New to cycling world, Can anyone help out?

[Red Lobster]

I don't really understand why your country of residence/citizenship would be a factor in who you "support". That is essentially an accidental and largely irrelevant correlation.

That's because you are from Canada, where folks are basically normal and generally have some humility. By contrast, in some countries (oh, i dunno, maybe the US and GB for example) there is a strong exceptionalist tendency ... I mean, surely we are superior to and do everything better than those clueless Spaniards and raving Italians, after all.

 

[webbie146]

I don't really understand why your country of residence/citizenship would be a factor in who you "support". That is essentially an accidental and largely irrelevant correlation.

You'd perhaps be better to simply watch the sport and you'll start to see riders whom you feel display worthwhile attributes. Follow them and take some pleasure in them winning or performing heroically because of who they are and what they do, rather than because of where they come from.

Pretty much agree haha I'm dutch and if I had to support Rabobank I would be disappointed 99% of the time with the outcome of races lol! Big fan of Vincenzo, big fan of Canc, big fan of Conta. Where they are from is not that important tbh

 

[Afrank]

The grand tours aren't crap. You have to be an amazing athlete to do well in a 3 week race.

This is true, and we all know it. But please, lets not get Echoes started.

 

[Catwhoorg]

The grand tours aren't crap. You have to be an amazing athlete to do well in a 3 week race.

Try changing that to "finish a 3 week race."

Doing well in them is a whole extra level of amazing.

 

[Jspear]

Try changing that to "finish a 3 week race."

Doing well in them is a whole extra level of amazing.

Very true.

 

[theyoungest]

I don't really understand why your country of residence/citizenship would be a factor in who you "support". That is essentially an accidental and largely irrelevant correlation.

I'm not saying it has to be so, I'm just saying that it is. Flemish tv, and Flemish fans, are quite partial to Cavendish, since last year. Now why would that be? Because he rides for their home team.

I understand that being Canadian you don't share that sentiment

Pretty much agree haha I'm dutch and if I had to support Rabobank I would be disappointed 99% of the time with the outcome of races lol! Big fan of Vincenzo, big fan of Canc, big fan of Conta. Where they are from is not that important tbh

Back in the Rabo days they actually did have some success

 

[hrotha]

I'm British so I'll support Team Sky

Ewww.

Can you even choose who you support. I mean it just happens you like some riders more than others. It's not supposed to be rational, it's something you find out rather than decide.

 

[ILovecycling]

Ewww.

Can you even choose who you support. I mean it just happens you like some riders more than others. It's not supposed to be rational, it's something you find out rather than decide.

Thats very true.

To support someone from your country is natural,anyway you will find out for whom to cheer,probably it will be a foreign rider

 

[willbick]

Thats very true.

To support someone from your country is natural,anyway you will find out for whom to cheer,probably it will be a foreign rider

'Patriotism is the last resort of the scoundrel'.

 

[karlboss]

Sky is so boring m8, go Astana like the rest of us cool guys

My favourite Astana year was probably 2010. Loved watching the USPS/disco radioshack cancer leave, asking questions about whether Contador would get the support he needs, questions about how Contador and Vino could get on, and all answered with vigour. Of course Mende was a little tense.

I don't think a team now could offer the same things that that team did, largely as Vino has retired, and Sky like running the train approach to climbing. Salary cap please?

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

This is a good thread with sensible questions and a lot of reasonable answers. We should do these kinds of beginners guide threads on a semi regular basis, with ones explaining tactics, the importance of the slipstream, the many unwritten (and often inconsistent) rules of conduct in the peloton, etc.

It's perfectly normal for someone coming to cycling from other sports to have an assumption in the back of your head that fans will mostly think in terms of teams rather than individuals and that nationality will be the main factor in choosing who to support. And there is some element of that in cycling, particularly with those teams that have a relatively strong national identity. I suspect that most fans do keep at least an eye out for their "home" riders, all or most of them if they are from a small country with a small number of pros, or a subset if they are from a major cycling nation.

That said, teams have a much weaker identity and a much more tenuous existence than teams in other major sports. The closest equivants are some motor sports. Football clubs don't change their name to that of each new sponsor and then disappear entirely after four years. Individual riders tend to be supported for reasons that tend to be based on their perceived character as a rider - their style, bravery, tactics, etc - but there are few universals (a couple of years back we tried to come up with riders that everybody likes and there were very few contenders).

On the sprinters issue: For years there was one sprinter who was clearly in a class of his own, Cavendish. Now there are three very closely matched at the top - Cavendish, Kittel, Greipel. Kittel probably had the slightest of edges over Cavendish last year, but really, you couldn't reliably predict which of the three would win any given sprint. This year, who knows? Kittel may be on an upward trajectory relative to the others. Last year may just have been a slight blip for Cav and this year will be business as usual. We just don't know yet.

 

[Pricey_sky]

I have a few questions that I want to ask about cycling, I'm a new fan. I'm British so I'll support Team Sky.

1. Does Team Sky have any elite sprinters?

2. Which of Peter Sagan, Kittel, Greipel or Cavendish is the best sprinter?

3. Are Team Sky and OPQS rivals? Why did Cavendish and Uran join opqs?

4. Does Team Sky aim to win the GC, not stage races and one day races?

Welcome to the forum mate, I'm glad you have got a great response and I hope you get as much enjoyment from this sport as we all do.

My 2 pence worth would be to just watch as much cycling as you can, for us Brits British Eurosport have nearly all of the major races covered and then after a while you will learn which cyclist's you like and which ones you don't. For example as someone else said you can like Froome/Contador/Nibali/Rodriguez/Quintana all together but you will more than likely choose 1 or 2 (in my case Froome and Quintana) and cheer them on instead. We are pretty lucky at the moment that we have had some great success with Cavendish on the flat stages and Froome in the mountains, Although we are still miles behind the best in the big one-day races in terms of rider quality and tactics. Just because your British you don't have to just support Team Sky, yes they are my favourite team but there are some riders on their roster I don't really like and will cheer on their opponents instead, its all down to your own taste.

If you've never seen cycling live I recommend getting yourself to a stage of the Tour of Britain in September too. It continues to grow each year and is attracting some very good riders. If you get to a stage start it will also give you a nice little insight into the riders warm up and build up and of course give you a chance to meet your heroes and get autographs ect.

 

[Buffalo Soldier]

I'm not saying it has to be so, I'm just saying that it is. Flemish tv, and Flemish fans, are quite partial to Cavendish, since last year. Now why would that be? Because he rides for their home team.

But Greipel rides for an "even more Belgian" team?

 

[RedheadDane]

RE Supporting teams from your country:

I'll admit that I started out mostly supporting Saxo (or CSC as they were named back then) but then the big 'Leopard Exodus' happened and I honestly felt it would be rather silly to suddenly start hating on riders I'd supported so far (well, I generally think it's silly to hate on anyone.)
And now Tinkoff isn't even a Danish team anymore, should I then lose all interest in the team? Naah...

Besides; in my opion, which certain people might strongly disagree with, the following teams are "Dane teams":

Tinkoff
BMC
Garmin
Lotto
Astana
Quickstep
Sky
Trek
GreenEDGE

 

[Buffalo Soldier]

This needs some more explanation

 

[RedheadDane]

Why I consider those teams "Dane teams"?

Tinkoff - Too many to name
BMC - Lander
Garmin - Norman, Weltz
Lotto - Bak
Astana - Fuglsang
Quickstep - Holm
Sky - Frost, Jeppesen
Trek - Andersen
GreenEDGE - Nygaard

 

[Der Effe]

Why I consider those teams "Dane teams"?

Tinkoff - Too many to name
BMC - Lander
Garmin - Norman, Weltz
Lotto - Bak
Astana - Fuglsang
Quickstep - Holm
Sky - Frost, Jeppesen
Trek - Andersen
GreenEDGE - Nygaard

So because they have a few Danish riders - or even staff members - you consider them to be 'Dane teams'? You do know all these riders were, nationality wise, picked completely randomly and for all their employers care could be from the Cayman Islands, right?

Apple does have Danish employers too but as far as I know is an American company.

Anyway, nationalities are overrated anyway.

 

[RedheadDane]

I know that. It's just my own personal "for fun" classification. I support all the other teams just as much!
Personally I think it's great that there aren't any teams that have an overwhelming number of Danish riders.

Basically I like it when a Young rider goes against expectations and does not join his national team. Let me come with a British example:

The Yates bros: Seems like a lot of people - myself included - pretty much took it for granted that they'd end up at Sky, yet they chose GreenEDGE because that would increase their opportunity to ride their own chance(s).

 

[ianstannard]

Sorry for annoying you guys, but I really want to know somethings about Sky which cannot be found on the internet. Why are Sky not good in one day races? they have riders such as Stannard and Thomas which are pretty good.

 

[hrotha]

Sorry for annoying you guys, but I really want to know somethings about Sky which cannot be found on the internet. Why are Sky not good in one day races? they have riders such as Stannard and Thomas which are pretty good.

Main reason is Sky has the tactical acumen of a *** fruit fly.

 

[The Hitch]

And because they don't care about them enough. Exactly like brunyeel who never won a monument in all his years as tdf winning ds and beyond.

 

[scholar]

Main reason is Sky has the tactical acumen of a *** fruit fly.

Hey, that's a bit harsh. I don't think a *** fruit fly would be quite as bad as Sky when it comes to a tactical approach to one-day races.

 

[happytramp]

The reason sky are so good is their ability to control a stage. When things are predictable they are at their best. On a mountain stage they know all the favrouites are going to sit and wait and hang in there as long as they can and then try and react to any attacks. They know their rivals are not going to do anything suicidal for fear of losing time and dropping back places in the general classification. However the classics cannot be controlled like that. People do crazy stuff because anyone can win. Their are attacks from the off and it's very hard for one team to keep chasing them back.

 

[SaxonUK]

The reason sky are so good is their ability to control a stage. When things are predictable they are at their best. On a mountain stage they know all the favrouites are going to sit and wait and hang in there as long as they can and then try and react to any attacks. They know their rivals are not going to do anything suicidal for fear of losing time and dropping back places in the general classification. However the classics cannot be controlled like that. People do crazy stuff because anyone can win. Their are attacks from the off and it's very hard for one team to keep chasing them back.

They do seem to have trouble bringing their stage race tactics to the classics but one of their major strengths are their super domestiques. How many other teams can get a train going on a climb like Sky and still have support for their CD rider at the top. The tour last year really highlighted this and if they figure out how to bring that to the classics they will completely dominate which I feel is to the detriment of the sport

 

[RedheadDane]

The Danish Eurosport commentators put it rather nicely during Andalucia:

It's quite scary when the three riders they use early on the climb are Zandio, Wiggins and Boasson Hagen!