Giro Stage 9 - What Really Happened

Todays Topic: Stage 9 Crash, What Really Happened

Lots of talk, analysis, blather, and an admission on the Stage 9 crash...but let's look at it in detail.
Here is the video:


Pick up the action approaching 400m to go...the field is tight and fast, running from the right side barriers to those on the left, a natural inclination. Pozzato's lead out man is just about done and the scrum begins

At 400m we see Goss start to swing out in anticipation of the hairpin as Svein Tuft accelerates... 

but everyone else stays inside, clearly driving towards a late apex of a super-tight turn, not quite what you want to do. You can see the Tuft start to reposition outside, albeit a bit too late

meanwhile Bennati and Pozzato continue the inside line. Bennati is playing a good position game - in the video you can see Goss drops back behind Bennati as they start into the corner giving the advantage to Bennati, except for being too far inside to take the corner at full speed that is. This is when Pozzato starts to lay back a bit in order to change his line and get outside of Bennati to try and carry more speed thru the turn

and promptly runs square into Goss. Notice how Tuft and  Bennatti  are still out of position and hard on the brakes....

Clearly Pozzato put himself in a bad position - on the inside leading into a tight corner = no speed. I think  the fault lies with  Svein Tuft and  Bennati for running too long up the inside line - . Initially I faulted the finish recon - and that may be the case in the end, but Goss set up correctly while the others did not. Did he "see" the right line sooner? Doubtful as he was in the draft until 400m, then slipped right to set up the correct apex. The others either didn't get good recon, forgot what they'd been told, or simply mis-timed the corner. Unfortunately each of the protagonists, save Tuft, paid the price in the end...