Hammer series

[Vasilis]

Hi all,
I was wondering about your thoughts on the Hammer Series, CN just posted a preview and explanation: http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/hammer-series-2017/preview/
I'm really curious to see how this race will work, especially with teams racing so close together on TT bikes.
I like the fact that a team wins rather than a rider, what do you think?

 

[yaco]

I like the concept of team based racing - Think it's find its perfect slot just after the finish of a GC - I have no idea who will win.

 

[deValtos]

Will this be on eurosport? I might watch if it is.

 

[Gigs_98]

Re:

Will this be on eurosport? I might watch if it is.

I think I heard GCN will stream it on youtube and the gcn guys will commentate the race.

Anyway, I was always looking forward to this mostly because I want to know if this will be exciting or not or said differently if this race format has a future or not. However after a long discussion on this forum when the race was announced I know that most people here aren't that interested in it.

Edit: Just read through the cycling news article and I must say this race has some of the weirdest rules one could come up with. I think this race will probably end up being completely chaotic and nobody will have a clue what is going on

 

[Vasilis]

Yeah it will be on GCN's YouTube channel and on Facebook as well, I assume on the Velon page.

 

[Susan Westemeyer]

Re: Re:

Will this be on eurosport? I might watch if it is.

I think I heard GCN will stream it on youtube and the gcn guys will commentate the race.

Anyway, I was always looking forward to this mostly because I want to know if this will be exciting or not or said differently if this race format has a future or not. However after a long discussion on this forum when the race was announced I know that most people here aren't that interested in it.

Edit: Just read through the cycling news article and I must say this race has some of the weirdest rules one could come up with. I think this race will probably end up being completely chaotic and nobody will have a clue what is going on

This. The explanation left me even more confused than before. I will try to watch it on the laptop though, if I have time.

Edit: I am not blaming the explanation. I think the details are just too arcane and ridiculous to make any sense.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Hmm. Im ready to give it a chance, if only for Betancur racing.

 

[Ricco']

I'm curious about this but I'm not going to contribute to some Velon gimmick. I'll pass, gonna watch Boucles de la Mayenne on L'Equipe TV and probably the Dauphiné on Sunday.

 

[RedheadDane]

Re:

I'm curious about this but I'm not going to contribute to some Velon gimmick. I'll pass, gonna watch Boucles de la Mayenne on L'Equipe TV and probably the Dauphiné on Sunday.

What exactly has Velon done that's so terrible?

I'm not even gonna bother with figuring out the rules, I'm sure those people who came up with them understand them.

 

[SafeBet]

I'm ashamed to say I'm very curious about this.

 

[RedheadDane]

I'm not!
Ashamed that is. I'm definitely curious. It's nice to see things done a bit differently sometimes.

 

[kenk09]

People racing bikes. What's not to like? Might be a mess, might be awesome. I'll be watching.

 

[Netserk]

Burn this *** down with fire!

 

[Armchair cyclist]

So lets say , on the third (chase) stage, team B catches team A with 15km left, teams C and the rest are further behind. Do teams A and B make a unified group (10 working rather than 5 in team C) and then have a 10 man sprint in which 7th place wins, or are they meant to stay as two parallel lines?

 

[Kazistuta]

No drafting is part of the rules. Actually it took some time for me to understand the rules, but I think I almost got them now

Best to read the rules on the homepage I guess.

 

[King Boonen]

No thanks.

 

[Ricco']

Re: Re:

I'm curious about this but I'm not going to contribute to some Velon gimmick. I'll pass, gonna watch Boucles de la Mayenne on L'Equipe TV and probably the Dauphiné on Sunday.

What exactly has Velon done that's so terrible?

This circus isn't exactly how I want our sport to go in the future. It's the kind of standardized racing I don't like, a bit like the idea a few years ago of defining 5 days for new races, with x days for mtf's, y days for sprint stages and z days for time trials.

And if I understand correctly, this is going to give UCI points? How, if it's a team event?

 

[SafeBet]

I don't think the rules are so complicated, at least for someone with a basic knowledge of both track cycling and Nordic skiing.

 

[Alexandre B.]

What are the actual names of the climbs?

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Re: Re:

I'm curious about this but I'm not going to contribute to some Velon gimmick. I'll pass, gonna watch Boucles de la Mayenne on L'Equipe TV and probably the Dauphiné on Sunday.

What exactly has Velon done that's so terrible?

This circus isn't exactly how I want our sport to go in the future. It's the kind of standardized racing I don't like, a bit like the idea a few years ago of defining 5 days for new races, with x days for mtf's, y days for sprint stages and z days for time trials.

And if I understand correctly, this is going to give UCI points? How, if it's a team event?

The objective is to change the model of the sport to get rid of the archaic, free-to-view point-to-point racing and replace it with closed circuits where they can sell tickets and popcorn and set up festival toilets. It's like Vaughters' franchise idea, to close the door behind his own team which grew the way that would no longer be possible under the system he was proposing. Homogenizing the calendar, be it by the format as per the previous suggestion, or through creating a series of events such as this (they planned to expand to 10 if it's a success) that will take several riders from a large number of major teams away from a number of other races which lose out as a result, will enable them then to create a Formula 1 style system where they can then sell the format to the highest bidder. Every single rider and team who lines up in this goes down in my estimation.

Notwithstanding that the branding is perhaps the most nails-on-a-chalkboard painful to read stuff I've heard in years. "Hammer Sportzone Limburg"? Jens_Attacks said it best in their iconic three word post: "f*** off Velon".

This is the professional road racing forum, not the BS three ring circus sideshow forum. Mods, please move this.

 

[yaco]

Actually this is a perfect format for the week between the TDU and the Cadel Evans - Melbourne put on a criterium race around Albert Park this year in between the two events - Hammer would be a perfect fit - Also think you can only fit in 5 or 6 of these events each year that will fit into the calendar.

 

[RedheadDane]

Re: Re:

I'm curious about this but I'm not going to contribute to some Velon gimmick. I'll pass, gonna watch Boucles de la Mayenne on L'Equipe TV and probably the Dauphiné on Sunday.

What exactly has Velon done that's so terrible?

This circus isn't exactly how I want our sport to go in the future. It's the kind of standardized racing I don't like, a bit like the idea a few years ago of defining 5 days for new races, with x days for mtf's, y days for sprint stages and z days for time trials.

And if I understand correctly, this is going to give UCI points? How, if it's a team event?

They're doing one event that's completely different from everything else. How is that standardized racing?
The old races are gonna continue just as they are, maybe with a few changes, but keeping the traditional setup.
If any new races are created, they'll probably also be run with the traditional setup.
So, it'll just be this series being a bit different. Surely one event being different can't be that bad.

As for the UCI points, it's probably gonna give points to the team ranking...

 

[Nirvana]

I saw that it's live on Bike Channel so i'll watch it but i'm doubtful with the format.

 

[Vasilis]

It seems like it's a UCI 2.1 race, so no points for the actual WT

 

[Ricco']

Re: Re:

I'm curious about this but I'm not going to contribute to some Velon gimmick. I'll pass, gonna watch Boucles de la Mayenne on L'Equipe TV and probably the Dauphiné on Sunday.

What exactly has Velon done that's so terrible?

This circus isn't exactly how I want our sport to go in the future. It's the kind of standardized racing I don't like, a bit like the idea a few years ago of defining 5 days for new races, with x days for mtf's, y days for sprint stages and z days for time trials.

And if I understand correctly, this is going to give UCI points? How, if it's a team event?

They're doing one event that's completely different from everything else. How is that standardized racing?
The old races are gonna continue just as they are, maybe with a few changes, but keeping the traditional setup.
If any new races are created, they'll probably also be run with the traditional setup.
So, it'll just be this series being a bit different. Surely one event being different can't be that bad.

As for the UCI points, it's probably gonna give points to the team ranking...

One event now, with success they can capitalize and expand the series until eventually it is the predominant source of new racing. I prefer to kill the "evil" by the roots and not support any bit of it.

Off-topic: All the marketing on Twitter puts me even more off of it. It almost seems that the teams are obliged to praise this, with the notorious PR ***.