Jakob Fuglsang has put forward a thorough and imo well-founded critique of the impact of motorcycles on bike races. (Auto translation below)
Som den seneste i en række af store ryttere bekender Jakob Fuglsang nu kulør i debatten om motorcyklernes rolle i cykelsporten
www.feltet.dk
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Fuglsang enters debate: They decide the races
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During this year's Paris-Nice, several riders told Feltet how, in their eyes, motorcycles are a problem in cycling.
The two-wheeled vehicles often lie in front of groups of riders to provide television footage, take photos, or in other functions
Several riders consider them to be decisive in the race, and according to Jonas Vingegaard, they are a factor in the sport, and one that shouldn't be there.
Jakob Fuglsang has the same opinion when Feltet talks to him:
- I've been of the opinion for several years that the motorcycles decide more than much else. They help decide whether the one who drives away stays, depending on how close they are.
Fuglsang has seen that they play a crucial role several times as a rider in the peloton. And the motorcycles shape the dynamics of the races and influence how they are driven and who wins:
- It's about attacking first. Because if you do that, you get the motorcycle, and then they can't catch you, even if there are four of them riding around. Van der Poel probably wouldn't have won E3 (Saxo Classic, ed.) if he hadn't had a motorcycle out in front. It was one man against four (riding around and cooperating, ed.).
- I know they also had that tactic at Quick Step when they rode Belgian classics: It's about attacking first (and catching the motorcycle, ed.). Because it's hard for the motorcycles to get away because the roads are so winding, and they need to have proper TV images.
The motorcycles are crucial, and that's why it rings hollow to the 41-year-old Dane when the UCI is thinking about all sorts of safety measures, while not enough is being done about this very obvious problem:
- When they talk about limiting the gearing (to reduce the speed in the field, ed.), I think: It's not the gearing that makes the difference. It's the motorcycles. When the guy at the front of the field has a motorcycle a little too close, he can go faster than the guy sitting down in position 100.
- There were times last year in the Tour where we fell behind because we couldn't go faster physically. When you can't close a gap with a cadence of 120 (revolutions per minute), it's because those up front are catching a bike that allows them to go faster.
When chasing a group in front in the peloton, a psychological mechanism also easily arises that causes the riders to chase the two-wheeled aids. A kind of Schrödinger's motorcycle:
- If you drive forward in the peloton and wave the motorcycle away, the rider up there gets mad at you and says: 'Well, up in the breakaway they probably have one too (a motorcycle, ed.)'. Yes, maybe they do. Or maybe they don't. But just the fact that you doubt makes you drive after it too, because you don't want to be cheated and suffer for closing a gap to someone who is being paced by a motorcycle.
With the above point in mind, Fuglsang is also clear in his mind: Motorcycles have to go further away, and he also admits that he has a naive dream that the riders will change their behavior:
- I am of the opinion that they decide much more than you might think. I think the motorcycles have too much to say. And we need to do something to get the motorcycles further away first, and then we should make a gentleman's agreement in the field, which will probably never be possible, that we don't race after the motorcycles, he says in conclusion.
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