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Hello, Pigale,
Yes, I agree with you.
I am disappointed in Sagan, too.
No need for that.
Andre Greipel has said it was wrong, so has old sprinter Robbie McEwen.
A pity for Cav and Degenkolb.

Hi, Rusty!
What a lot of tennis injuries so far this Wimbledon......
It was a very disappointing afternoon for the Centre Court spectators!
First Novak's opponent retired injured (I missed that ) and then Roger's retired, too!
It means of course that they are both safely through to the next round....but no one wanted it to be at such cost.
Now.....I can see that with the HMRC, as with any situation, you must "take as you find"...and you have had no trouble with the organisation..... so "fair dos"!
But I can never forgive them for trying to rob us of nearly £8,000....and then , when finally driven into a corner, and having to admit they were in the wrong.......not even having the grace to apologise!
And I do wonder how many other people they routinely "fleece" - folk who perhaps are intimidated by the HMRC's threats of prosecution and of setting the debt collectors on them!
They did this to us!
(The debt collectors were, in fact, the only people who finally apologised to us for having acted on misinformation given to them by the HMRC!)
I strongly advising anyone finding themselves in such a situation as we did , to fight the bureaucracy with every inch of energy they have!
I have just been reading the conversations about fair play in the cycling.......surely if someone "fouls" they should be out of the competition?
Not simply penalised by a points system?
Do you not agree?

Hello, Pigale!
The TDF jury have looked again at today's sprint and have taken the decision to disqualify Peter Sagan from the race.
His Tour is over.

Hello, Elle!
Yes, you are quite right fighting HMRC.
I find them to be very helpful.
The cycling thing!
Not as simple as you make it sound.
Today it was a bunch sprint, meaning a load of guys sprinting very fast and fighting for places at the front.
Accidents happen.
Crashes are endemic in the bike world, but rarely is there an attempt to deliberately foul an opponent.
The two men involved today, Cavendish and Sagan, are good friends.
i do not think for a minute that Sagan intended to put Cav on the floor, but he was not for letting him past either!
The sprinters today are not nearly so erratic as they were in the days of Abdoujaporov.
I am not sure you understand about the points system.
Points are what decides who wins the Green Jersey, so a large points deduction affects Sagan, as the Green Jersey is his target every year.
The Tour de France made a big decision today.
They threw the World Champion off their race.
Wish other sports were as brave.

Hello Rusty,

Sorry for delay, I have only just read your post.

It is not often that such decision is taken on the Tour, and I dare
say there must have been quite a discussion between the members
of the jury before taking such decision.
I wonder what P. Sagan had to say for himself at the end of the
race? I'll have to look it up. But surely the win of one stage does
not warrant risking being thrown out of the race!

Hi, Rusty!
Yes, I do understand that a points reduction could result in a cyclist losing a vital part of the race, forfeiting a jersey etc....but surely if he has conducted a foul , then he not only deserves this ...but should perhaps be totally disqualified from the rest of the race?
It is the bad sportsmanship that is surely the issue?
If I am not grasping the point, then I am sorry...but this is how it appears to me?
From my (admittedly unqualified) viewpoint, I think the TDF made the correct decision.
I should like to see more of this (surprising?) zero tolerance in other sporting spheres.- like for drug taking in athletics for instance.
I am enjoying the tennis...but missing "Eggheads" and "15 to 1"!
I am reading a Jeffrey Archer ......."False Impression".

Hello, Elle!
No, I think disqualifying Sagan is too harsh.
He should have been placed last and fined 80 points.
There have been worse incidents in Tour sprints before.
Robbie McEwen head-butted Stuart O'Grady in a sprint and was placed last, but no disqualification.
Mark Renshaw head-butted Julian Dean and he was disqualified.
What was the difference?
There are incidents all the time in sprints.
These sprinters are tough cookies!
Anyway, I hope Cav and Degenkolb can start tomorrow, but the Tour has lost some of its attraction for me with Sagan going out.
And a mountain top finish tomorrow, too.

I think the worst was Tom Boonen throwing his bottle into another rider's face. In comparison, Sagan's misdemeanour seems lesser; even Cavendish implied that he thought the disqualification was OTT. It was quite nice that they still seem to be on relatively good terms with each other, and Cav was very pleased with Sagan's apology.

Hi, Rusty!
Well, of course, I do not know enough to judge , so I will stand by what you tell me.
But head - butting?
And throwing a bottle in some one's face?
Good grief!
This isn't "sport"!
I will agree though that by comparison Peter Sagan's elbowing action appears but a "little misdemeanour"!
And maybe - comparatively - he should not have been judged so harshly.
But this type of thing is loutish and barbaric!
Jostling? Yes, I can understand that, as you say the cycling scene gets crowded, but deliberate attack and vicious actions.....?
Why ever is it "accepted" behaviour in a supposed "sport"?

I was very impressed by Cav's response to the whole thing.
He answered the questions in a very measured sensible way.
I would doubt that he wanted Sagan out of the race.
He just wanted to ask Sagan what the elbow thing was about.
Elle, the bottle throwing and head-butting are rare.
Though I remember Laurent Fignon throwing a bottle at a motor-bike cop that came a bit too close to him, but that was many years ago, and he was in yellow, and a Frenchman, so they would not dare throw him out.
In the rough and tumble of the bunch sprints there has to be give and take, but not deliberate actions to harm someone.
Elbows are often flying, but unfortunately today, Cav and Degenkolb came down.
I think the decision to throw Peter Sagan out of the Tour was a bit harsh, that's all.

Pigale, tomorrow the Tour finishes at a ski station, La Planche des Belles Filles.
How does that translate into English, please?