I’m not a big cyclocross guy, but there was apparently a touch of wheels that caused some excitement heading into the sand on Day 2 of Gloucester this year. Colt McElwaine was in the right place at the right time and got the original, better quality video—I just added slow-mo.
NOTE: contains pottymouth.
From Velonews:
“There’s almost a foot-deep trough in the sand,” Johnson said. “I got in there first and I didn’t see what happened to (Page).”
Page had a different take. “Johnson took my front wheel out,” he told VeloNews before the podium ceremony.
Page tumbled to his left and had to get rolling again in heavy sand, with Driscoll and Powers marking him.
Page is a good crosser but… always blaming others and complaining.
*Very* late and close pass under braking. If that was how they had been racing, then it’s no big deal, shit’s gonna happen when you race that hard. If that was the first openly hostile move, then yeah, TJ’s to blame.
Only those guys know how uncalled for it was, but that won’t stop the entire internet from pretending they do, too.
Legit move on TJ’s part. He and page enter the corner at the same speed. TJ swings the foot out to swing the bike around the turn and save his sliding front wheel. Page takes a tighter line without room to countersteer. Page lost it to Isaac Newton.
@Colin, I believe TJ led into that section from the pavement
@Dave wow, really? looks to me like TJ is carrying a *lot* more speed and trying to make the corner, hence the leg out and wheel slide. I assumed he had just passed. if he was in front the whole time, then why the heck was JP overlapping wheels on the corner?
@Colin That was my first impression, too. But I’m also pretty accustomed to seeing people try passes like that.
Wait, there was sun on Sunday? Did I pick the wrong day or what?
I’m with Colin on this. If there’s only one reasonable line then you can’t pull your front wheel even with someone’s back wheel and pretend like you’ve staked a claim to that line. If you want to get by on the inside you’ve really got to get your hips even with their hips before the apex.
@Colin, yeah that’s what I remember eniwai… could be wrong though.
@dave myette says page was leading: https://forums.roadbikereview.com/showpost.php?p=2418818&postcount=20
“The video doesn’t show that Page was leading that group on the approach to the pit… it looks like TJ was first wheel but I assure you he wasn’t”
I’m inclined to go with the video here. TJ is ahead from the first moment they’re both visible. It looks like TJ might have just passed JP seconds before, but as they set up for the corner into the sand, TJ is clearly in front.
Not only that, but as they set up, JP is outside of TJ relative to the turn.
I don’t really see, given the video, how there’s room for debate on either of those points.
@cosmo the approach to the sand starts well before the video starts. matt, zank, and kenny were all watching it, if they say TJ divebombed it at the last minute i believe them.
I think this needs to be white-boarded 🙂
I see the anti-TJ argument now. From behind he pointed it right for the deep sand to get around Page on the inside, and then he did a hockey stop in front of Page to get back on line.
If you imagine that the deep sand is a wall or off-course then I think most people would agree that TJ rode an illegitimate line. You can’t reasonably cut someone off for the sake of riding straight into a wall. Of course the sand wasn’t a wall, but it might as well have been.
In this light I’m pretty sympathetic to Page. That was a dick move on TJ’s part.
@cosmo or waved