Brailsford to UCI: "Let them eat cake"

[philcrisp]

Track success is a combination of things, not least of all is a nations mind set. Track is ingrained in the culture of some Countries, it is part of every day racing. Those with a tradition in track tend to go well in track on a world stage because their countries are set up to support youth through to elite track competition.

As far as I can tell, BC is by the far the best game in town for a UK rider on the way up so Brailsford gets a better pick for the track team than some of the Continental countries.

 

[spanky wanderlust]

db is right, but not for the right reasons and this wasn't articulated very well.

mcquaid is right too, but focusing his attention in the perfectly wrong place, as usual.

lack of economic parity is not good for sports in the long run. look no further than baseball. small market teams suffer greatly just to survive, and anything they do spend just goes to support the yankees and sox anyway. parity IS a worthwhile goal. how to achieve it? that's where you get into trouble. should we seek parity at the expense of advancing technologically? this is where mcquaid exposes his complete lack of intellectual fortitude.

first of all, as this is a track cycling issue, it's a non-starter. i think the article mentioned about a hundred thousand dollars of development cost. really? that's pretty small time. there is just not much money in track cycling. the uci should be ENCOURAGING countries who actually appreciate this sport to spend as much money on it as possible. how many protour giants cut their teeth in the velodrome? how many aussies? cavendish anyone? wiggins?

furthermore, a simple look at the recent wc results does not show dominance by any of the countries that mcquaid vilifies here. where is the lack of parity? if the aussies are doing well, it is because their track culture has some vitality to it. and yeah, that leads to some development funds being thrown at the sport. mcquaid can be a real moron sometimes.

 

[Night Rider]

I guess two recent examples of cutting either technology or costs, or both are FINA banning the WR beating swimsuits and F1 cutting technology and costs to create a more even playing field. Both have succeeded.

I guess the question that needs to be answered is whether the technological advances in equipment by the likes of GB and Australia are increasing the performance of the athletes, or whether it’s the technological advances in training methods increasing the athlete’s performance. If it’s the former having the most effect then yes, something should be done.

 

[BroDeal]

I'm all for restrictions so the sport does not turn into F1 or swimming.

Taken to extremes there are all sorts of things that could be done. The cross section of the upper arms or lower legs could be made tear drop shaped using foam extensions. Skin suits customized for individual athletes could be developed with varying thicknesses of padding designed to reduce drag. It is best to nip this stuff in the bud.

 

[theswordsman]

Is Dave Brailsford taking the pi*S? He can't really have missed the point quite so badly can he?

"I think they're just trying to find parity," he added. "If the smaller nations want to start investing the same amount of money as the governments of Britain, Germany and Australia do then they're free to do so."

Yep, sounds like Marie Antoinette to me. How many countries will participate in Track Cycling events in London, or try to? It's not a question of being anti-progress. The complaint is similar to the reason pro sports institute salary caps for teams - people don't like it when someone with a lot of money can "buy" success. It's part of the reason so many people used to hate the baseball Yankees. Before I go on, here's more from McQuaid:

International Cycling Union (UCI) chief Pat McQuaid said he was particularly concerned about the way some teams are flouting rules by using expensive equipment that “is not commercially available”.

And the Irishman called on three of track’s biggest nations to “start competing on a level playing field” in the run-up to the London Olympics in 2012.

“It has become apparent to the UCI that over the past few years it has got a little bit out of control,” McQuaid said at the world track cycling championships on Saturday.

“We sometimes have teams riding on prototypes (bikes) that are costing 50,000 if not in the hundreds of thousands of pounds to develop.

“That works against the Olympic Charter, it’s against UCI rules and it’s against the spirit of fair-play. I’ve written to all the federations and reminded them that any bikes they use must be within the rules as they’re laid down.”

McQuaid said between now and the 2012 Games the UCI would move to “guarantee” that all teams would be using equipment, including clothing developed via nanotechnology, that fell within the rules.

For Road Cycling and Time Trials, companies like Specialized, Pinarello and others do the research and development so that the technology can go into top of the line bikes available to anyone with the cash, and some of the features also trickle down to their other models. They're competing with other companies for sales, market share and profits. A year ago Cancellara and Saxo Bank were racing Time Trials on the same Transition you could buy today. Unless someone has an artist rip the wings off of hundreds of butterflies to decorate the frame, no one is riding a bike worth multiple hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Most of the time I wouldn't offer McQuaid a glass of water if he was on fire, but think in terms of athletes from a hundred plus countries at the Olympics, and he's speaking common sense. No country of runners or jumpers has that advantage over others, or gymnastics, basketball, field hockey, rowing, boxing, wrestling, taekwondo, archery, badminton, tennis, fencing, judo, lacrosse, canoeing, road cycling or Time Trial cycling.Everyone uses equipment that you could buy on the Internet.

What's so special about Track Cycling that it should be the exception to the rule?

 

[MacRoadie]

It's part of the reason so many people used to hate the baseball Yankees.

As a life-long Angels fan, there is no such thing as "used to hate" when referring to the Spankees (and we have a top-5 payroll in baseball too).

 

[the big ring]

I am an average punter on the track, racing M3.

I got up at 5:10am this morning, then drove 25 minutes to a world-class indoor velodrome. 250m of timber, indoors, with 42 degree banks either end.

I paid $10 to Daryl Perkins (Shane's dad) for a 2 hour track session with 8 or so other riders.

The session involved various track skills and efforts, all completed on my BT stealth track bike, that I bought new, from the company that builds them here in Australia.



I cannot speak for other countries singled out by the UCI, but I think there's a bit more than just a nice bike or set of aero bars here or there when it comes to the Australian riders doing well at the world level.

 

[stephens]

The Custom mould was a Tarmac, Roubaix was won on coincidentally .. a Roubaix.

No, it wasn't. It was a custom tarmac-roubaix hybrid frame.

 

[Willy_Voet]

What's so special about Track Cycling that it should be the exception to the rule?

While it's easy to buy some sneakers over the intardnet, it's a lot harder to buy a track.

List of countries with tracks:

# 1 Argentina
# 2 Australia
# 3 Austria
# 4 Belgium
# 5 Brazil
# 6 Canada
# 7 China
# 8 Cuba
# 9 Denmark
# 10 Estonia
# 11 Finland
# 12 France
# 13 Germany
# 14 Greece
# 15 Hungary
# 16 India
# 17 Italy
# 18 Japan
# 19 Malaysia
# 20 Mexico
# 21 The Netherlands
# 22 New Zealand
# 23 Nigeria
# 24 ****stan
# 25 Peru
# 26 Philippines
# 27 Portugal
# 28 Russia
# 29 South Africa
# 30 South Korea
# 31 Spain
# 32 United Kingdom
# 33 United States of America

I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that if your country doesn't have a track, you have a low probability of success at medaling in a track event at the Olympics or World's with or without a $100,000 frame and nanotechnology skinsuit.

 

[Willy_Voet]

WTF is wrong with ****stan?

 

[Willy_Voet]

WTF is wrong with ****stan? Is "P a k i" a derogatory term for someone from P a k i stan?

Someone needs to work on this filter bullsh1t. (oh, it can't catch that can it...)

 

[Ferminal]

WTF is wrong with ****stan?

Too many ****s?

 

[FKLance]

are discs banned on the front? does that rule apply to road/outdoor events only where wind shear can influence steering? as to somebody dying in a tuck/aero position, the reason that these positions are banned is not for safety, it's because some suit at the UCI wants to flex their trumped up little branch of power or because, as in graham obree's case, your face/bike didn't fit and you were prepared to tell the UCI to go f*ck themselves.
what pat macquaid conveniently forgot or was too stupid to appreciate was that over half of the gold medals at the track last week were not won by Australia, Great Britain or Germany. the man is a f*cking cretin.

discs are banned in the front outdoors because it's dangerous to ride one in the wind. with obrees case they just saw what was coming and they wanted to stop it: bike riders becoming objects to shape in the wind tunnel. What if we ended up riding recumbents just because they are faster? the riders want to ride bicycles not aeroplanes or ufos.

 

[Big GMaC]

I am an average punter on the track, racing M3.

I got up at 5:10am this morning, then drove 25 minutes to a world-class indoor velodrome. 250m of timber, indoors, with 42 degree banks either end.

I paid $10 to Daryl Perkins (Shane's dad) for a 2 hour track session with 8 or so other riders.

The session involved various track skills and efforts, all completed on my BT stealth track bike, that I bought new, from the company that builds them here in Australia.



I cannot speak for other countries singled out by the UCI, but I think there's a bit more than just a nice bike or set of aero bars here or there when it comes to the Australian riders doing well at the world level.

That BT Bike. Wow.

 

[595RED]

At the end of the day cycling is one of those sports where it is man and machine, pretty much all sports utilise equipment and all of the brands have their subtle differences. Providing the equipment used fits the governing bodies guidelines, ie 3:1 etc etc then why should there be a problem what the project cost. If everyone comes to the competition with pushing their equipment through the same UCI cookie cutter 3:1 guidelines then they are actually coming to the party with the same gear.

I mean where does it end once it gets started, Team A is eating better nutrition, should it be banned or shared with the Iraqi team? Get over yourself Pat and retire.

 

[LugHugger]

discs are banned in the front outdoors because it's dangerous to ride one in the wind. with obrees case they just saw what was coming and they wanted to stop it: bike riders becoming objects to shape in the wind tunnel. What if we ended up riding recumbents just because they are faster? the riders want to ride bicycles not aeroplanes or ufos.

graham obree would not have known what a wind tunnel looked like if it had come up and slapped him in his face! the double triangle law seems sufficiently stringent to ensure that the bikes look like bikes.

 

[Winterfold]

While we're at it, there should be an upper limit on the thigh circumference of all riders, particularly Germans, and female riders should look hot in an evening dress, underwear and covered in oil while holding a wrench. And should stay inside the sprinter's line.

etc etc

I submit this new female rider hotness guideline for the forum to discuss

Photo deleted by mod

 

[Winterfold]

Wrist slapped Back OT

(Apparently the Aussie Federation have threatened to release underwear shots of Anna Meares unless we let them win some medals again. )

I doubt it will be too much of a problem if Dolan has a 'Team GB Replica' page on his website where you can buy or order one for a fair market price eg 6 or 7 grand.

Team GB sprint bike