eBike Stage?

[redir]

Yes it is another eBike thread but I had this thought as I was using actual muscle power to pedal myself to work this morning. Nothing like a morning commute to get the brain started, good for the heart too.

I think eBikes are more fun then a frog in milk. But I have big reservations with them too. IMHO they are motor bikes. But non the less My views on them are not the popular ones so...

What if there was an eBike stage in the Tour? It could actually be quite amusing. Some of the best ones out there only have a range of 30-35 miles at tour speeds. So the racers would have to actually use strategies in when to engage the electronics of the bikes.

Just a thought. This wave is coming and no matter how much I don't like it, even though they are really fun to ride, there is nothing that can be done about it.

[cash05458]

sure, then maybe they could toss in a motorpacing stage, or how about an official EPO stage? Might be fun to see them race ducatti's and jump over busses as well...

[charliedid]

Flames....we need flames.

[jimoots]

Circus

[saab2000]

No. Bike racing is not motor bike racing. The whole point is to pedal them.

I can sort of see the e-bike thing for certain specialized applications, but for the most part I can't stand them. They don't belong on multi-use paths/trails and they don't belong in bike races.

[unterhausen]

I can see it happening, unfortunately

[slambers3]

An ebike crit could be interesting

[Hellgate]

An ebike crit could be interestingAgreed. That would be fun to watch.

[unterhausen]

I'm not sure that would be much different than a derny criterium. They can be pretty fun

[echappist]

As mentioned elsewhere, there has already been one edition of the eMTB world championship...

[redir]

I can see it happening, unfortunately

Exactly. I personally think they should be kept out of the sport. Heck I think electronic shifting and radios should be too. But it might just be something we all have to accept. And it could be amusing and at least at this stage of eBike development it could have interesting strategies. Once the batteries get so good that the bikes could last a whole stage, not so much.

[unterhausen]

As mentioned elsewhere, there has already been one edition of the eMTB world championship...there has been a local mtb race where you complete a series of short courses. Most of them are downhill, and you are only timed on the course. An XC cyclist that doesn't downhill that well on rocks doesn't do that well. On the race that I volunteered for, I think the women riders were all pretty disgruntled that the local woman pro XC rider won the overall because she killed them on the XC segments. She was really far back on the downhill segments.

I can see a race like that allowing eMTB and possibly dropping the last vestiges of XC.