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and is it because there's no team HTC controlling the peleton ?
NOpe and nope.
Seem to remember the first week is always littered with crashes, possibly down to riders battling to stay near the front and out of trouble?
did they not blame a lot of the crashes/falls on carbon wheels last year?
If you watch the one from a couple of days ago. His front wheel looks like it folds. How or what caused it I have no idea but scary if they flex especially given the power they must put through them on a sprint.
Carbon wheels may cause crashes in the mountains or on kobbles but not those seen in the tour thus far.
Nope, same every year.
If you watch the one from a couple of days ago. His front wheel looks like it folds. How or what caused it I have no idea but scary if they flex especially given the power they must put through them on a sprint.
That's not right - in normal use, carbon wheels are as usually far stiffer than normal metal wheels. However in a crash they HAVE to deform, not burst or fracture. Wheels get put through a specific burst test and if carbon shards go flying or spokes come out, they fail and are not allowed to be used in competition.
The wheel may fold/bend/deform as a result of a crash but it's not the cause of a crash.
It's well known though that brakes on carbon wheels can be snatchy or grabby hence why you occasionaly see inadvertant locked wheels on mountain descents, you get nothing, nothing, nothing, then wham, all the braking power comes in at once.
What more do you expect from knitted wheels?
Same every year in the first week. Ask Cadel, look where he sits in the bunch - he's leading out the sprinters because he knows it is dangerous to be anywhere further back because there will be a crash. Ask Wiggins, he's got further than last year as well.
It is due to nerves, lots of people still in contention, everybody wants to be near the front but not everyone can get there.
Kit isn't the problem, the folding wheels are a result of the crash, no the cause.
Nowt to do with folding - more to do with crap braking on carbon rims in the wet.