Some would say that the types of stages we get in this thing of ours, is limited to Road Races, and Time Trials. Others would argue that you can go slightly further and split RR into flat, intermediate, mountainous, short, long and TT into long, short, hilly, flat, individual and team.
My question is can anyone think of any fun types of stages that could be added to our thing. Remember road cycling is about generating interest and giving the fans a spectacle.
(1) On another thread some time back someone suggested a down hill itt. Brilliant. (2) Sean Kelly suggested a down hill race without pedals, so only aerodynamic skills are tested. nice.
Also on 1 thread we by accident came accross the idea of a (3) mountain ttt. Some might argue it would be unfair on riders with a weak 5th person but like i said, its all about spectacle. You could put in stipulations which limit time lost. Also this could be combined with another idea, (4) ttt where riders get individual times. On a flat stage it would test team strenght without punishing people like vino when the 5th rider falls off. But it would work best on a flat then mtf type stage where teams are tested on their ability to lead their climbers out.
One idea i recently thought of would be to have (5) a relay tt stage in stage races. Have teams do a say 80 k tt where every member on the team does 10 k. Alternatively put hills and cobbles in so that teams are tested on their debth. Tt specialist for the flat, climber for the hills, sprinter for the descents.
A sister idea to this, and the current queen idea would be a (6) relay road race. So a member of each of the 20 or so teams starts together and do 10 k. Then the next 20 take over and so forth. The small group limits slipstream as an advantage hence encourages attacking riding. It would be perhaps the only occasion where having hills or cobbles in the early part of the race would be more interesting. Best placed in a ardennes classic style enviroment i think this would be guaranteed 80 K of total fun- unless you put it in the tdf where everyone would be too scared to attack. Would be interesting to see what riders teams put at the end. Some might try sprinters others attacking riders. How would sprinters fair with no teams to bring attacks back.
Sorry if i have already mentioned many of the best plausible ideas. I hope not though. Any good ideas?
My question is can anyone think of any fun types of stages that could be added to our thing. Remember road cycling is about generating interest and giving the fans a spectacle.
(1) On another thread some time back someone suggested a down hill itt. Brilliant. (2) Sean Kelly suggested a down hill race without pedals, so only aerodynamic skills are tested. nice.
Also on 1 thread we by accident came accross the idea of a (3) mountain ttt. Some might argue it would be unfair on riders with a weak 5th person but like i said, its all about spectacle. You could put in stipulations which limit time lost. Also this could be combined with another idea, (4) ttt where riders get individual times. On a flat stage it would test team strenght without punishing people like vino when the 5th rider falls off. But it would work best on a flat then mtf type stage where teams are tested on their ability to lead their climbers out.
One idea i recently thought of would be to have (5) a relay tt stage in stage races. Have teams do a say 80 k tt where every member on the team does 10 k. Alternatively put hills and cobbles in so that teams are tested on their debth. Tt specialist for the flat, climber for the hills, sprinter for the descents.
A sister idea to this, and the current queen idea would be a (6) relay road race. So a member of each of the 20 or so teams starts together and do 10 k. Then the next 20 take over and so forth. The small group limits slipstream as an advantage hence encourages attacking riding. It would be perhaps the only occasion where having hills or cobbles in the early part of the race would be more interesting. Best placed in a ardennes classic style enviroment i think this would be guaranteed 80 K of total fun- unless you put it in the tdf where everyone would be too scared to attack. Would be interesting to see what riders teams put at the end. Some might try sprinters others attacking riders. How would sprinters fair with no teams to bring attacks back.
Sorry if i have already mentioned many of the best plausible ideas. I hope not though. Any good ideas?
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