2015 'PRO' cycling discussion
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I must say that this classics season has already been 10x more entertaining than last year's giro/tour/vuelta combined, and we still have RVV, Flanders and Roubaix to look forward to!
"We live in an age when unnecessary things are our only necessities." Oscar Wilde
Come on, last year's Giro was a genuine vintage edition.
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Subject: 2015 'PRO' cycling discussion
The master already setting up his tactics through mind games
The Reds have quite a 1-2 punch and a more clearly defined plan of action than EQS. Wiggo seems to be striking a bit more of a 'team' tone in this piece in the Guardian.
http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/m ... ix-classic
ayrej2 wrote:Not according to Paolini... http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/racing/b ... ini-164490
I guess we don't really know where his form is right now as he hasn't shown his cards yet
The master already setting up his tactics through mind games
The Reds have quite a 1-2 punch and a more clearly defined plan of action than EQS. Wiggo seems to be striking a bit more of a 'team' tone in this piece in the Guardian.
http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/m ... ix-classic
bikewithnoname wrote:I must say that this classics season has already been 10x more entertaining than last year's giro/tour/vuelta combined, and we still have RVV, Flanders and Roubaix to look forward to!
Agreed. I think Gent-Wevelgem was the most exciting race I've seen in my young life. Of course that's a biased opinion since I have been longing to see Luca without the Kristoff boat anchor all season but still that was a hell of a race. 120km of all out racing, when is the last time we've seen that?
How is Paolini allowed to race in full black kit( I understand gabba and warmers, but also shorts), with sponsors printed in yellow on it. Don`t get me wrong, it looks super cool
Kristoff boat anchor? You do realize how many more wins Kristoff has than him right?
G-V wasn't that good of a race IMO. Lots of shitty weather causing bad things to happen and definitely a sufferfest, but that completely eroded the tactics that I personally find exciting. Last year's Tour wasn't the best, but the battle for the podium by the 2nd tier contendors was pretty good and the Vuelta wasn't bad at all.
G-V wasn't that good of a race IMO. Lots of shitty weather causing bad things to happen and definitely a sufferfest, but that completely eroded the tactics that I personally find exciting. Last year's Tour wasn't the best, but the battle for the podium by the 2nd tier contendors was pretty good and the Vuelta wasn't bad at all.
Willier wrote:How is Paolini allowed to race in full black kit( I understand gabba and warmers, but also shorts), with sponsors printed in yellow on it. Don`t get me wrong, it looks super cool
Full black kit? He wore his leg warmers on top of his shorts...
Data from InnerRing blog. Not counting Quickstep, correlation coefficient = 0.405 (low). Note where Tinkoff-Saxo is on the plot.
http://images.cyclingtips.com.au/conten ... sion-2.jpg
Looks like Cav ditched the FSA cranks and is now on full Shimano.
Looks like Cav ditched the FSA cranks and is now on full Shimano.
- stella-azzurra
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prebsy wrote:
Agreed. I think Gent-Wevelgem was the most exciting race I've seen in my young life. Of course that's a biased opinion since I have been longing to see Luca without the Kristoff boat anchor all season but still that was a hell of a race. 120km of all out racing, when is the last time we've seen that?
Spoke too soon?
Kristoff wins Driedaagse De Panne opener in Zottegem
Katusha man beats Belgian champion Debusschere in a breakaway sprint
http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/drieda ... -1/results
I never took drugs to improve my performance at any time. I will be willing to stick my finger into a polygraph test if anyone with big media pull wants to take issue. If you buy a signed poster now it will not be tarnished later. --Graeme Obree
zirxo wrote:Willier wrote:How is Paolini allowed to race in full black kit( I understand gabba and warmers, but also shorts), with sponsors printed in yellow on it. Don`t get me wrong, it looks super cool
Full black kit? He wore his leg warmers on top of his shorts...
Today he was wearing something like this at MSR
Layering for rain and crosswinds always a challenge and certainly entertaining.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wVbjxBzgMg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wVbjxBzgMg
Just ride ..
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Tinkoff released an official statement about the sacking of Riis ... in which he succeeds to barely mention Riis.
He has a point that the UCI needs to come up with a more efficient business model that doesn't make teams so dependant on sponsorship deals.
The rest of his lament is complete bullshit. Wanting less races, no one supposedly interested in 'provincial' races, forcing riders to start in certain races, 'ring' races, GP of Monaco, ... Really, Oleg? Is that the best you can come up with?
Here is my statement: World cycling has to change... or die, or maybe just lurch from scandal to scandal for another decade as we watch teams come and go. That is today's situation, where teams do not have income, just huge expense that would be unthinkable in other professional sports. Teams depend on sponsorship for 99% of their revenue and this model is neither viable nor durable. This is the origin of the doping, the endless scandals and the whole 'grey tinge' of this wonderful sport. The paradox is that cycling is the world's second most popular spectator sport, after football, but at the same time it is the poorest sport.
Why is this happening? I will try to analyse the problem funnel.
This is how the chain should look ideally:
- income (from television and participation in races) for teams
- race organisers receive MORE from TV channels
- TV channels get more viewers and more demand
- races are an interesting show - this is entertainment
- a cycling star academy should be created and we should work on increasing viewing figures (see experience of Formula 1)
- ALL!!! stars should participate in these races (here we should look to the experience of Tennis)
Of course, you could look at this funnel from the bottom up. People obviously need to watch the races rather than sleeping during siesta time in Continental Europe:-).
We need to find a way to get them interested during long and boring stages. We probably need to make them shorter or start to show them later, when there is a final battle.
We need to make races more interesting and think-up new ones. As an idea: GP Monaco on Saturday before the motor racing, and sell seats in rows that are already set up. But it is important that the best sprinters come for this kind of event - the best mountain racers should go to all the grand tours. That is why I proposed the 'Three Grand Tour Challenge' which provoked such a heated discussion - which made me very happy! If you want to have a real show, you need to have the very best competing against the very best. We definitely need to reduce the number of races - noone is interested in these provincial races that get no TV coverage. Here I am talking about World Tour teams - I think that teams with lower status can participate in those more local events and so they do have a place in the sport.
Again, everything hinges on the idiotic 'ciclismo storico' . I agree with Fabian Canchelara - who needs this tradition of 'do as my grandad did'? Spain, Italy, France, Belgium are all stuck in a 20th Century paradigm - this is an anachronism in the age of the Internet, the iPhone, mass mobility and a broad-based approach to sport and life in general. In those days you really did have to ride your bike without gear changes and a lamp strapped to your forehead. We need to cut the number of races, reduce their duration and make them more viewer-friendly. For example, we could have more 'ring' races around cities, etc.
Cycling has to change. The times of Sainz, Bryneel and Riis are over - they were stuck in the 2000s and that is not necessarily about doping. They just don't get some obvious things and don't know how to manage teams in modern way. Managing a team is not just about issuing instructions from a car radio or about casting a spell over the riders at which Riis was unsurpassed, for example. Managing a team is about boring, monotonous work in the office. The day of the boring and meticulous managers has come - guys like Dave Brailsord and, I hope, our new Director Stefano Feltrin.
Directing the team and its riders from preparation today must be driven by mathematical and statistical analysis and data mining. Sport science is the king now! Today the winner is not the one that trains the most but the one who trains the right way, not the one who injects EPO, but the one with a healthy diet and the one who consumes the right drinks before, after and during lengthy training sessions.
It is for this reason that I am not considering the torrent of offers of 'Riis replacements' that I have been inundated with from all over the globe. We don't need this - this is the old way of thinking and it is no longer viable!
We have some of the best riders in the peloton, we have a superb team of trainers and specialists and, hey, cycling is a team sport - let's not forget that. So I believe in my team - Tinkoff-Saxo and in our team of like-minded professionals! We don't need a star-manager - we are a team of stars of world cycling: Stefano Feltrin, Steve de Jong, Sean Yates, Bobby Julich, Daniel Healey, etc. and together we will make our team into a Super-Team.
But of course if cycling itself doesn't change as I wrote above, then it will be that more difficult. And everything will stay the same as it is now - each man for himself fighting to save his own skin. I call out to all teams to unite to establish new rules of the game, to influence the UCI and race organisers. I realize that this is difficult task, and there needs to be more team-owners rather than former sportsmen who managed to find sponsors and survive, earning their million-a-year.
I believe in my favorite sport and I believe in the dialectic of life too....
He has a point that the UCI needs to come up with a more efficient business model that doesn't make teams so dependant on sponsorship deals.
The rest of his lament is complete bullshit. Wanting less races, no one supposedly interested in 'provincial' races, forcing riders to start in certain races, 'ring' races, GP of Monaco, ... Really, Oleg? Is that the best you can come up with?