Richard Carapaz disqualified from Liege-Bastogne-Liege for riding in 'supertuck' position

Aside from the observation that their top-tube was often up around their bollocks anyway - you do understand why that's kinda circular, don't you?

But it will, I assure you... 

I 'learnt' my aero tuck from watching the pro's race, as do so many others. Until the 'super tuck' became popular in the pro peloton, it was rarely seen anywhere, now its the 'go-to' aero tuck. 

Remove it from out TV screens and within a relatively small period of time, it will also disappear from the club scene. Other aero tuck options are still available... 

I personally dislike the position due to the manner in which someone in the supertuck needs to move their weight further forward when vacating the supertuck... i.e. shift their bum around and back on to the saddle. Naturally if you never have to change positions quickly, or respond to an object in your path, you're fine, but outside all the bravado, your control window is actually pretty low whilst in the tuck.

Quite rightly, its been recognised that its one thing a pro using the position in a pro race, but that's very different to a 16year old, learning his craft on an open road, convinced that the longer s/he uses said position, the faster they will be. 

An enthuisiast faces far more risks, in a less controlled environment, generally with less experience / skill than the pros... by all means, continue to take the risk if you like, but that risk should not be forced on to aspiring cyclists coming in to the sport. 

But it won't

1. I've been doing a similar tuck if maybe not as extreme certainly enough that would the UCI would disqualify a rider for.

2. Genies out of the bottle. It is there for all to see. There's this thing called YouTube and social media. You can't unsee it. It's out there.

It was fairly clear in the live footage shown on Eurosport.  I was surprised the commentators didnt mention it.

It doesn't look as though he's sitting on the top-tube, but it does look like he may be gripping the top tube between his thighs, and potentially may have his chest resting on the tops briefly, either of which would be an equally illegal 'contact point'. I wouldn't exactly say it's clear enough to be sure though.

Olly wrote:

On the evidence of that picture alone, I'm not convinced he's in a super-tuck position.

It doesn't matter. The commissaires decided that he was. Dem's de rules, whether we like it or not.

I guess moaning about the ref and the rules takes far less effort than trying to work out why, year after year, Sky/Ineos underperform in one day races despite their ridiculous budget and resources (new boy Pidders not withstanding).