Stephen "Radical" Roche

[virandociclista]

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/stephen-roche-were-trying-to-upgrade-the-image-of-cycling

I did not know that Stephen was so radical:

No help from team cars after crash. " it’s a form of cheating and it confuses the public."
No unzip the jerseys. " "If you don’t stop it now, they’ll have no jerseys on shortly."
No radios. "They’ve been looked upon as zombies, no brains, for years, and all the credit for tactics has been given to the team managers in the car,"

Comments....

 

[jsem94]

Totally agree about race radios.

Unzipping the jerseys, I half agree.

No help after crash is a bit too much, but he at least brings up a reasonable concern - which is riders taking too long.

 

[mr. tibbs]

Totally agree about race radios.

Unzipping the jerseys, I half agree.

No help after crash is a bit too much, but he at least brings up a reasonable concern - which is riders taking too long.

This is the one that got me the most. The quote about team cars in the OP left out the worst part, which I've bolded below.

At crashes, riders fall and spend five minutes on the ground straightening up their shirt and tie and making sure everything is okay before getting back on the bike again," he says. "You should be getting back on as fast as possible and then realise your shoulder is broken. They aren’t getting back on straight away, they’re waiting because they know there's a car to tow them back on. Its not ethically right, it’s a form of cheating and it confuses the public."

What the hell? This is the equivalent of "kids these days--they're too soft!" I'm all for a proper aco****ing of both body and equipment being made before the riders get back on. It doesn't do you any good to **** your shoulder up more or cause another crash because of a frame or fork failure two miles down the road.

The jersey zipping thing is a non-issue. Practically all riders zip their **** up before crossing the finish line. And as for radios... I know there's a thread around here somewhere, so let's not just get distracted on that issue.

EDIT: I was going to fix the typo of "accounting," where it seems an innocent transposition of a 'c' and an 'o' has excited the wrath of the asterisk-bot, but... nah.

 

[amp300]

I enjoyed this bit

"At crashes, riders fall and spend five minutes on the ground straightening up their shirt and tie and making sure everything is okay before getting back on the bike again,"

 

[Caruut]

Curious that he decides to use footballers taking their shirts off as an example, when it's a rule that is widely viewed as top-down autocratic idiocy by most fans.

Why do you have to make riders have their jerseys zipped up all the time? If some guy climbing an alp in July thinks he's getting too hot, then I reckon it's up to him what he does.

 

[Afrank]

Roche going senile in his old age? I think so.

 

[Magnus]

I think somebody got the date wrong. Today is May 1st not April 1st.

 

[DirtyWorks]

Overall, he's right. Bicycle racing circa 2012 is little more than horse racing where pace is managed to the last kilometer. The amount of interference/"management" in the race from DS's is enormous.

I still say the race radio has to go. For those using the excuse it might **possibly** improve safety, then make the radio one-way and the broadcaster is the race promoter.

I'm okay with getting rid of the team car too. It will bring down the cost of racing on the team-side substantially. Neutral support can handle wheels.

Yes, racers should have to fiddle with their own equipment should it get misconfigured somehow in-race. Conserving gear should be part of the battle. Part of the drama is the 'Act of God' stuff in bicycle races. It makes better stories too.

 

[Bala Verde]

Curious that he decides to use footballers taking their shirts off as an example, when it's a rule that is widely viewed as top-down autocratic idiocy by most fans.

Why do you have to make riders have their jerseys zipped up all the time? If some guy climbing an alp in July thinks he's getting too hot, then I reckon it's up to him what he does.

I thought in football they issued that rule to minimize time lost after celebrations of goals, not, as he said, because it's 'improprer.' That whole take-off-your-jersey throw it in the stands and run around for 3 minutes after you score a goal was getting on my nerves also, but not because it might offend some poor prude out there. I think 'losing time' during a bike race isn't really in anyone's interest.

Although, if he had shown the picture of the chicken, I might have conceded the argument.

 

[El Oso]

No un-zipped jersey's is just absolutely crazy. There is no problem as long as the riders follow the unwritten professional rule of zipping up for the finishing line shot.

 

[plooton]

Reche ****ed me off. Such marginal suggestions, thats all of no importance as speaking of how to enhance the cyclo image. Ridiculous. He must be the PR manager of the year.

 

[meandmygitane]

He is about right concerning the attitudes, but concerning some of the "rules", he should ask himself if it is up for the UCI or the teams or even the riders themselves to enforce.

About unzipping Jerseys: if the likes of Merckx and Anquetil survived in their heavy woolen jerseys, then of course today's pros can do the same.

The materials have evolved something ridiculous (Look at Schleck's jersey here, it is more holes than fabric).

 

[DominicDecoco]

Reche ****ed me off. Such marginal suggestions, thats all of no importance as speaking of how to enhance the cyclo image. Ridiculous. He must be the PR manager of the year.

This.


____________

 

[usedtobefast]

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/stephen-roche-were-trying-to-upgrade-the-image-of-cycling

I did not know that Stephen was so radical:

No help from team cars after crash. " it’s a form of cheating and it confuses the public."
No unzip the jerseys. " "If you don’t stop it now, they’ll have no jerseys on shortly."
No radios. "They’ve been looked upon as zombies, no brains, for years, and all the credit for tactics has been given to the team managers in the car,"

Comments....

what an fing blowhard. i liked him as a rider.

 

[plooton]

I think somebody got the date wrong. Today is May 1st not April 1st.

looks like!

 

[Caruut]

I thought in football they issued that rule to minimize time lost after celebrations of goals, not, as he said, because it's 'improprer.' That whole take-off-your-jersey throw it in the stands and run around for 3 minutes after you score a goal was getting on my nerves also, but not because it might offend some poor prude out there. I think 'losing time' during a bike race isn't really in anyone's interest.

Although, if he had shown the picture of the chicken, I might have conceded the argument.

Nah, Sepp Blatter thought that because he was trying to globalise football (which is already global, but apparently that won't stop him trying anyway), the whole shirt-off thing would offend people from other cultures. It was because of the offensiveness of naked flesh, not the time taken. Celebrations still take just as long.

 

[SirLes]

If I was paying lots of money to have my logo on a cyclists shirt I'd want it visible the whole time, not just at the finish.

(However I concede that there is something cool about casually zipping up ones jersey prior to winning a stage as you're so far in front.

As for radios: To quote Dave Whitaker, coach of the GB Gold medal winning hockey team. "Players that look to the bench for solutions should be on it"

Management prep the team prior to the race but after that it should be up to them.

 

[RHRH19861986]

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/stephen-roche-were-trying-to-upgrade-the-image-of-cycling

I did not know that Stephen was so radical:

No help from team cars after crash. " it’s a form of cheating and it confuses the public."
No unzip the jerseys. " "If you don’t stop it now, they’ll have no jerseys on shortly."
No radios. "They’ve been looked upon as zombies, no brains, for years, and all the credit for tactics has been given to the team managers in the car,"

Comments....

We´d better hear from Nicolas bringing in some results for Ag2R instead of hearing opinions from someone who has been a pro 30 years ago.

Blah blah blah, like Merckx, Hinault and all these old guys do,

 

[Caruut]

He is about right concerning the attitudes, but concerning some of the "rules", he should ask himself if it is up for the UCI or the teams or even the riders themselves to enforce.

About unzipping Jerseys: if the likes of Merckx and Anquetil survived in their heavy woolen jerseys, then of course today's pros can do the same.

The materials have evolved something ridiculous (Look at Schleck's jersey here, it is more holes than fabric).

Must everything be how it once was? Who does unzipping jerseys hurt? What effect does it have on the race? Just another pointless BS rule for fans to hate and non-fans to get confused by.

 

[RHRH19861986]

Anyways, Matthias Kessler has left the sport, so I don´t see any problem in unzipping jerseys...

 

[Parrulo]

"lad's this days are soft, we were much tougher back then"

just another former glory of a sport talking nonsense, call him pele version 27.3 if you like.

 

[fatsprintking]

Looks like I'm in the minority, but I actually agree with everything he said.

I am not sure if you need to make the jersey issue a uci rule. I would think that with bigger more globally focussed sponsors coming into the sport, that you will see a clause re this written into agreements from sponsors who will need to get better at justifying/quantifying their investment.

His point about team cars seems to me to be about the concept that you are either in or out of the race - you cant take a time out - which is the current situation. He is just saying that you are either straight back into the race, or you are out of it which is just a luck of the sport thing.

No issue with no radio's from me and anyway you can minimise cars on the course is a good thing for me.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

His opinion on radios isn't surprising, given that Roche was regarded as the sharpest tactical rider in the sport during his heyday. He was well known for cultivating cross-team alliances and always knowing who was in every attack and what relevance that had to his own position. In fact, I've read him say before that knowing who to cut a deal with and how to make sure that you were a guy whose agreement was regarded as valuable were key skills for a pro cyclist.

From his own experience, it's always going to look as if radios help out the stupid or mentally lazy riders and work against the clever ones.

As far as the jersey suggestion goes, I hate the fact that the sport is centered on commercial sponsorship to a degree unknown outside motorsports. So I instinctively hate that idea, although I can see the commercial sense of it. On the fallen riders part, I disagree entirely and think that there's an element of "back when men were men" nostalgia to it. Much like when you hear Cippolini talk happily about the good old days when a Vanderaerden or Kelly would allegedly ride the weak into a ditch.

 

[42x16ss]

His opinion on radios isn't surprising, given that Roche was regarded as the sharpest tactical rider in the sport during his heyday. He was well known for cultivating cross-team alliances and always knowing who was in every attack and what relevance that had to his own position. In fact, I've read him say before that knowing who to cut a deal with and how to make sure that you were a guy whose agreement was regarded as valuable were key skills for a pro cyclist.

From his own experience, it's always going to look as if radios help out the stupid or mentally lazy riders and work against the clever ones.

As far as the jersey suggestion goes, I hate the fact that the sport is centered on commercial sponsorship to a degree unknown outside motorsports. So I instinctively hate that idea, although I can see the commercial sense of it. On the fallen riders part, I disagree entirely and think that there's an element of "back when men were men" nostalgia to it. Much like when you hear Cippolini talk happily about the good old days when a Vanderaerden or Kelly would allegedly ride the weak into a ditch.

It's interesting when you look at some of the past and present riders who are against (or indifferent to) the use of radios in the peleton.

These riders seem to always be the ones more capable of reading the race - eg: Roche, Phil Anderson, Bernard Hinault, Sean Kelly, Stuart O'Grady, Chris Horner, Kurt Arveson.

Is reading a race becoming a lost art? When you look at some rider and team tactics lately it may well be true.

 

[fatsprintking]

It's interesting when you look at some of the past and present riders who are against (or indifferent to) the use of radios in the peleton.

These riders seem to always be the ones more capable of reading the race - eg: Roche, Phil Anderson, Bernard Hinault, Sean Kelly, Stuart O'Grady, Chris Horner, Kurt Arveson.

Is reading a race becoming a lost art?

Yes - it is!!