Power meters: is Quintana right that they should be banned?

[MatParker117]

Re: Re:

All science aspects of cycling should be banned imo.

TT bikes next.

Define "TT bike"? . What about these?

riders should have to use the same bikes they use for road stages for TT's. Like Anquetil

So you want the sport to look stone age and stuck in the ways of thirty years ago? Sports Science is here to stay, cycling has to be forever changing, evolving and looking to adapt. Being stuck in the mud is part of the reason why France are yet to produce a GT winner since Hinault.

 

[DanielSong39]

I want the sport to be entertaining to the fans. If it was all about the science everyone would be racing using motorbikes.

There is a balance between technological advancement and producing a sport that is entertaining to fans. Clearly, there are forms of technology that makes races less fun to watch for the majority of fans.

 

[movingtarget]

Race radios have a bigger impact. Anyway who animated the Tour more than any other GT rider power meter and all : Chris Froome, attacking on the flat attacking on descents. Quintana is starting to sound like a whiner in every race he does not win, excuses excuses.

 

[MatParker117]

Re:

I want the sport to be entertaining to the fans. If it was all about the science everyone would be racing using motorbikes.

There is a balance between technological advancement and producing a sport that is entertaining to fans. Clearly, there are forms of technology that makes races less fun to watch for the majority of fans.

The issue here is mainly a Sky one and despite 2012 they haven't really raced negatively at the tour, there's a difference between predictable and boring. I would not call one of the greatest tour moments boring or the way Froome won the race boring, it's not his fault that his rivals either crashed, were badly prepared or poorly supported.

It's up to the rest of the peloton to step to perhaps the greatest tour team since Renault-Elf.

 

[IndianCyclist]

This is same as the UCI hour record on Merckxian bike. Why do you not want to use tech if available? Or perhaps we go back to the bikes raced in 1903 with no measuring instruments.
Secondly it is rather hypocritical of the guy who wheel sucked the entire 2016 TDF to say this. It is not tech which did that but rider who decided whether to attack or not and just because you cannot make use of the information does not require banning others to do so as well.

 

[lenric]

Power meters are there for everyone to use. If some riders/teams don't know how to use them properly the problem isn't related to technology, but lack of investment and/or will to know how to use them.

Evolution and adaptation to it is the key to success, not stagnation.

 

[Billie]

Re: Re:

All science aspects of cycling should be banned imo.

TT bikes next.

Define "TT bike"? . What about these?

riders should have to use the same bikes they use for road stages for TT's. Like Anquetil

So you want the sport to look stone age and stuck in the ways of thirty years ago? Sports Science is here to stay, cycling has to be forever changing, evolving and looking to adapt. Being stuck in the mud is part of the reason why France are yet to produce a GT winner since Hinault.

i'm not french

races shouldn't be won in the lab and the wind tunnel. that isn't cycling

 

[Savant12]

Re: Power meters: is Quintana right that they should be bann

Anybody know why Quintana was flicking between screens on his bike computer during the last climb? Did he suddenly need to know what his power was at?

 

[This Charming Man]

Re: Power meters: is Quintana right that they should be bann

Nario is about to experience a hardcore beatdown from Froome. Let me fill Nario in, he will be beat by Froome- panache not a powermeater nor a race radio.

 

[Angliru]

Re: Power meters: is Quintana right that they should be bann

Nario is about to experience a hardcore beatdown from Froome. Let me fill Nario in, he will be beat by Froome- panache not a powermeater nor a race radio.

Where does Quintana mention Froome? Interesting that the hardcore Froome/Sky minions are outraged that someone would dare to suggest that power meters be banned, all while insisting that they aren't important to Sky's race strategy in the stage races.

 

[Jspear]

Re:

Nairo: "let's ban stuff I don't like/understand how to use but my competitor does".

I wonder what Nairo's power meter sponsor thinks of this?

This is his bike by the way, complete with power meter:

http://www.bicycling.com/bikes-gear/tour-de-france/nairo-quintanas-canyon-ultimate-cf-slx-is-ready-to-climb/slide/2

All it suggests to me is Nairo is focused on the wrong things, as are those that think measuring power is somehow making a difference to the way race strategies and tactics play out.

They are meters, not motors. You either have the watts or you don't. That's what determines who wins the W/kg war, not the measurement of it.

It's kind of ironic that the clinic mob want all the power data made public, and another mob want it all banned.


Not attacking through a safety neutral is what should be banned Nairo, not power meters

I'm sure Quintana knows how to use a power meter.

Quintana could still use a power meter in training. Also plenty of the power meter brands also make other things other than power meters.

His bike has a power meter right now, but if they banned them, he'd take it off.

A power meter can at times change the tactics you use in a race.

Having the watts isn't the only key to winning. You must know how to use your power.

I'm sure some of the clinic mob wouldn't mind if the viewing of power meters was banned in races. That doesn't mean you have to stop measuring the power.

 

[jahn]

Keep the powermeter, remove the head unit on the stem. Result?

1. The same desired effect of racing entirely on reading your own body (as it should be I totally agree)
2. Teams and riders can still analyze their power after the race or stage.
3. Powermeter sponsors are still visible and teams are still using their meters.

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

Nairo: "let's ban stuff I don't like/understand how to use but my competitor does".

I wonder what Nairo's power meter sponsor thinks of this?

This is his bike by the way, complete with power meter:

http://www.bicycling.com/bikes-gear/tour-de-france/nairo-quintanas-canyon-ultimate-cf-slx-is-ready-to-climb/slide/2

All it suggests to me is Nairo is focused on the wrong things, as are those that think measuring power is somehow making a difference to the way race strategies and tactics play out.

They are meters, not motors. You either have the watts or you don't. That's what determines who wins the W/kg war, not the measurement of it.

It's kind of ironic that the clinic mob want all the power data made public, and another mob want it all banned.


Not attacking through a safety neutral is what should be banned Nairo, not power meters

Well obviously Nairo is happy to forgo his power meter. Lots of straw men in your post.

Agreed, awful post, by someone who reads like a power meter salesman. No-one is asking for power meters to be taken completely out of the sport, just that the numbers will not be visible to riders or their team during a race.

The beauty of road racing is in the tactics, the unpredictability, the bluffing and the courageous attacks. Power meters diminsh all of these, and therefore there is no good argument for them to remain in racing. Even time trials would become a lot more interesting without power meters.

 

[42x16ss]

Re:

Keep the powermeter, remove the head unit on the stem. Result?

1. The same desired effect of racing entirely on reading your own body (as it should be I totally agree)
2. Teams and riders can still analyze their power after the race or stage.
3. Powermeter sponsors are still visible and teams are still using their meters.

Could not agree more, it seems to work for the trackies.

Added bonus - Chris Froome might occasionally look up...

 

[dacooley]

is nairo so much obsessed with the spectacle riders deprived of powermeters would deliver for cyclingfans? not at all, he's willing the get the enviroment that maximizes his chance of winning grand tours. i don't really know, to me it rather shows nothing but how much all the other big riders fear sky and froome in particular.

 

[The Hegelian]

Re:

I want to see all-in attacks. I want see riders blowing and glorious comebacks.
I want to see one-to-one fights not team-to-one.
I want to see riders desperate to get a time difference, not to instantaneous GPS data on the earpiece.
In a nutshell, I want to see humans racing, not math-modeled circus.

Yes, I agree with your nutshell.

 

[veji11]

Re:

is nairo so much obsessed with the spectacle riders deprived of powermeters would deliver for cyclingfans? not at all, he's willing the get the enviroment that maximizes his chance of winning grand tours. i don't really know, to me it rather shows nothing but how much all the other big riders fear sky and froome in particular.

fair enough. When Bardet says after the Tour de France that smaller teams would make for better racing, he also serves his interest because he knows he can't compete against the big Sky armada. Does it mean he is wrong though ?

In a way Sky and Froome work as scarecrows that impersonate those big problems of a race that is too controlled. But the issue is far wider : look at this year's LBL, it was a farce of a race, Movistar set up a very conservative tempo 80% of the race and no serious rider or team thought of challenging it or trying to open up the race because everybody has completely integrated the fact that in modern racing strong teams will control the race with precision as long as possible. No need to try and move the needle, Movistar (or BMC for Gilbert in the past) will control it until at least la Roche aux faucons. So you just wait till there. This means that 230kms serve absolutely no purpose... This year we even had the old school Voeckler just launching a suicide attack by himself in the middle of the race, with all other riders looking at him in bewilderment, because he was bored as hell. A classic like LBL has become an unbearable bore for riders themselves : they spend close to 7 hours on the saddle and they know with 100% certainty that a good 6 of those will be a procession...

This is madness.

 

[RedheadDane]

I can't help but feeling that the timing maybe could have been better. If Quintana prefers to ride without using his power meter (much), then cool, but it sorta - at least the me - comes across as him saying "Froome was able to limit his time-loss due to using his power meter, so I think they should be banned."

 

[el chava]

Re: Re:

All science aspects of cycling should be banned imo.

TT bikes next.

Define "TT bike"? . What about these?

riders should have to use the same bikes they use for road stages for TT's. Like Anquetil

So you want the sport to look stone age and stuck in the ways of thirty years ago? Sports Science is here to stay, cycling has to be forever changing, evolving and looking to adapt. Being stuck in the mud is part of the reason why France are yet to produce a GT winner since Hinault.

i'm not french

races shouldn't be won in the lab and the wind tunnel. that isn't cycling

This French "stuck-in-the-mud" old-school-attitude produced the only interesting GC attack in the Tour (Cherel/Bardet refusing to ride as their DS advised from the radio).

But yeah, this is probably inevitable. Information is power, so tech/"sports science" will win, and the romantic idea of cycling by intuition will fade. Even Bjarne Riis seems to have been focusing on e-sports lately. Oh well.

But, how I would love to see those TT bikes banned. Those atrocities can be used in triathlon, nowhere else.

 

[Billie]

Re:

I can't help but feeling that the timing maybe could have been better. If Quintana prefers to ride without using his power meter (much), then cool, but it sorta - at least the me - comes across as him saying "Froome was able to limit his time-loss due to using his power meter, so I think they should be banned."

When should he have done it? After Froome dropped him in le Tour. That would've been way worse. Cause than it would have been 'lol Quintana whining cause he can't follow Froome'.

 

[veji11]

Re:

I can't help but feeling that the timing maybe could have been better. If Quintana prefers to ride without using his power meter (much), then cool, but it sorta - at least the me - comes across as him saying "Froome was able to limit his time-loss due to using his power meter, so I think they should be banned."

Of course Quintana said so as an attack against Froome. The fact that he only opened his mouth about it now because it serves his interest doesn't mean the overall point isn't valid, many observers, organisers, journalists, riders and fans have been thinking outloud about this for a while !

Remember that ASO tried to experiment banning earpieces in 2009 on two stages of the tour ? The teams said nothing back when the measure was announced than ambushed the organiser after the first stage and forced ASO to drop the second stage.. earpieces have been in the landscape ever since... the UCI even ended up authorising it for continental races as well.

Most of the times riders' interest are conservative, but sometimes they say something intelligent. Good !

 

[veji11]

Re: Re:

But, how I would love to see those TT bikes banned. Those atrocities can be used in triathlon, nowhere else.

You know what ? they don't even have the TT bikes in triathlon anymore since they are allowed to ride in a peloton !

 

[Der Effe]

Re: Power meters: is Quintana right that they should be bann

Hail Quintana! Please stop this Anglo-Saxon neo-liberal dumbing down of the world.

 

[el chava]

Re: Re:

But, how I would love to see those TT bikes banned. Those atrocities can be used in triathlon, nowhere else.

You know what ? they don't even have the TT bikes in triathlon anymore since they are allowed to ride in a peloton !

Ah that's why I was a bit baffled as I watched the Olympics. That was still an ugly sight though.

Okay, enough tri-bashing for now

 

[Bolder]

I have no problem with power meters, same as with heart monitors. Not sure how I feel about e-shifting, however. I like my bikes mechanical, not electronic.

You can race on "data" or you can race on "feelings." Doesn't matter to me.

Agree that timing comes across as a bit petty given that Froome is looking dangerous as ever. Kind of weak effort to psych him out. Probably won't work.