Theo Bos Incident DEBUNKED

First I will state that I don’t think this was intentional.

However what happened somewhat resembles a Madison sling in a track race, which wasn’t really reproduced in this fine video making effort.

Note in the race that Bos is initially moving faster than Impey (he is coming up on him on the left side). This is very similar to a Madison Sling, where the relief rider drops down the banking to just above (right side of his teammate), whereby his teammate throws him into the race. There is a transfer of momentum, whereby the relief rider speeds up and his partner slows down, both dramatically. This happens somewhat in the race footage.

It is also common in a madison for the rider being thrown in to drop down in front of the rider who threw him in. So how is this situation different?

1) There is no banking on this road, so it is is harder for Impey to go/drift in front of Bos

2) Bos grabbed Impey rather high up on his jersey, as opposed to a Madison where hand slings are typically used, but previously it was normal practice to grab your partner’s shorts, which had a rolled up piece of cloth (jamming tool) to grab onto in a special pocket- No Snickering…!

By using hand slings you get much better leverage, have a longer throw, and it is easier to drop down in front of the person throwing you. By using shorts you still have better leverage and a longer throw than grabbing someone’s jersey, but not by much.

3) The difference in speed between the 2 riders isn’t as great as it is during a Madison exchange.

As a champion trackie, surely Bos knows how to do Madison slings, and how to throw someone off their bike (which happens fairly often to newbies in Madisons, and occasionaly to even very experienced riders). But this isn’t what he did here.

What really happened is probably invisible from this helicopter camera angle. But I suspect it is a combination of things which have been previously discussed, including losing balance, hitting a barricade leg, counter-steering, grasping for straws, but grabbing jersey). Impey was probably pulled down more so than being thrown down.

To go back to the original post on this matter, anyone trying to reproduce this should probably be wearing one of those inflatable sumo suits, or at least hold a union card for the stuntman’s guild.

Just watch the video of the incident. If rider A grabs hold of the jersey of rider B and goes done himself, preferably into the wheels of rider A, then rider B he can indeed bring rider A down. We saw it happen, so we know it can be done.

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But, who would risk his life and career to do this intentionally? A huge motive would have to be proved before I would consider such a dramatic more to be purposeful or premeditated.

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The most obvious inference from the video replay is that Bos just panicked when he felt himself getting squeezed into the barriers; and, in a state of panic, he grabbed out at the nearest rider in a desperate attempt to break his fall.

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Bos’s big no-no was taking his hand off the bars in the last click, and worse yet grbbing at another rider in a vain attempt to save himself. The rules are clear that (1) both hands stay on the bar in the run-up and sprint; and (2) the unwritten rule is that a falling rider doesn’t try to safe himself at the risk of other riders - rather he bite the bullet and hopes his crash won’t impede others.

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Should Bos be penalized? YES! His riding was unprofessional — he should’ve have just gone down himself and tried not to take anyone else with him. PROs are not allowed to have panic like mere mortals. That’s why they get paid to race.

Should Bos be crucified as a horrible cheater? NO! Not unless strong evidence show he had an ulterior ($$$$) motive for purposefully taking down another rider. And this is unlikely, as he did not appear to be stalking the yellow jersey in the finale.

After watching the slo mo version in hi resolution, I’m convinced Bos didn’t do it on purpose. At first I thought Bos had a complete brain explosion. But now I don’t think he did.

It was stupid, but not on purpose. Bos has his arm on Impey, tries to push him right. Impey leans left because another Barloworld (I think) rider is very close on his right. Bos keeps his arm there, gets closer to the fence, and in the slo mo hi res version YOU CAN SEE THE FENCE MOVE OUTWARD when Bos hits it. Then he drags Impey down with him and hurls him into the fence.