The gift of giving - is it time the UCI to ban gifts?

[fmk_RoI]

An important rule in the world of horse racing is the non-triers rule, which requires a jockey to make the required effort in order to gain the best possible result. Cycling has no such comparable rule and throughout the history of the sport riders have 'gifted' wins to other riders.

Is it time for cycling to take a leaf out of horse racing's rule book? At the finish of every race, every rider must be seen to be making the required effort to achieve result instead of just sitting up and letting some else finish ahead of them?

 

[pastronef]

it's enough to "miss" one of the last corners, without crashing obvs, and cross the line a few seconds after your winning team mate.
also, what can the UCI race commissaires about the last stage in Catalunya? at least they sprinted

 

[DaLong]

Sounds like a rule that is directly for the purpose of ensuring betting integrity. I don't like the idea of any rule being created just for gambling. Put money on Laporte if you think WvA will gift him the stage IMO.

 

[Nick2413]

I wouldn’t support a rule for it. But the practice is somewhat anticompetitive and grey area ethically for a variety of reasons that I think get glossed over under the cover of sportsmanship. I’m not really complaining, but it’s a bit more of a complex issue than I think people give it credit for.

 

[Elos Anjos]

There being a rule against gifting doesn't mean that gifts can't happen.
WVA and Laporte could also simulate a sprint.

 

[Gratemans]

Sounds like a rule that is directly for the purpose of ensuring betting integrity. I don't like the idea of any rule being created just for gambling. Put money on Laporte if you think WvA will gift him the stage IMO.

I did Not that I was in any way expecting him to gift the race to Laporte, but I had a feeling they'd possibly race this one for him if his legs were feeling good enough.

To the OP: no. If two riders manage to get to the finish line quicker than everybody else, they have all the right to choose how to finish it imo.
And I like how cycling has weird things like this. It's part of the charm for me.

 

[Ilmaestro99]

Well there was a rule against lubricating the chain from a moving vehicle. The punishment was a disqualification.

Belgian Pozzato did the rolling lubrication in the e3, to get a nice efficient drive train for the finale , and he won after he gained the advantage over his competitors. Its breaking the rules, cheating, on a live broadcast, and the UCI didn't do anything.

So i don't believe there should be a rule because there will just be gifts anyway. who knows what else happens behind the scenes.

 

[tobydawq]

It would be impossible to enforce so I'm going to say no.

 

[tobydawq]

Well there was a rule against lubricating the chain from a moving vehicle. The punishment was a disqualification.

Belgian Pozzato did the rolling lubrication in the e3, to get a nice efficient drive train for the finale , and he won after he gained the advantage over his competitors. Its breaking the rules, cheating, on a live broadcast, and the UCI didn't do anything.

So i don't believe there should be a rule because there will just be gifts anyway. who knows what else happens behind the scenes.

How often did you see Pozzato ride like Wout in GW? Or in the Tour? What would it take for you to drop the nickname?

Since it makes zero sense already, I'm going to guess that even if he wins all five monuments and the rainbow, you will continue with the name-calling.

 

[Blanco]

How often did you see Pozzato ride like Wout in GW? Or in the Tour? What would it take for you to drop the nickname?

Since it makes zero sense already, I'm going to guess that even if he wins all five monuments and the rainbow, you will continue with the name-calling.

A monument win, perhaps...
He said that, somewhere...

 

[Anderis]

1. Why?
2. Impossible to enforce anyway.

 

[BR2]

fmk-Rol doesn't want such a rule, he has made his position clear in other posts - in fact nobody wants such a rule. He's just in his usual mode.

 

[QueenStagiaire]

An important rule in the world of horse racing is the non-triers rule, which requires a jockey to make the required effort in order to gain the best possible result. Cycling has no such comparable rule and throughout the history of the sport riders have 'gifted' wins to other riders.

Is it time for cycling to take a leaf out of horse racing's rule book? At the finish of every race, every rider must be seen to be making the required effort to achieve result instead of just sitting up and letting some else finish ahead of them?

Isn‘t cycling a team sport and horse racing an individual sport? The thing that needs to be questioned of course are moves like the one Roglič and Evenepoel did yesterday. But alas, gaining favor with your competitors does not appear to me to be a viable tactic in horse racing, if you disregard gamesmanship and illegal moves you and your opponent could conjure up together.
Meanwhile in cycling, gifts can be a tactical tool in some situations, be it expecting a similar move in return the next time this situation arises or be it making other teams more willing, subconsciously even, to contribute to an effort chasing down a break or intended to make a decisive break yourself. Of course, this should mean gifts, not collusion or acquiring a victory through monetary assets.

Oh, by the way, what is up with people basically arguing that Van Aert got an offer he can‘t refuse from God to win Gent-Wevelgem and that he committed the most horrific of blasphemies the sport of cycling has ever seen by endowing Laporte with the rights to the title. I just don‘t get it and I‘m worried that with each semi-classic where he fails to defeat his opponents in a sprint or he gets dropped late or he‘s washed up and uncompetitive, people‘s voices accusing Van Aert of moral failure for this selfishly altruistic act, however much orchestrated it may have been by the team, will grow louder and louder.

 

[Elos Anjos]

This is just condescending on riders.
Accidents can determine wins and defeats.
Individual will can determine wins and defeats through cunning, race reading, keeping cool, being on alert, etc.
Why can't the same individual will choose to gift?

 

[Carrick-On-Seine]

How often did you see Pozzato ride like Wout in GW? Or in the Tour? What would it take for you to drop the nickname?

Since it makes zero sense already, I'm going to guess that even if he wins all five monuments and the rainbow, you will continue with the name-calling.

Belgian Simon Spilak disappeared after LBL last year.

 

[ice&fire]

Fuente Dé would not have ended the way it did without a gift in the Giro one year earlier.

 

[fmk_RoI]

WRT those wondering to to police such a rule: data!

Heart-rate, power meter output, they could be used to demonstratie that riders had or had not made sufficient effort. It's technically feasible if a challenge to the imagination.

FWIW away back in the 1920s Henri Pélissier was already noting how cycling was becoming like horse racing. He predicted that one day riders would be forced to carry weights in their pockets. He got that wrong. So far.

 

[rokovski]

That

https://twitter.com/x/status/1538145608309084160

View: https://twitter.com/eurosport/status/1538145608309084160?t=5KcLB3v1Qlbp_YDzDinmgQ&s=19

 

[ice&fire]

UCI supercomputers are busy processing sock height data

 

[Devil's Elbow]

Team UAE approves of this opening post.

 

[awavey]

WRT those wondering to to police such a rule: data!

Heart-rate, power meter output, they could be used to demonstratie that riders had or had not made sufficient effort. It's technically feasible if a challenge to the imagination.

FWIW away back in the 1920s Henri Pélissier was already noting how cycling was becoming like horse racing. He predicted that one day riders would be forced to carry weights in their pockets. He got that wrong. So far.

so all that happens is one rider sprints, the other one goes oh no my foot unclipped just as I ramped up the power at the critical moment and I was a bike length back and couldnt comeback at them. quel domage.

they tried banning it in motorsport and it doesnt work, teams will just come up with more elaborate ways of getting around it.

its not an endemic problem in cycling, though it seems to have happened alot this year, Im not a fan of gifting wins like that on one day races, stage races are a bit different, but especially when it feels the stronger rider is deliberately giving away the win for whatever reason, however I dont think the SDWorx solution is ideal for team harmony either.

 

[staubsauger]

Fernando is faster than you! Can you confirm you understood that message?

Wait, wrong sport!

 

[QueenStagiaire]

Fernando is faster than you! Can you confirm you understood that message?

Wait, wrong sport!

Let Michael pass for the championship! Let Michael pass for the championship!

 

[MTV]

Belgian Simon Spilak disappeared after LBL last year.

Sure? He retired like 2 years ago (or more - c19 years are "funny"). But Belgian he is not.

 

[bNator]

Let Michael pass for the championship! Let Michael pass for the championship!

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