especially if there was no crash or other serious injury.

Could well be a slippery slope to start kicking people out for making contact during a race. The NASCAR freaks always say: "rubbin's racin'".

Yeah, I think the response by the UCI (I think that's it) was probably a bit overboard.

[batjerk]

I like BSNYC's take on it. Especially mentioning the helmet-hatted woman.

His writing sure provided a great deal more info than that rather verbose and somewhat poorly written news story linked to above.