I was one of the riders who finished 1hour 20 minutes down and as you can probably guess there was a reason for that. I was at 4:09 from the GC leader going into yesterday's stage and had finished in the main bunch or ahead of it in stages 1-3. I can’t believe that the commissaire decided not to use his discretion to extend the time limit given that there were some serious ‘extenuating circumstances’ including the break-down of the broom wagon.
"ARTICLE 11 FINISHING TIME LIMITS
The Time Limit for all stages will be 20% of the stage winner’s time. The Time Limit may be extended, in extenuating circumstances, by the Panel of Commissaries in agreement with the Director according to Article 2.6.032.”
I was riding well in the bunch and know from the previous stages that I could have finished inside the time limit. I had a mechanical on the second KOH and needed a wheel change. My team car paced me back for a few mins but as we didn’t want to break the rules they then went ahead and I tried to make my way back onto the main bunch. Almost immediately after my team car left me I had a serious mechanical and needed a spare bike. I had to stop and watched as all the groups who had already been dropped zoomed by me. I waited for the broom wagon to come and radio my team car for my bike. I stood on the side of the road and waited, and waited, and waited. A couple of guys who were covered in blood and bandages, after being in a serious crash, finally passed but no broom wagon.
After about 20mins a race car stopped and told me that the broom wagon had broken down!! At this stage we were out of radio range of the so they couldn’t contact my team car to organise a spare bike. A spectator gave me his bike to finish the stage on. After changing shoes, seat post, saddle height etc. I was down about 40 minutes down. Had the broom wagon been on hand to radio my team car, I could have gotten a quick bike change and made it back onto one of the groups that finished inside the limit. The complete failure of the supports provided by the Rás (not suggesting that this is any individual’s fault) could surely have been seen as ‘extenuating circumstances’.
After eventually getting on my way, I caught up to the two injured riders. These guys were in a bad way, blood everywhere and gear shredded, one guy had his fingers bandaged up and couldn’t put his weight on his right hand. They couldn’t ride hard but wanted to finish out the stage. In the spirit of sportsmanship and, I would have thought, in the spirit of the Rás I thought it would be bad form to drill by them, so we finished the stage in a groupetto. I was sure, given the crash and the problem with the broom, that we would not be eliminated from the Rás. It never crossed my mind that yesterday evening I would be driving home. Even in the Grand Tours, this kind of a serious crash would be taken as ‘extenuating circumstances’.
The broom wagon, when it eventually got back on the road, stayed behind us all the way round. He didn’t mention the time limit at any stage or give any indication that it would be enforced. He did not pace us up to within the time limit or allow team cars to do so as we have all seen happen countless time in Grand Tour races (never mind in a UCI 2.2 race) when crashes and serious mechanicals occur. I assume that he and the other marshals and officials were not aware that the commissaire intended to enforce the limit. None of the eliminated riders were informed. A lot of these guys were only a minute or so outside the limit and could have ridden harder and finished in time had they known they were so close.
I am in state of disbelief that the commissaire and Rás officials don’t see 1. losing 40minutes due to a broken-down broom wagon and lack of radio coverage, 2. serious crashes and 3. officials/marshals not being able to inform riders of the time limit situation as ‘extenuating circumstances’ . To enforce the rules stringently is one thing. To enforce them when you are not following them yourself is another thing entirely.
This was my first and probably only chance to do the Rás. I put everything into the training and preparation for 2 years. I lost a week’s wages and paid a lot of money to take part. I was aware of the risk that I might crash out or not have the fitness or power to make it to Skerries. I was prepared for that and would have accepted that as part of the sport. Instead I was eliminated because the broom-wagon broke down. I am gutted.
I am gutted for him. It sounds absolutely absurd that this fellow and a number of the others were not allowed to continue given the extenuating circumstances.
