Jens Voigt threatens World Championship boycott

[Altitude]

http://www.velonation.com/News/ID/7525/Jens-Voigt-threatens-World-Championship-boycott-if-progressive-radio-ban-continues.aspx

Does he really think any legit WC contender would decline to take the start? How ***.

 

[AntonioRossi]

it's admirable and understandable, but not very realistic. I just dont think that many pros will support him and boycott the WC

 

[Oldman]

Hopefully Jens doesn't feel the need to be a "spokesmodel" on this issue. There are so many other serious things they'll need to respond to in the near future.

 

[Sum_of_Marc]

Chances are this will have been sorted out by the time the Worlds come around anyway - and you certainly wont see any sprinters boycotting the Worlds this year

 

[Hmmmmm]

From the article Jens Voight says the following...

"Imagine if all the world's journalists were suddenly told: From now on, you cannot use laptops, the internet, or pencils. Would you consider taking it seriously? Of course not!"

I have a lot of respect for Jens but have to comment that his statement is bull****. Race radios are not like journalists laptops, pencils, etc. A better comparison to the journalist tools would be if they tried to ban crank arms for example. If he does not like it then it would be better for him to stay home because he might get hurt riding his bike without that thing stuck in his ear. Just like a lot of people nowadays, crying about the small ****.

 

[Ferminal]

The funniest is that big Jens is hardly a Worlds regular anyway...

 

[benny61]

What a sook!

I'm sick of these riders hiding behind the "Safety" excuse for keeping the radios. What they are really afraid of is having to think for themselves. Using the radios is a blatant case of "Coaching" from the car. Most of the current riders would never have ridden without the radios and are totally dependent on constant instructions on how to ride the race from their "Coach" in the car. It will take a while for the younger riders to come through that have learnt to use their own tactical brain rather than ride like a robot with no brains. We will soon see who has the tactical nouse and who will be left short. I suspect riders like Cancellara will have difficulties thinking for themselves. That's why he is making such a big noise against the ban. He's seen the writing on the wall...

 

[jaylew]

I'm sick of these riders hiding behind the "Safety" excuse for keeping the radios. What they are really afraid of is having to think for themselves.

I don't buy this for one second. I just don't think the riders are afraid of having to think for themselves and that's the only reason they want them. I'm ok with it either way they decide to go but at this point I'm extremely skeptical that a lack of radios will make a big difference in the racing.

 

[131313]

Someone should let Jens know that a lot of riders have actually died from doping. Maybe he should organize a boycott regarding riders shoving needles in their arms?

Oh wait....that's right, that's different. Just like journalists and their computers, that's just part of the job...

Talk about misguided priorities. If safety were really an issue (and honestly, I think it is to a degree), there are certainly work-arounds, say radios with limited communication. You don't hear much from the riders proposing meaningful solutions though.

 

[Martin318is]

If safety were really an issue (and honestly, I think it is to a degree), there are certainly work-arounds, say radios with limited communication. You don't hear much from the riders proposing meaningful solutions though.

Exactly - a one way radio to get announcements from the commisaire in the following cars and a "help me" button on the radio to get assistance in an emergency. Problem solved.

Call me when the riders say that they will protest if they don't have that (as their maximum request).

 

[Boeing]

Exactly - a one way radio to get announcements from the commisaire in the following cars and a "help me" button on the radio to get assistance in an emergency. Problem solved.

Call me when the riders say that they will protest if they don't have that (as their maximum request).

Is that anything like the Clapper?

As for Heir Boeing himself, Jens is pure commitment regardless of sensibility in just about everything he does. F Worlds

Viva Jens

 

[ElChingon]

Well for all the Jens is so tough phrases and websites, it looks like we've found his kryptonite

 

[Stingray34]

I remember when radios were first used - the 1991 Tour by Phil Anderson and a few other members of the then Motorola Team. I'm unsure if the safety aspect was was mentioned back then, but their primary use was certainly tactital.

Many have pointed to the case of Pedro Amarillo (sp?) and how the radios saved his life from the Giro 09 crash. This may or may not be true, but they certainly didn't stop him from crashing in the first place.

This is becoming a point of contention between the racers and the spectators: the latter want excitement and romance in bike races, whilst the former want control.

BTW, I agree that Jen's analogy is a poor one.

 

[yetanothergreenworld]

Jeez, you'd think they were being asked to race without brakes or something. Pro cyclists went for a century without the use of radios, and while radios may make things a bit safer, it's not like the sport was some kind of killing field beforehand. What happened to the Uber-German Chuck Norris tough guy that people are always praising?

 

[rhubroma]

I don't buy this for one second. I just don't think the riders are afraid of having to think for themselves and that's the only reason they want them. I'm ok with it either way they decide to go but at this point I'm extremely skeptical that a lack of radios will make a big difference in the racing.

Oh, don't kid yourself. The riders have become patently addicted to this technology. And as was previously mentioned, it is blatant coaching from the team cars. Not make a big difference in the racing? How can you reason thus? Have you watched the sport over the past ten years? Evidently the riders think they have made a big difference or else they wouldn't be crying about their being banned now.

In addition I also think that having the little gadgets, strokes their childish egos in allowing them to feel as if part of an even more exclusive club that's chic. I have personally witnessed this among amateur squads.

Yet the German's reasoning is ridiculous. I'd like to know how many riders died in the 90 years or so of professional cycling before race radios were introduced, which could in any way be demonstrated to have been preventable if race radios were in use then. By contrast I'd like to know how many deaths the race radios have "prevented" since they have been in use. And then he finishes with a straw man argument in that inane bit about taking computers away from journalists, because they are simply writing tools that have no bearing on howstylistically they write.

It is dismaying to see how puerile these riders are over this issue. Like little boys who have gotten their toys put back in the box and reshelved or something, because daddy says they're not a good idea.

 

[Hotbrakes]

Jens is worried that a clean rider might tactically out smart Team Needle Trek, and beat them in a bike race.

 

[auscyclefan94]

Why is Leopard Trek already recognised as being really dirty team?

 

[Dewulf]

Jeez, you'd think they were being asked to race without brakes or something. Pro cyclists went for a century without the use of radios, and while radios may make things a bit safer, it's not like the sport was some kind of killing field beforehand. What happened to the Uber-German Chuck Norris tough guy that people are always praising?

+1

Surprised to hear this from Jens, but I think it's about his stated goal - to get Andy 1st on the TdF podium. Having race radio will help a strong team like Saxo know when to put effort in and when to save their strength, giving them an easier win and a better chance of avoiding time losses. Please note, I say "tough cheddar" to that - I want to see the TdF raced, not managed.

Ex-CPA pres Vasseur shed some really interesting light on this wave of resistance too - apparently the riders had very little to say about it (and those who did were split 50-50) in a survey the CPA did a year or two ago. He thinks (and we agree) that the riders are being prompted by team management to resist.

That said I think some (nay, many!) riders now don't have experience of making tactical decisions themselves, and want to avoid that challenge AND the hammering they'll get from their DS if they make a tactical error.

 

[fujisst]

I propose a boycott of Jens Voigt. The days of the remote control bike racer are over.

 

[bhilden]

I remember when radios were first used - the 1991 Tour by Phil Anderson and a few other members of the then Motorola Team. I'm unsure if the safety aspect was was mentioned back then, but their primary use was certainly tactital.

Actually, Motorola introduced radios in 1993. I was one of the first, if not the first, to write about how I felt they would negatively affect the sport. When I was at the Tour that same year, I got a pretty stern dressing down by the Team Motorola management. Motorola corporate execs had read what I wrote and were none too pleased.

ps - funny you should mention Phil Anderson. His teammates told me that he could read a race like no other. He's one person who never needed a race radio.

 

[Roland Rat]

With last year's TdF and now this, Jens is proving himself not so much hardman as soft little girl. Maybe he has to scream "Shut up legs!" simply because they spend the whole race whining like Ricky Ponting during the Ashes.

Jens, grow a pair.

 

[raddone]

There are several posts regarding race radios. I think UCI is wrong about this. They can't just ban every new "technology" that appears. If you want to ban race radios, let's ban the modern bikes and use the models from the 60's or, why not, before the war. You can't just fight progress. The safety justification is hilarious, but to ban the radio to make cycling "more interesting" is worse.

 

[Roland Rat]

There are several posts regarding race radios. I think UCI is wrong about this. They can't just ban every new "technology" that appears. If you want to ban race radios, let's ban the modern bikes and use the models from the 60's or, why not, before the war. You can't just fight progress. The safety justification is hilarious, but to ban the radio to make cycling "more interesting" is worse.

Stupid argument. Bikes are tools of the trade. Radios (in their current form) are outside assistance. Why can people not see the distinction?

 

[bobbins]

I think Jens is right.

I went out training on Sunday and stupidly didn't have a radio on with a following car behind me to warm me of oncoming hazards. Of course I'l need a DS with bionic eyesight to see that much further ahead too.

It was by far the most dangerous thing I have ever done. Unsupervised drug use, re-injecting my own blood and amphetamine use all pale into insignificance when compared to the life threatening choices I made that fateful day.

How I survived to still be here to type this I'll never know.

Support Jens and his crusade for safer cycling.

 

[my username is flish]

The real reason the riders don't want to ride without radios is that teams secretly play that naff dramatic music from the early WCP dvds to motivate the riders. And it friggin' works; I once rode a 40k TT in 13 minutes while listening to Huey Lewis and the News. Powerful stuff.