Why are British cyclists so much better than Australian cyclists?

[auscyclefan94]

BATTLE FOR THE ASHES!

Look at the results over the past 10 years of australia and england. After that you will see that Australia really has been more dominant and a bigger cycling force. Though if britain continue on the way they are going on they could knock us off our mantle piece as being better than them at every sport.

 

[Parrot23]

LOL, very, very funny!

Thanks

 

[badboyberty]

This is the Australians that are currently 3rd on UCI world rankings and the British cyclists that are holding 8th place...

Obviously we don't get the idea that being up there with Italy and Spain is a bad thing...

And if we did a Phil Liggett and classed Hausller as Australian already we'd be ranked 2nd.

 

[beroepsrenner]

Its also been overlooked that wiggins' father was aussie and a damn good cyclist at that. So the OP has shot himself in the foot.

 

[unsheath]

And don't forget Wiggins Snr is a True Blue Aussie as well. Could almost claim him for ourselves!

 

[unsheath]

agh drats, beat me to it. We are now eternal enemies bero

 

[msjett]

This is the Australians that are currently 3rd on UCI world rankings and the British cyclists that are holding 8th place...

Obviously we don't get the idea that being up there with Italy and Spain is a bad thing...

And if we did a Phil Liggett and classed Hausller as Australian already we'd be ranked 2nd.

Hehe....good point.

Some Aussies don't appreciate what we've got....I think too many people measure the performances on one race alone.

 

[palmerq]

australian is still part of blighty anyway, the empire never fell in my book :S You and the canadians still have the queen on yer money... aka.... ruuulllleee britannia

 

[powderpuff]

I dare you to ask Phil Anderson that question to his face.

Phil was born in London England in 1958! SO i guess he would agree?

 

[saxe_coburg_gotha]

We are not that much better , just enough to rile them, in both places triathlon is bigger and hopefully will bring even more into cycle racing

 

[beroepsrenner]

And don't forget Wiggins Snr is a True Blue Aussie as well. Could almost claim him for ourselves!

It appears that you may be unaware that Gary Wiggins passed away in unfortunate circumstances over a year ago now. A phenominal six-day rider whose career went largely unnoticed in Australia.

 

[53 x 11]

.I think too many people measure the performances on one race alone.

Well this is going to hurt me...... If you look at the detailed UCI points list (http://www.uci.ch/Modules/BUILTIN/g...bjTypeCode=FILE&type=FILE&id=NDk4OTk&LangId=1) you can see that a disproportionate amount of the points Australians have earned were at the TDU, a race where the only strong non Aussie sprinter crashed on the second stage. So in effect it is us who have had our performance measured on one race alone.

However, the future of Australian RR looks quite good but it may take five or so years for the new talent to come through.

And anyway, cycling is a small part of life. Australian still has better:Food, Women, Wine, Weather, Beer, Beaches and after the next World Cup a better football team.

 

[badboyberty]

We are not that much better , just enough to rile them, in both places triathlon is bigger and hopefully will bring even more into cycle racing

And before people bring up the track, remember there's only one velodrome that counts, and no-one from GB has ever won Paris-Roubaix.

 

[beroepsrenner]

And before people bring up the track, remember there's only one velodrome that counts, and no-one from GB has ever won Paris-Roubaix.

Actually if you want to look at track cycling alone, Aussies on a per capita of population basis are probably one of the greatest track nations in history and in recent years our NZ neighbours are not going too badly either.

 

[beroepsrenner]

And..... the British rise to prominance could be due to the influence of Australian coaches such as Shane Sutton so no matter which way you look at it the British are still inferior at sport to Australia except maybe fox hunting?............................

 

[53 x 11]

Actually if you want to look at track cycling alone, Aussies on a per capita of population basis are probably one of the greatest track nations in history and in recent years our NZ neighbours are not going too badly either.

The Australian media love the per-capita figures, well they love anything that makes us look important on a world stage. However a better way to look at it would be total dollars invested V results. I would love to see these figures.

 

[auscyclefan94]

The Australian media love the per-capita figures, well they love anything that makes us look important on a world stage. However a better way to look at it would be total dollars invested V results. I would love to see these figures.

Britain have a bigger economy so they would be able to pump in more money into their cycling team than australia which got half their medal count at beijing. Also Loondon has the olympic games so they are pumping more oney into the sports for big performances.

 

[lechia]

Better at the Tour? I'm pretty sure that no British rider was ever on the podium at the Tour. For Australia, Cadel Evans finished 2nd the previous two and then there was Millar a while back. I'd argue that for the size of the country and resources, British cycling (on the road) has been pretty disappointing (except for the last two years when Cav has started winning consistently and this year's Wiggins' performance - I doubt he'll be able to repeat it next year).

 

[53 x 11]

Britain have a bigger economy so they would be able to pump in more money into their cycling team than australia which got half their medal count at beijing. Also Loondon has the olympic games so they are pumping more oney into the sports for big performances.

I think this is making too large an assumption. Yes in the last two years the British cycling programme has received a lot of funding from lotto money, however Australia invests very heavily in our sporting programmes as sporting success (particularly in the Olympics) is linked so closely with our attempts at forming some kind of coherent national identity. Just because they have a larger economy does not mean that they will automatically invest more money.

I would be surprised if our dollars per taxpayer invested into national sporting programmes weren’t much higher than similar countries.

 

[lanternrouge]

I see all the usual aussie comments have come out of the woodwork suprise suprise! The usual better weather, australian coaches, capita, budget etc etc blah blah. Always quick to gloat until they lose and my god the whinging from aussies is deafening! RWC 2003, beijing now the ashes the moaning and whinging is non stop, and they have the nerve to say Brits moan!
The fact is sport in general IS more important to the colonials than it is to the british so they ARE better at it. I have no problem with that good luck to them but why have they got chips on their shoulders when it comes to the poms? They seen to spend more time running the poms down than supporting their own competitors! Let it go!
Anyway if australia is so bloody wonderful why are they all in London, you can't move for aussies?

 

[53 x 11]

I see all the usual aussie comments have come out of the woodwork suprise suprise!
Anyway if australia is so bloody wonderful why are they all in London, you can't move for aussies?

Actually I was trying to present both sides of the coin (with the exception of the weather).

However having lived in both countries I can honestly say that London is full of Aussies because its the only place you wont find a single Englishman, pretty appealing if you ask me.

Now go and enjoy the cricket! I'm not.

 

[Anonymous]

the whining aussies at it again...? cadel rides a mare of a tour, brad rides a great one and they want to say that 2 historic loser positions by cadel is better than a current 4th by brad.. ho hum...

Frankly i think theyve seen what dave brailsford did to their guys on the track over 8 years and they are cacking it hes going to do the same on the road..

and cricket is a stupid game

 

[beroepsrenner]

I see all the usual aussie comments have come out of the woodwork suprise suprise! The usual better weather, australian coaches, capita, budget etc etc blah blah. Always quick to gloat until they lose and my god the whinging from aussies is deafening! RWC 2003, beijing now the ashes the moaning and whinging is non stop, and they have the nerve to say Brits moan!
The fact is sport in general IS more important to the colonials than it is to the british so they ARE better at it. I have no problem with that good luck to them but why have they got chips on their shoulders when it comes to the poms? They seen to spend more time running the poms down than supporting their own competitors! Let it go!
Anyway if australia is so bloody wonderful why are they all in London, you can't move for aussies?

Lighten up red light! this whole thread is just a bit of fun. Reactions like yours are the very reason aussies like to take the **** out of you prisoners of mother england. I still say Wiggins is an Aussie

 

[Andy99]

Yep just a bunch of Palmares there, Chocka with GT wins and Classics success...lol Together they might match a tenth of Sean Kelly's...or maybe not And don't you Poms try to claim him as British!

No offense to Roger of course who is a beast on the bike.

Yeah, I know. just trying to prove a point to Dan about the English contingent within Britain. I thought Nicolas (sp) Roche was French anyhow.

oh yeah...Ben Swift and Adam Blythe are on the way up to.

Brits and the ozzies are all the same anyhow. It's just the yanks trying to stir..

Bring on Team SKY. GB/OZ taking on the world...(Shane Sutton/Scott Sunderland pulling some of the strings)

 

[RidleyAU]

Think the Poms usually make this England vs Australia rivalry into more then it really is. We have more intense rivalries with countries other then England in all our major sports these days (India in cricket, NZ in rugby to name a couple).
As for cycling and the original 'Maybe the Brits are tougher', let me know when the Brits have something to match Stuey O's Roubaix win.