Quote:
Originally Posted by gusmahler
Attacking on a mechanical is different from attacking on a crash. A crashed rider can take anywhere from 20 seconds to minutes (or never, in the case of Valverde, Cav, Porte) to get back.
Eh. Between Contador's attack on Schleck, Astana attacking Contador in the valley to the Mortirolo in 2015, and Nibali attacking Froome on Croix-Fer 2 years ago its pretty clear that stopping for mechanicals is optional.
Also Froome was livid in 2015 about Nibali attacking him from 8 minutes back on GC near the top of an HC climb with 60km to go. If Froome's going to be mad about attacks like that (which Froome would never mark even if he was in the group) then he should be waiting for Martin on that descent today.
Personally I think they should just keep riding their own races on mountain stages. Crashes and mechanicals are part of the race. These so called "unwritten rules" would be like F1 drivers voluntarily slowing down when Lewis Hamilton punctures and needs to pit.