The 3km rule explained

In the event that a rider or riders suffer a fall, puncture or mechanical incident in the last 3 kilometres and such an incident is duly recognised, the rider or riders involved are credited with the same finishing time of the rider or riders they were with at the time of the incident.

They are attributed this ranking only upon crossing the finish line. If after a fall, it is impossible for a rider to cross the finish line, he is given the ranking of last in the stage and credited with the time of the rider or riders he was with at the time of the incident. For exceptional cases, the decision taken by the stewards committee is final.

This measure does not apply to:

• finishes of the 2nd stage, which is a team time trial and of the 20th stage which is an individual time trial;
• summit finishes of the 4th, 8th, 12th, 14th, 18th and 19th stages.

That’s Article 20 copied and pasted from the 2011 Tour de France rulebook. It means that following today’s Tour de France stage, both Alberto Contador and Samuel Sanchez lose time to the other race favourites.

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The Spin: Stage 1

Each morning during the Tour de France I will preview the day’s stage. It’s hard to predict a winner but there are some certainties about the course and conditions that can help give us some insight into what might happen.

So here goes, here’s The Spin on Stage 1.

Stage 1

The race might start on the slippery submarine Passage du Gois road and then take an exposed coast route for a while but it’s the closing moments of the stage should be the key. The seaside part of the race should see ideal weather, the forecast says no crosswinds meaning reduced danger that the race splits up early on.

Green jersey
The intermediate sprint in Avrillé after 87km is literally straightforward, on a long wide road with a very mild uphill gradient, it’s for the proper sprinters if their teams can contain the breakaways.

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Le Vélo

If all the talk of police raids is too much and even race previews are beginning to overwhelm you then it’s time for some music. It’s Friday night after all.

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Quick Step harm themselves

A quick note, one that’s too long to fit on Twitter but not a big deal either…

Quick Step site

The team feels’ deeply harmed by the consequent media focus on what happened today, which we feel has damaged the team’s image and the image of cycling in general

The police today seized the Quick Step bus, driving it to a compound in La Roche sur Yon to search it for doping products. Nothing was found… except the event got maximum media coverage for a short moment, the media waiting to cover the race tomorrow rushed to get the story and apparently at one point a cameraman fell to the ground in the crush to get the scene on camera.

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Regulating team soigneurs

Soigneur

BMC Racing’s troubles with a rogue soigneur are bad news for the team. The casual way which Sven Schoutteten was hired from time to time reflects the way many teams operate, a pro image up front but behind the scenes people are hiring their pals. But the role of a soigneur is crucial to the team and not something to get careless about. Indeed France has moved to regulate their role with a law in 2004.

Definition
A soigneur is a team helper, whose job ranges from general dogsbody and factotum to masseur and nutritionist. “Soigner” means “to care for” or “to treat (an illness)” in French and a soigneur is carer, although someone who works helping the sick or the elderly is usually called an aide soignante, the term soigneur is reserved for the cycling world… although it’s used to label someone who looks after zoo animals.

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BMC Racing hired Sven Schoutteten for many races

“A part-time soigneur for us? His name means nothing to me. I also don’t know anything about an arrest. This is the first I’ve heard of it.“

So says BMC Racing’s President and “General Manager” Jim Ochowitz when asked about the case of Sven Schoutteten *, who has been arrested for allegedly ordering 195 doses of recombinant EPO, an infamous doping product. It’s possible Ochowitz didn’t hear about the arrests, indeed Schoutteten might have hushed this up. Plus he is not a full-time team employee.

But I can reveal Sven Schoutteten has been working for the team as a soigneur at numerous races and as recently as two weeks ago. He didn’t just pop for an race or two as emergency cover, he has been an integral part of the team’s spring classics squad. Don’t take my word for it, here’s the BMC website. And here again. And again. And again. Oh and again. Again, again, again and again. Note the Sven “Shouteken” spelling in some instances.

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Where’s Alberto?

Contador

Today sees Alberto Contador’s pre race press conference and he has some explaining to do. Now maybe you know what’s been happening during the last year, you are aware of the series of events beginning with his positive tests, the delays, the rulings, the appeals and more. But millions of French citizens aren’t aware of these intricacies

So like or not, the positive tests from last summer have left many scratching their heads. This isn’t about doping, it’s more giving the French public an explanation and the chance to put his side of the story. Only nobody’s seen him in France.

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As seen on cyclingnews.com

In case you hadn’t noticed, the Tour de France starts on Saturday. During July I’ll be doing a few blog pieces for cyclingnews.com that touch on the Tour de France, the usual “Inner Ring” take on things.

Each time I’ll link to them in case you want to read and the first piece is now available to read online.

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UCI could relax minimum bicycle weight

Weight weenies t-shirt

The UCI could amend its rule on the minimum weight for bikes. Rule 1.3.019 has stated “the weight of the bicycle cannot be less than 6.8 kilograms“. Now this might be changed.

The news comes from trade website BikeBiz.com after editor Carlton Reid had been invited to Switzerland to discuss changes to the technical rules set by the governing body.

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