Much to agree with. One thing i don't agree with is there are still lots of suitable places for TT training on public roads. And as Froome says a GT race is basically about finding a balance in between climbing and TT. Now if TT should be done on a "regular bike". I feel that teams would still innovate and some would hence still have an advantage because of that. TT should hence in my opinion still be done on a TT bike.
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Much to agree with. One thing i don't agree with is there are still lots of suitable places for TT training on public roads. And as Froome says a GT race is basically about finding a balance in between climbing and TT. Now if TT should be done on a "regular bike". I feel that teams would still innovate and some would hence still have an advantage because of that. TT should hence in my opinion still be done on a TT bike.
Gravel trail is an uncharted territory.
I think we can all agree that bulls do not belong in bike races!
Yes, can you please tell the UCI that so we can get rid of all the Red Bull helmets?
Riders should either go looking for specific routes they can use for TT training (along canals or something) where there are big bikelanes and few crossroads. If they don't have those, they should always be escorted by a car or something. It's not like most of them train on a TT bike 4 times a week, so they could make an effort to make arrangements. They could chose the location of a training camp specifically with that in mind, or get someone who can escort them for certain periods in their build-up and preparation imho.
The Gravel race of Pamplona is the one Gravel race I wouldn't Watch!!!
Or for most people that don't have such luxury. In general i would say that a lonely country road that you ride on often should do. TT training is a rather intimate discipline anyway and usually demands for such ambient.
Thing is, both Froome and Bernal's accidents - on the surface at least - look like cases of rider error. TT bikes are harder to handle, slower to brake, catch the wind more, and tend to give worse visibility, all while travelling faster for the same effort; everyone knows these things. But on any given summer sunday around Wales & England there will be at least three or four timetrial events, each with 120 complete amateurs, hobbyists to varying degrees of seriousness, who will manage to ride these aerodynamic contraptions without incident on roads completely open to traffic. There's no safety reason stopping the best professional riders in the world from being able to do the same. Find some quiet roads with good visibility and go train on them, these guys have more free time to work things out on google maps than the rest of us. For reasons of levelling things up between teams I can see an argument although I'm sure the big €€€ teams will quickly enough find a way to get round it.
On gravel etc... for me there needs to be some natural logic to it. Road racing at its origins is quite a natural sport, we race from place-to-place by what was the fastest human-powered method at the time we started doing it, by the fastest routes that are naturally available to us, which are roads. It's an elegance that's missing from mere games like football or tennis where the outcome can be determined by how wide or high someone has arbitrarily decided the goals or net should be. If I go to ride round the small villages of Tuscany then it's logical that I'll encounter the white roads, just as in Belgium I'll find those concrete roads with unsealed movement joints just the right size for getting tyres trapped in, or round here the hedges are so high you can't see round corners. Maybe you can make the same case for dirt roads on visits around the wineries of the Touraine, I genuinely don't know, but streetview certainly doesn't seem to find them significant enough to cover the way it does in the Sienna area. Maybe it's not actually any more artificial than the cobbles that are carefully preserved and curated by Les Amis de Paris-Roubaix, or the unfinished military road through Piedmont that magically turns to smooth tarmac just as we cross the summit and that has been rolled smoothly enough in advance for Contador to ride out of the saddle round its hairpin bends, grey areas maybe. But interest in the true gimmicks like Super Planche will quickly burn out.
On gravel etc... for me there needs to be some natural logic to it. Road racing at its origins is quite a natural sport, we race from place-to-place by what was the fastest human-powered method at the time we started doing it, by the fastest routes that are naturally available to us, which are roads. It's an elegance that's missing from mere games like football or tennis where the outcome can be determined by how wide or high someone has arbitrarily decided the goals or net should be. If I go to ride round the small villages of Tuscany then it's logical that I'll encounter the white roads, just as in Belgium I'll find those concrete roads with unsealed movement joints just the right size for getting tyres trapped in, or round here the hedges are so high you can't see round corners. Maybe you can make the same case for dirt roads on visits around the wineries of the Touraine, I genuinely don't know, but streetview certainly doesn't seem to find them significant enough to cover the way it does in the Sienna area. Maybe it's not actually any more artificial than the cobbles that are carefully preserved and curated by Les Amis de Paris-Roubaix, or the unfinished military road through Piedmont that magically turns to smooth tarmac just as we cross the summit and that has been rolled smoothly enough in advance for Contador to ride out of the saddle round its hairpin bends, grey areas maybe. But interest in the true gimmicks like Super Planche will quickly burn out.
I have no problems with TT bikes and Sterrato sectors in cycling. I prefer longer sectors in just one stage. Shorts sectors don't do anything but create mayhem for non. I would probably go with the way the Giro does so riders have a long time to prepare and you pick one type of bike for the whole stage.
The only thing I have big issues with is the cobbles. Somehow I feel it requires a lot of ability and is a higher risk than the other two. It is just my opinion. It is very fun, but I can live without it for the safety of the riders. I also don't want riders to get eliminated for this same reason.
One last thing, I think the TT positioning is a bit overrated when compared with recovery. Especially that last TT at the Tour. IMHO, Bernal and Ineos were risking too much for gains that can be achieved somewhere else.
The only thing I have big issues with is the cobbles. Somehow I feel it requires a lot of ability and is a higher risk than the other two. It is just my opinion. It is very fun, but I can live without it for the safety of the riders. I also don't want riders to get eliminated for this same reason.
One last thing, I think the TT positioning is a bit overrated when compared with recovery. Especially that last TT at the Tour. IMHO, Bernal and Ineos were risking too much for gains that can be achieved somewhere else.
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