UCI to ban supertuck descending starting April 1st.

[wheresmybrakes]

This is full insanity. Plenty of other sports being played and aren't banning hugging among teammates. Even the NFL didn't ban hugging this past fall and they actually did ban celebrations after touchdowns for a few years.

Maybe something to do with the riders are sometimes getting together from races in different countries and once they have finished their race, they will be flying off to other races in different countries again. It only takes one or two to get the virus unknowingly then take it to another country. In the likes of football NFL etc, those sports are staying in their own country. (apart from the odd European match in football). Yes, they are in bubbles but it has been shown that bubbles don't always work.

 

[RedheadDane]

Maybe something to do with the riders are sometimes getting together from races in different countries and once they have finished their race, they will be flying off to other races in different countries again. It only takes one or two to get the virus unknowingly then take it to another country. In the likes of football NFL etc, those sports are staying in their own country. (apart from the odd European match in football). Yes, they are in bubbles but it has been shown that bubbles don't always work.

But are they more likely to get infected from hugging their teammates - and sometimes competitors - after the race, than they are from sitting in the peloton for several hours with spit flying everywhere? It seems to be mostly a case of "we don't wanna send the wrong signal, by showing riders hugging each other" from the UCI.
But anyway; I really hope they aren't going to disqualify any riders if they're shown hugging after a victory.

 

[wheresmybrakes]

I believe each rider is to be given a cup to spit in at certain times of the race to stop them spitting everywhere during the race. Any dribbles and they are disqualified.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Hazmas suits are the obvious solution here. Jumbo has the colour scheme sorted out already.

Here they are, secretly training with Euskaltel. Tadej* is on the far right.

 

[Koronin]

Maybe something to do with the riders are sometimes getting together from races in different countries and once they have finished their race, they will be flying off to other races in different countries again. It only takes one or two to get the virus unknowingly then take it to another country. In the likes of football NFL etc, those sports are staying in their own country. (apart from the odd European match in football). Yes, they are in bubbles but it has been shown that bubbles don't always work.

Except the NFL wasn't in any kind of real bubble. The athletes were living in their homes during the entire season, going to grocery stores etc, and several teams did have actual out breaks in which a few games got postponed and had two teams have no players for specific positions for games. Good luck making a bubble on a college campus even when most students are doing virtual classes. Even with that many students are still on campus. That's why all these teams were doing Covid testing virtually every other day.

 

[Cookster15]

I still read a few comments elsewhere even today saying "if" the TdF and Giro go ahead. I think this is undue pessimism.

If the Tour and Giro could be run in 2020 there is no problem in 2021. There were no vaccines in 2020. Yet the 2020 Giro was run in the middle of a huge wave of the virus. The sport has experience to run bubbles. We are past the worst and just need to be patient for the vaccines to be administered across populations. But riders and teams should all be vaccinated. But I do think the hugging ban is beyond stupid.

 

[Wvv]

Already so freaking annoyed by these decisions and the racing has yet to start.
The incompetence of the UCI ... ugghh.

 

[Koronin]

Well at least some of the cobbled races have taken to actually do something for real safety with those new barriers. I hope we start seeing those are more and more races.

 

[Oldermanish]

This is full insanity. Plenty of other sports being played and aren't banning hugging among teammates. Even the NFL didn't ban hugging this past fall and they actually did ban celebrations after touchdowns for a few years.

Why bother? In the huddle and the tackled mass of players you are actually feeling the moisture excreted by other players. If they're sick; you'll be exposed. Cycling by comparison is almost an isolated situation. Once everything is moving it's like breathing in a wind tunnel.

 

[Oldermanish]

Well at least some of the cobbled races have taken to actually do something for real safety with those new barriers. I hope we start seeing those are more and more races.

I do think the tall LED island markers can help. Particularly if they have 100' proximity alerts. As much as this stuff costs they could also remove some narrow curbing for a race and replace it after.

 

[Koronin]

The no tossing bottle outside of the green zones, which includes not tossing them to fans is insane.

It also appears the "no hugging" rule isn't fully being followed.

 

[titan31]

Ya, unless there's a lot of greenzones it's going to be messy. Does the water carrier now go back and collect the water, bring them up and then collect the bottles to bring them back to the car?

 

[tobydawq]

I hope it's a corona thing and it will be allowed to throw bottles for spectators to catch again. Otherwise, well, I don't know any other negative words I haven't already used against the UCI the past couple of months.

 

[RedheadDane]

I hope it's a corona thing and it will be allowed to throw bottles for spectators to catch again. Otherwise, well, I don't know any other negative words I haven't already used against the UCI the past couple of months.

In fact, I don't even see why corona should be a reason to not throw bottles to spectators.
The bottles are coming from inside the race bubbles out towards the public, not the other way around. It's not like throwing a bottle to a spectator will create some archway the virus can travel along back to the thrower.

 

[Leinster]

In fact, I don't even see why corona should be a reason to not throw bottles to spectators.
The bottles are coming from inside the race bubbles out towards the public, not the other way around. It's not like throwing a bottle to a spectator will create some archway the virus can travel along back to the thrower.

IIRC, the bottles are a littering/environmental issue rather than transmission? MvP and Asgreen both dropped bottles, in a green zone, late in the race before the sprint, with no penalty. It looked like the bottles were picked up by fans, not by race officials.

Schar dropped his bottle right where it could be collected by fans. It was never going to stay on the ground for long.

 

[Lequack]

Seems silly about being environmentally friendly, when you have a caravan of polluting cars, motorbikes, etc. following every race.

 

[Bonimenier]

IIRC, the bottles are a littering/environmental issue rather than transmission? MvP and Asgreen both dropped bottles, in a green zone, late in the race before the sprint, with no penalty. It looked like the bottles were picked up by fans, not by race officials.

Schar dropped his bottle right where it could be collected by fans. It was never going to stay on the ground for long.

There was an official litter zone where Van der Poel and Asgreen threw away their bottles so obviously no penalties.

If the UCI really cares about the environment I would rather have seen them give a fine to Schär and donate it to an environment charity instead of this ridiculous dsq.

 

[RedheadDane]

IIRC, the bottles are a littering/environmental issue rather than transmission? MvP and Asgreen both dropped bottles, in a green zone, late in the race before the sprint, with no penalty. It looked like the bottles were picked up by fans, not by race officials.

Schar dropped his bottle right where it could be collected by fans. It was never going to stay on the ground for long.

Yes... but it's not littering it the bottle is getting picked up immediately, is it?

 

[yaco]

It's a case of the UCI following the expectations of society - Sadly some expectations of society are misplaced and are a case of placing a square hole into a round circle.

 

[RedheadDane]

And when it comes to avoiding littering, the rule could be very simple:

1: Don't throw away stuff where there are no people!

 

[tobydawq]

And when it comes to avoiding littering, the rule could be very simple:

1: Don't throw away stuff where there are no people!

But then there will probably be a rock or a tree and how would the UCI know they don't identify themselves as people?

 

[RedheadDane]

But then there will probably be a rock or a tree and how would the UCI know they don't identify themselves as people?

If those rocks or trees turn out to be either ents, or those rock-trolls from Frozen. Sure... but it's hard to know beforehand, so better stick to just throwing to human-people.

 

[BlueRoads]

If those rocks or trees turn out to be either ents, or those rock-trolls from Frozen. Sure... but it's hard to know beforehand, so better stick to just throwing to human-people.

As I have gotten used to you guys and your aggressive habits I read "stick to just throwing human-people" at first.

 

[RedheadDane]

As I have gotten used to you guys and your aggressive habits I read "stick to just throwing human-people" at first.

I do not have aggressive habits!

And I was thinking about pointing out that it's specifically throw stuff to people, not at people.

 

[Koronin]

I do not have aggressive habits!

And I was thinking about pointing out that it's specifically throw stuff to people, not at people.

Of course bottles are souvenirs anyway when they are thrown to people.