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Funny how when you’re literally paid to tell a TV audience your opinion on a professional bike race people will almost certainly still have a go at you for doing so…
Opschudding! Roglic verrast Evenepoel met late uitval, die stilstaat met pech #LaVuelta22 pic.twitter.com/KN6YdRUnZA
— Sporza 🚴 (@sporza_koers) September 6, 2022
Ex-pro and GCN presenter Adam Blythe risked the wrath of Belgium yesterday evening after questioning the mechanical which prompted race leader Remco Evenepoel to pull over, just as Primož Roglič launched a stinging attack and raced off into the distance. The red jersey was within 3km to go so got the same time as the group he was in at the time of the mechanical, leaving Blythe to question — based purely on the less-than-obvious TV pictures — what exactly the problem was?
GCN Racing has since deleted its handy clip from the show, posted on Twitter before everything blew up… so here’s a quick run-down of what Blythe said: “I really want to see that bike of Remco’s to see what the problem was. He’s not crashed, both wheels to me look like they were pumped up, if his gears [chain] have gone into his spokes or derailleur and he can’t pedal, yes it’s a mechanical, but that’s something you can help… I would like to see that bike to see what the problem was…”
Pushed further by host Orla Chennaoui on whether Remco was out to “limit his losses” by “claiming a mechanical”, Blythe clarified “I’m not suggesting that […] it’s just all a little bit too convenient.” Seeing the footage back, he continued: “Both wheels are pumped up [which, in fairness, did look to be the case on the TV images] he’s pedalling the bike fine, so what is the problem with it?”
Remco’s post-race interview followed, with the explanation that he’d punctured, but by now it wasn’t just Blythe questioning the claim, and cycling fans globally took to social media to search for evidence of this phantom puncture…
As it turned out it wasn’t phantom after all. A short while later, this video appeared, seeming to show a slow rear flat…
Evenepoel rear puncture inside 3km much clearer from this perspective. Slow leak, not flat but not really rideable either. #LaVuelta22 pic.twitter.com/yK0LYLdlNl
— Neal Rogers 🇺🇦 (@nealrogers) September 6, 2022
Presumably now on his evening commute, Blythe posted a video message clearing up the post-stage events, saying he’d now seen the footage showing the flat (much clearer than on the original TV pictures)…”That back tyre, clear enough for me to say that it was a flat tyre, so anyone trying to tell me that I was insinuating Remco’s cheating… I am not […] I was saying what I could see, and it didn’t look like a flat tyre.”
… ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/jmcN2dMadn
— Adam Blythe (@AdamBlythe89) September 6, 2022
Phew… more drama after stage 16 than pretty much the entire 189km day out… lesson learnt, eh Adam? Don’t go giving opinions when analysing bike races…(sorry, if you heard that it was just the live blog sarcasm alarm going off again, I must work out how to switch that off)…
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