Welcome to Chasing the Peloton Cycling

Covering All of Cycling's Biggest Stories and Events

10/1/10

Mother of all Photo Finishes

Too close to call? Though nobody questioned that Michael Matthews took home the gold but the bronze was a complete unknown. After dissecting the tapes pixel by pixel it was determined that the margin between Taylor Phinney and Guillaume Boivin was simply too close to decide so they both had to share the bronze. This was the first time a medal of any kind was shared at a World Tour event. I will now attempt to show you (the images won't look that great on the blog but if you click for the full version it will be a bit clearer) who may have won or at the very least give you a perspective on just how close it was. Personally, I think Boivin got him by the slightest of margins.
Figure #1
Absolutely impossible to find a winner from this distance. You can see Boivin is on the top and Phinney is on the bottom of the screen and that it is just impossible to see whose wheel is in front.
Figure #2
I took the liberty of highlighting the finish line with a yellow box and zooming it in quite a bit so now you can see just how close it really was. Once again, you can't draw any type of winner from this distance either.
Figure #3
Alright so here you have the cornerstone for my argument. The white boxes represent the wheels of both Boivin and Phinney and the orange box (yes it is a box) represents the margin by which Boivin's wheel came slightly ahead of Taylor's. Please note none of my markings or enhancements are official. Though I do think Guillaume got him at the line, I also think it was the right call not to call it. This debate may never be put to rest so its best that you completely remove the possibility for controversy. Plus they both had great rides and both deserve it.

No comments:

Post a Comment