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Brilliant entertainment on the forum this eveningmyrideissteelerthanyours said:Or is your argument that if instead of a sprint stage we watch only MTFs or some other entertainment altogether like a rock concert in order to build the fan base?
To be exceedingly fair, though, Tinkov didn't just get to buy some behemoth firm at way below market value after the implosion of the Soviet union, which is how most Russian billionaires made their money.sir fly said:I don't get you, people.
An instant billionaire from a country with great business tradition and continuity certainly holds in his little finger all the knowledge of this world.
I mean, the fact that there is a ton of races longer-standing than any social model in his fatherland means absolutely nothing... They don't have a clue how to run a business.
I agree he differs from a typical post-SSSR-ex-KGB billionaire pattern.SeriousSam said:To be exceedingly fair, though, Tinkov didn't just get to buy some behemoth firm at way below market value after the implosion of the Soviet union, which is how most Russian billionaires made their money.sir fly said:I don't get you, people.
An instant billionaire from a country with great business tradition and continuity certainly holds in his little finger all the knowledge of this world.
I mean, the fact that there is a ton of races longer-standing than any social model in his fatherland means absolutely nothing... They don't have a clue how to run a business.
Instead, hard work, honour and foresight appear to have blessed him with his considerable fortune. And when he now declares the era to be that of Sir David Brailsford, not that of Riis and Brunyeel, then we should take that as the objective assessment of an elite businessman,
Electress said:ray j willings said:Oleg makes some good points, but what I don't want to see is
Pay to view races only ...so no GT'S on non paying TV
paying to watch a race live at the start and finish area.
Paying to get on to a mountain during a big stage of the Tour or Giro etc.
Even though I don't wear any sort of team Kit ,,,prices going crazy expensive.
Teams using tech that means we cannot ride the same kind of bike unless rich as F%%K
I don't want to see Cycling going the way of F1 or Soccer.
Cycling IMO is a peoples sport and a free one to go and watch.
Biggest fear is if Sky gets Cycling rights and it will turn into a pile of profit making take the people for all the money we can pile of sh%t.
I agree to some extent, and to some extent with Oleg, the problem is in not going too far. I have no wish for cycling to lose it's connection to its history, or its fans by turning it into a ticketed sporting extravaganza. I'm no football fan, but I know a number of peole who have fallen out of love with the sport because of the sense of disconnection from it now it is a massive worldwide industry with ludicrous amounts of money changing hands. Cycling benefits in some ways from not being too mainstream and going the sky ppv or 20:20 cricket route isn't what I want.
What turns my blood cold, however, is this bit:
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!
I appreciate that you need to do the numbers and use modern methods, but please God, I want there to be room for risk taking and panache in the sport. All teams work hard, but hearing all about power ratios and nothing about passion or enjoyment kills the fun for me. One of the reasons I loathe Sky is the corporate management / mood of accountancy that colours everything. I like to think that guys like Riis have a personal, even paternal connection with their riders, and share human qualities and failings with them. I want to hear about inspiration, leadership and charisma not power metres and working out the stats. I want the riders I support to come over as people, not robots, and able to still make individual choices and have a life outside the sport.
I like to think that all the training just sets up the rider to work from the best possible base during racing, but from then on its about instinct and risk-taking and a feeling for race-day tactics, not only will-to-power / crush any resistance in some dreary well-executed strategy planned with a gantt chart and calculator three weeks in advance. Winning is important, but it isn't the be all and end all. How the winning is done matters to me. Daring to do things differently and taking chances; even at the cost of being erratic / inconsistent but occasionally mercurially brilliant, has much more appeal to me. One of the reasons I loved Sagan when he appeared on the scene was his willingness to prat about - it was enjoyable to watch someone who was clearly enjoying what he was doing. There's not enough of that as it is, IMO.
HelloDolly said:What's this ..>Carlton Kirby on Eurosport saying Quintnaa is fed up as team have not given him his schedule and are maybe suggesting Giro/Vuellta double....anyone hear this ??
Miburo said:HelloDolly said:What's this ..>Carlton Kirby on Eurosport saying Quintnaa is fed up as team have not given him his schedule and are maybe suggesting Giro/Vuellta double....anyone hear this ??
I hope it's true, the more competition the better but i don't know, isn't kirby an idiot that doesn't know what he's talking about?
Netserk said:Isn't Contador's Giro opponents relevant to this thread???
Miburo said:LaFlorecita said:jens_attacks said:i hope cycling stays the same
I agree jensie, idiots like Tinkov will ruin cycling with their "innovative" plans.
On an internation level there's not much to destroy of cycling. Let's be real.
He's an idiot most of the times but he brought up some decent points, ignoring it by calling him idiot. Now that will ruin cycling even more.
Like stop broadcasting 5 hour flat stages of the tour, what's the freaking point? Show off how beautiful france is?
LaFlorecita said:Netserk said:Isn't Contador's Giro opponents relevant to this thread???
I think it's weird to post about it in here as "news" and not in the Quintana thread.
Angliru said:Miburo said:LaFlorecita said:jens_attacks said:i hope cycling stays the same
I agree jensie, idiots like Tinkov will ruin cycling with their "innovative" plans.
On an internation level there's not much to destroy of cycling. Let's be real.
He's an idiot most of the times but he brought up some decent points, ignoring it by calling him idiot. Now that will ruin cycling even more.
Like stop broadcasting 5 hour flat stages of the tour, what's the freaking point? Show off how beautiful france is?
I'm pretty certain that showing off the beauty of France is part of the point. Promote the country to potential tourists.
Red Rick said:The thread was always like an "unofficial anything even remotely related to Alberto Contador in any way thead" It's gone a lot further off topic than that
Red Rick said:The thread was always like an "unofficial anything even remotely related to Alberto Contador in any way thead" It's gone a lot further off topic than that
BigMac said:Red Rick said:The thread was always like an "unofficial anything even remotely related to Alberto Contador in any way thead" It's gone a lot further off topic than that
Besides the 95% of obsequiousness and adulation posts towards Contador, yes pretty off-topic overall.
LaFlorecita said:BigMac said:Red Rick said:The thread was always like an "unofficial anything even remotely related to Alberto Contador in any way thead" It's gone a lot further off topic than that
Besides the 95% of obsequiousness and adulation posts towards Contador, yes pretty off-topic overall.
Full Definition of OBSEQUIOUS
: marked by or exhibiting a fawning attentiveness
— ob·se·qui·ous·ly adverb
— ob·se·qui·ous·ness noun
Why, thank you.BigMac said:LaFlorecita said:BigMac said:Red Rick said:The thread was always like an "unofficial anything even remotely related to Alberto Contador in any way thead" It's gone a lot further off topic than that
Besides the 95% of obsequiousness and adulation posts towards Contador, yes pretty off-topic overall.
Full Definition of OBSEQUIOUS
: marked by or exhibiting a fawning attentiveness
— ob·se·qui·ous·ly adverb
— ob·se·qui·ous·ness noun
Is that you? Nice curves.
rhubroma said:the ineffable aesthetic quality, which is "soul," not "mind," without which sport - and not only sport - looses its beauty. This you did through all the reasons stated. You effectively used the Nietzscheian "will-to-power," as a metaphor for that dreary over-corporatized and hyper-scientific sport method of automatized cycling that currently Sky personifies. Naturally this is not all Sky's fault, nor did it begin with the British cycling team. Corporate professionalism and scientific method in reality goes back to the Philadelphian buisnessman, Frederick Winslow Taylor, whose "scientific method" was one of the earliest attempts to apply science to the engineering of processes and to management, to of course maximize profit and reduce expenses. In fact the factories already de-humanized by machines, now further reduced workers to mere pawns in a greater scheme. Sky has simply established the modern paradigm for this in sport. Sport is a business for sure, however, as someone once said: the more business takes over, the less humanity remains.