Why are British cyclists so much better than Australian cyclists?

[Anonymous]

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

Woooah there just a minute...

Lets not have the aussies trying to claim team sky as theirs!!!

 

[lanternrouge]

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

This all reminds me of Ian Botham at the customs desk of the airport in australia
"Any criminal convictions?"
"I did not realise it was still necessary!"

Legend.

 

[lanternrouge]

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.

Ah you were doing ever so well at first and then you undid you own argument with your second sentence. Too hard to resist?

 

[TrudyTas]

Can someone please explain to me why England/GB weather would make their riders' tougher than Aussie riders? Surely riding in high humidity and extreme heat (our so-called lovely weather) is just as tough on the body as riding in cold rain ...

Also, there are parts of Oz with British type weather - like here today - cold rain and high winds - and there were boys out racing their bikes ...

Hot weather is only nice if you're at the beach!

 

[beroepsrenner]

This all reminds me of Ian Botham at the customs desk of the airport in australia
"Any criminal convictions?"
"I did not realise it was still necessary!"

Legend.

Yep. the only thing you guys are good at is humour....I'm so glad Billy Connoly chose to be a comedian rather than a cyclist.

 

[LugHugger]

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.

ok, gents, can we claim all of the australians who have english parent(s)?

 

[LugHugger]

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.

Damn, I'll have to second that

 

[LugHugger]

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.

I've had this conversation before and per capita the two countries have very similar cycling budgets. I can't remember my exact sources but they came from the Australian Institute of Sport budget and the UK Lottery and Sport England budgets.

 

[beroepsrenner]

ok, gents, can we claim all of the australians who have english parent(s)?

No self respecting aussie is ever going to admit to that!

 

[53 x 11]

I've had this conversation before and per capita the two countries have very similar cycling budgets. I can't remember my exact sources but they came from the Australian Institute of Sport budget and the UK Lottery and Sport England budgets.

It wouldnt suprise me at all. For some reason Australia wants to spend a large %of its money on developing a swimming team. But I'd have to go into the Clinic to give my thoughts on that.

 

[ThisFrenchGuy]

It wouldnt suprise me at all. For some reason Australia wants to spend a large %of its money on developing a swimming team. But I'd have to go into the Clinic to give my thoughts on that.

Wasn't Thorpe a "kickstart" for swimming? A successful athlete will often fill up the clubs and raise the talent pool available for its federation.
You need to put him on a bike.

 

[uphillstruggle]

Because non of them are born in England

Cav = Isle of Man
Wiggo = Belguim
Miller = Scotland
Kroome = South Africa

And the best that are born in England sign for Ireland

Dan Martin

That's what we English do, if someone from anywhere in the British Isles does something good they are British and if anyone from England achieves they are English - it's an attempt to connect with our colonial roots

 

[Hammerhed]

I don't understand how you guys can allow the starter of this thread to sow such discord among what is essentially one family. Maybe I'm wrong, but I feel that the US, the UK, Australia, and Canada to be so related that we are inseparable, not indistinguishable, but truly and fundamentally, ONE. So, though I know the perp is just pulling our collective chain, we shouldn't fall for it, unless it's just for fun, truly just for laughs.

 

[Bagster]

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?

The ones in London were sent over to raise the IQ of both nations. Calm down and have another glass of warm beer and a bacon buttie.

 

[beroepsrenner]

I don't understand how you guys can allow the starter of this thread to sow such discord among what is essentially one family. Maybe I'm wrong, but I feel that the US, the UK, Australia, and Canada to be so related that we are inseparable, not indistinguishable, but truly and fundamentally, ONE. So, though I know the perp is just pulling our collective chain, we shouldn't fall for it, unless it's just for fun, truly just for laughs.

Of course its all just fun but seriously.... your ancestors ended the oneness in 1776. Are you trying to say you want back in now?

 

[elapid]

Wasn't Thorpe a "kickstart" for swimming? A successful athlete will often fill up the clubs and raise the talent pool available for its federation.
You need to put him on a bike.

No - Thorpe was a product of the swimming culture in Australia, not the other way around.

I actually find sporting success on a national level a very interesting topic, being Australian and having lived in the USA and Canada (and England very briefly). IMO, there are freaks out there that are going to be champions no matter who much or little support they get. Ian Thorpe and Michael Phelps, Mark Cavendish, a number of cricketers, etc.

But the real difference lies in grass roots support and being involved in a sport from an early age and then having the infrastructure to support the development of individuals as they progress. This includes football, rugby, cricket, soccer and swimming in Australia (also athletics, but we're not so good at this on the international scene); hockey in Canada; basketball, baseball and football in the USA. I am less familiar with the USA, so forgive me if the likes of swimming is widely practiced by school children.

In Australia in the 80s and 90s, we excelled in a number of sports because we had infrastructure to support the development of talented athletes. This is particularly true of cycling (especially track), cricket and swimming. This gave us an advantage over other countries because they did not have this support network to develop their sports people. Great Britain, having seen the success of this model, then developed similar policies and infrastructure. The benefits of this can be seen in sports like cycling and cricket where they have adopted this model and are now very successful.

With this in mind, I am always amazed at the level of support and infrastructure for sports in Canada because it really doesn't exist for anything but hockey. When I was growing up, Canada was a powerhouse in swimming and athletics because of good infrastructure and government support. But they lost the government support and swimming pools were ripped up a long time ago. In Australia, there are 50 m swimming pools everywhere: most schools, nearly every country town, and readily accessible in cities (the closest one to me in Melbourne has three 50 m pools, two outside and one inside). However, there is only one 50 m pool in Ottawa, Canada's national capital, and this is not public and is only available for one or two afternoons a week. The same is true for most other sports.

For sports in general to be successful, beyond talented and determined individuals, then getting children involved from an early age and supporting their endeavours as they develop with infrastructure and sound coaching and nutritional advice is essential.

I know this is one hell of a tangent, but Great Britain copied the Australian Academy concept and hence the current success of British cycling is in part due to Australians anyway!

 

[Anonymous]

I don't understand how you guys can allow the starter of this thread to sow such discord among what is essentially one family. Maybe I'm wrong, but I feel that the US, the UK, Australia, and Canada to be so related that we are inseparable, not indistinguishable, but truly and fundamentally, ONE. So, though I know the perp is just pulling our collective chain, we shouldn't fall for it, unless it's just for fun, truly just for laughs.

you are wrong..

ok, australia maybe, they are all basically english, if mainly the lower elements of british society, canada, well its part of the commonwealth, so, well, no not really.. but what the hell has the US got to do with us..?

 

[El Loto]

Can someone please explain to me why England/GB weather would make their riders' tougher than Aussie riders? Surely riding in high humidity and extreme heat (our so-called lovely weather) is just as tough on the body as riding in cold rain ...

Also, there are parts of Oz with British type weather - like here today - cold rain and high winds - and there were boys out racing their bikes ...

Hot weather is only nice if you're at the beach!

Remember you're in the Southern Hemisphere so Aussie Winter = British Summer!

 

[elapid]

That's what we English do, if someone from anywhere in the British Isles does something good they are British and if anyone from England achieves they are English - it's an attempt to connect with our colonial roots

Aussies are not that different - we claim a lot of successful Kiwis as ours. However, Phar Lap and pavlova are definitely Australian!

And this really is always in good fun. Commonwealth countries (Great Britain, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, etc) have a good and friendly banter, almost always revolving around sports, but have no problems having a beer (well, as long it is not one of those warm Pommy ales!) and sharing a joke or two after the game is finished.

 

[Spaniard]

This is a troll post, anyway in general terms Australia is better at sports than England and as you can guess I'm giving a neutral point of view.

 

[Idiotwind]

Don't forget that Belgium has a tropical climate too!!!! And as for Scotland, don't get me started. Oh, hang on, my bad. No, they don't.

Edit: And, last time I was in a geography lesson, Scotland and the Isle of Man were part of the United Kingdom.

Gonna have to correct you there, the Isle of Man is not part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. So Ha.

 

[Anonymous]

Gonna have to correct you there, the Isle of Man is not part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. So Ha.

glad you pointed it out before i did....
not part of great britain
not part of the united kingdom
is part of the british isles, but then thats not very interesting

 

[LugHugger]

Gonna have to correct you there, the Isle of Man is not part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. So Ha.

Guess my geography teachers weren't that smart. Cheers, my wisdom grows a little each day

 

[Boeing]

Want to understand for a country with the greatest weather in the world gets rolled by a country with the worst. Maybe the Brits are tougher? Explain it to an American.

there are no mountains in Australia

 

[elapid]

there are no mountains in Australia

I'm not sure if you are joking or not. Are you?

There's this small little range called the Great Dividing Range which gives us plenty of skiing in the winter and good cycling in the spring, summer and autumn. You can try Mt. Baw Baw if you like: an Hors category climb with the final 6 km at an average grade of 12% (3.5 km at 13.5% and then 2.2 km at 11.6%) (see http://www.cyclingprofiles.com.au/HTM/MelClimbs/MC_BawBaw.htm for more information).

Other climbs in Victoria can be found at http://www.cyclingprofiles.com.au/HTM/MelClimbs/MC_Index2.htm

At the very least, I can say the climbing and mountains are better than in Ontario and rival or are better than the Colorado front range!