themosquitoking
Guru
- Location
- Spain
I'm not helping i'm just getting my kicks for free.
Pearl izumi tour series
- Thread starter jack smith
- Start date
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172traindriver
Legendary Member
You say in later posts that lesser riders were giving up and not showing any effort.
You clearly mention the Wiggins Team here. Most of these lads are medal winners from past Commonwealth and Olympic games.
They deserve enormous respect and are some of this countries sporting heroes.
You must remember they are track specialists not pure road guys or criterium specialists.
If I remember Wiggo lost something like 10 kg for the roads compared to his track weight.
You should have done a bit of homework before you criticised these guys.
172traindriver
Legendary Member
i'm going to the Croydon one next week.
Cracking to watch
172traindriver
Legendary Member
You have to admire his willingness to help out
Pro Tour Punditry
Guru
He's a shining light. He really is. Unless he does not get a privileged view and a "goody bag" to his liking...
OP
OP
jack smith
Veteran
- Location
- Durham
No I said the lesser riders were the ones going at it and did the whole thing, it was team wiggins I was quite surprised at for seeming not to care much apart from the lad who came up near the too you could see from the start he was going for it
The original concept of the Tour Series as a competitive team event has not worked effectively for several years. There are differences in the abilities of riders, both within teams and across teams. This is exacerbated when teams commit to 2 events at the same time (eg Tour Series and Ras). None of the teams have the strength in depth of Endura a few years back who could put out 2 very competitive teams on the same day. The current squads have to weaken at least one of their teams. Consequently, for these reasons, some teams “opt out” of the true concept of the team event within the first few races, or in some cases even before the first race, preferring to contest the “Let’s get one of our lads over the line first series”. This makes sense as there is more publicity from firing a guy half a lap off the front than finishing, say 3rd in the team competition. Commentators always place a lot of focus on these guys and they gain a lot of camera time, even though they may on occasions be given a “free ride” as they tend to be from teams at the bottom of the team event and cannot damage the few stronger teams still focused on the team competition. It is probably no coincidence that the last 4 rounds have seen the first rider across the line coming from teams at the bottom of the team ranking. For the teams that have effectively “opted out” of the team event, it does not matter where their riders finish provided one of their guys has a chance of crossing the line first. The OP is correct in that some riders (Team Wiggins included) may not be “trying”, but that is not necessary a negative point, but a feature of the pro scene. While amateurs may sprint for 30th because for them that is better than 31st, for the pro’s, once you get badly dropped or you have done your allocated job for the day, it makes sense to roll in and save yourself for another day. For the few teams still contesting the team event the situation is different and all their riders must give 100%. There are effectively several different "events" taking place within the Tour Series with different teams, depending on their abilities, focusing on different ones.
huwsparky
Über Member
- Location
- Llangrannog
I went to the one in Aberystwyth a couple of weeks ago. I thought it was awesome and had I known about it earlier I would have signed up for a stab. Got to be the best form of bike racing for live spectating.
With these races being 2 a week I guess if a rider gets dropped maybe they back off to be in better shape for the next race? Having said that, it is a team event...
With these races being 2 a week I guess if a rider gets dropped maybe they back off to be in better shape for the next race? Having said that, it is a team event...
He went there to help out, he really wanted to help out, really he did...........so why if you was so keen to help out, did it matter what little present you got for helping.........seems like someone was only there for the freebies and then complained about the racing as a cover up
My previous comment stands - what a douch
My previous comment stands - what a douch
themosquitoking
Guru
- Location
- Spain
I've just noticed that the Croydon course tomorrow night goes at a very dodgy angle to some tram lines at one point, i look forward to seeing what safety measures are in place.
Pro Tour Punditry
Guru
Hopefully they'll get a dedicated marshall standing on the course to slow them down...hopefully it's not Jack or he'll have buggered off to hang about the start line
A matt has been put down with tarmac over the top, after the race it will be removed
themosquitoking
Guru
- Location
- Spain
I was sort of hoping it would be ramps but this seems more sensible.
Red17
Veteran
- Location
- South London
Going along tonight to see the men's race. Looking forward to seeing the pros in action as not seen them live before.
themosquitoking
Guru
- Location
- Spain
That was bloody good, incredibly fast and i timed them doing less than 90 second laps for the first ten laps. The tarmac coating wasn't at the tram line crossing that i considered the dodgy one, they had some kind of thin rubber mat laid into the gaps instead.
