USA Pro Challenge (spoilers)

[FastforaSlowGuy]

After yesterday's neutralization confusion, a bunch of riders took to Twitter complaining about the lack of race radios. Now maybe there are other reasons to have them, but after the clusterf$#! at the Giro I don't see how radios can solve all the confusion. Seems to me that the lack of clear protocol is at the root of this. I'm sort of amazed that a sport taking place outdoors doesn't have a clear weather policy.

[Chris]

I've raced and put on races. Never at that level of course. I've never been an official. My thought is that the guys that are bitching and calling people incompetent can go home. If I was that official, I would have removed the BMC rider screaming in my face immediately. We (and they) don't get to race without the promoters and the officials. I'm sure that the officials weren't looking for a way to screw up their race and make things harder on themselves at the same time.

[Md3000]

Without having seen the drama, I have to ask: was Tejay complaining? :rolleyes:

[FastforaSlowGuy]

Why is anyone surprised that the riders are yelling at the officials. It was an idiot decision under the circumstances, and it reinforces the need for a clear policy to guide decision-making. This isn't a local race where guys are gunning for pizza and t-shirts. This is one of the premier pro cycling events in the country, and that demands a higher level of organization and protocol. I think the riders are justified in being angry if they just raced down a mountain on a rain slick dirt road only to be neutralized for a paved run-in to the finish. The whole thing smacks of poor contingency planning by race organizers and officials.

[gavingould]

i was watching the live coverage yesterday and picked up at least one of the riders saying "you're too late, we already did the tricky part" when they were massed up waiting to be let go again.

it's always easier to say afterward, but i would think it smarter to have stopped them before the descent, not after.

[Chris]

Why is anyone surprised that the riders are yelling at the officials. It was an idiot decision under the circumstances, and it reinforces the need for a clear policy to guide decision-making. This isn't a local race where guys are gunning for pizza and t-shirts. This is one of the premier pro cycling events in the country, and that demands a higher level of organization and protocol. I think the riders are justified in being angry if they just raced down a mountain on a rain slick dirt road only to be neutralized for a paved run-in to the finish. The whole thing smacks of poor contingency planning by race organizers and officials.

They tried to stop them at the top apparently. No doubt, once they were down, the danger was done and they should have been allowed to race. However, in all of these situations, I think you have to defer to the judgment of the officials. They are going to be wrong some times, but the attitude that comes back is simple petulance on the rider's parts. This is a sport full of childish entitled individuals. Not that other sports aren't either, but when you see these guys slapping phones out of the fans hands, intentionally colliding with fans and whining instead of just doing their jobs, it starts to get a little ridiculous. I can promise you that those officials aren't sitting around trying to think about how they can screw up a race.

[FastforaSlowGuy]

They tried to stop them at the top apparently. No doubt, once they were down, the danger was done and they should have been allowed to race. However, in all of these situations, I think you have to defer to the judgment of the officials. They are going to be wrong some times, but the attitude that comes back is simple petulance on the rider's parts. This is a sport full of childish entitled individuals. Not that other sports aren't either, but when you see these guys slapping phones out of the fans hands, intentionally colliding with fans and whining instead of just doing their jobs, it starts to get a little ridiculous. I can promise you that those officials aren't sitting around trying to think about how they can screw up a race.

Don't confuse "heat of battle" emotions with petulance. It happens in every sport when the pressure is on. I wonder what your typical wide receiver would do if a fan wandered on the field (in the middle of the route he was running) to catch a selfie. I suspect slapping his/her phone would be the LEAST of it. I have absolutely zero sympathy for those fans, and I've seen no evidence that a rider has intentionally ridden into a fan (that horse has been beaten many times here).

Not saying the officials are trying to screw things up, but please, please, please explain in detail what they possibly could have been thinking when they pulled in front of the riders at the bottom of the descent and stopped them. What is the decision process that results in that? And what does it mean when you say officials "tried" to stop them at the top? Did the riders simply ignore them when they got out of their cars and stood in the road (like officials did at the bottom), or does it mean that by the time the officials got around to making the call the peloton was already on the descent? I suspect it's not the former, and the latter is EXACTLY the reason there needs to be clear protocol.

Of course poor decisions will be made. I get that, and (at some level) athletes get that. What pisses people off is that the SAME poor decisions keep getting made, and there is no effort to put in place a sensible policy that could at least reduce the frequency of those decisions. I return to my original question: how can a sport that takes place outside not have a weather policy?

[CunegoFan]

Without having seen the drama, I have to ask: was Tejay complaining? :rolleyes:

Yup.

"Here's an idea," van Garderen wrote on Twitter. "Bring back the radios in non-world tour events."

[Mark McM]

Yup.

"Here's an idea," van Garderen wrote on Twitter. "Bring back the radios in non-world tour events."

If rider radios are to be relied upon for things like race nuetralizations, it would require that radios become mandatory equipment. And also that there be some type of regulation/standardization of radios. I don't think we really want to go down that road.

[Chris]

Don't confuse "heat of battle" emotions with petulance. It happens in every sport when the pressure is on. I wonder what your typical wide receiver would do if a fan wandered on the field (in the middle of the route he was running) to catch a selfie. I suspect slapping his/her phone would be the LEAST of it. I have absolutely zero sympathy for those fans, and I've seen no evidence that a rider has intentionally ridden into a fan (that horse has been beaten many times here).

Not saying the officials are trying to screw things up, but please, please, please explain in detail what they possibly could have been thinking when they pulled in front of the riders at the bottom of the descent and stopped them. What is the decision process that results in that? And what does it mean when you say officials "tried" to stop them at the top? Did the riders simply ignore them when they got out of their cars and stood in the road (like officials did at the bottom), or does it mean that by the time the officials got around to making the call the peloton was already on the descent? I suspect it's not the former, and the latter is EXACTLY the reason there needs to be clear protocol.

Of course poor decisions will be made. I get that, and (at some level) athletes get that. What pisses people off is that the SAME poor decisions keep getting made, and there is no effort to put in place a sensible policy that could at least reduce the frequency of those decisions. I return to my original question: how can a sport that takes place outside not have a weather policy?

Commenting hours later on twitter is not hear of the moment.

There's a difference between taking selfies in front of a charging field and standing on the side of a road filming the race. Seeing riders in the tour and at Utah swerve out of their way to knock phones out of hands shows an intent on confrontation with the fans of the sport. This something the sponsors frown on, I can assure you. I helped run continental pro team one year and my main role was sponsor relations. When riders act that way it is noticed. I promise. You want good sponsors in the sport? You need good ambassadors in the sport who aren't acting a fool with the sponsor's logo on their chest or ranting on social media.

Creed said they tried to stop the race at the top but only the guys in the back knew. You and I are on the same page here about when and where it was stopped and the need for a weather policy. My point is that these riders have jobs to do. They may think that it's racing their bikes , but sponsors don't see it that way. It's representing sponsors in a good light.

Agree to disagree on the other points. :)

[FastforaSlowGuy]

Commenting hours later on twitter is not hear of the moment.

There's a difference between taking selfies in front of a charging field and standing on the side of a road filming the race. Seeing riders in the tour and at Utah swerve out of their way to knock phones out of hands shows an intent on confrontation with the fans of the sport. This something the sponsors frown on, I can assure you. I helped run continental pro team one year and my main role was sponsor relations. When riders act that way it is noticed. I promise. You want good sponsors in the sport? You need good ambassadors in the sport who aren't acting a fool with the sponsor's logo on their chest or ranting on social media.

Creed said they tried to stop the race at the top but only the guys in the back knew. You and I are on the same page here about when and where it was stopped and the need for a weather policy. My point is that these riders have jobs to do. They may think that it's racing their bikes , but sponsors don't see it that way. It's representing sponsors in a good light.

Agree to disagree on the other points. :)

Agree on representing sponsors. I didn't see any riders going after people on the side of the road intentionally at the Tour or in Utah, but if it happened and I was the DS there would be words spoken on the bus.

At the risk of serious thread drift, this raises another area where I think UCI could improve: immediate imposition of penalties. When a rider does something stupid/against the rules, there is no penalty until hours after the race. But 10 seconds on paper is different than 10 seconds in the race. I'd like to see officials empowered to put a rider in the "penalty box" on the spot. If you want to really discourage riders "engaging" fans, tell him you'll yank him from the road for 15". And for monetary offenses, give the officials a yellow card to hold up so the rider knows that the sticky bottle he just took cost him $20.

[alessandro]

Neutralization feelings:

http://cyclocosm.tumblr.com/post/95300576787/neutralization-feelings-from-getty-images-via

Great smile on one of them, at least.

[bobswire]

Nice win last KMs. There are some beautiful roads and good racing in this years version.

http://www.steephill.tv/players/youtube3/?title=Final+Kms+of+Stage+3&dashboard=usa-pro-cycling-challenge&id=CXe7dUh_Hl4&yr=2014