‘Personalities’ in cycling

[Martinsnos]

I recorded all La Vuelta live from Eurosport and I’m still watching it, so sorry this is a late post.
Did anyone else find Primoz Roglic’s media training a bit annoying? He was so formulaic in his answers that I’m fast forwarding his interviews as they are boring. And his pretending to spot someone in the crowd and point at them etc is so false - it’s a cycle race, not a US presidential campaign?!

 

[mjr]

Isn't that a bit the nature of GC riders? Most of the time, Grand Tour General Classification rewards consistency which rewards conservatism. Who were the last flamboyant GT GC winners and when were they accused of doping?

Even some of those who have matured into "personalities" were pretty dull in post-race interviews if you find them on the web.

 

[johnblack]

I recorded all La Vuelta live from Eurosport and I’m still watching it, so sorry this is a late post.
Did anyone else find Primoz Roglic’s media training a bit annoying? He was so formulaic in his answers that I’m fast forwarding his interviews as they are boring. And his pretending to spot someone in the crowd and point at them etc is so false - it’s a cycle race, not a US presidential campaign?!

Replying in a language that he's obviously not that confident in probably doesn't help. But I think being an extremely driven athlete who has to be hugely selfish to get to where he has probably doesn't allow for an extroverted and overly interesting character. Eat, sleep, train and repeat is recipe for extreme dullness.

 

[cyberknight]

Replying in a language that he's obviously not that confident in probably doesn't help. But I think being an extremely driven athlete who has to be hugely selfish to get to where he has probably doesn't allow for an extroverted and overly interesting character. Eat, sleep, train and repeat is recipe for extreme dullness.

I was going to say similar, its not his native tongue so comes across bit boring ?
Much as i like Sagan he comes across similar

 

[BalkanExpress]

I was going to say similar, its not his native tongue so comes across bit boring ?
Much as i like Sagan he comes across similar

In Sagan's case it is more that he is bored. The ITV podcast at the TdF had a running joke about how hard it is to interview Sagan, Pete Kennaugh, a former teammate, suggested that he is one of those riders who finishes a race and then switches off almost immediately.

 

[Adam4868]

I liked his interviews,his bike riding even more.Hes a bike racer it's not a game show.

 

[Dogtrousers]

It's a long way to Madrid/Paris, we'll take it stage by stage. We're not looking beyond tomorrows stage. It's a hard stage and the other teams are looking strong. We'll see how things turn out.

See, I have the makings of a GT winner. If only I could ride a bicycle quickly.

 

[Martinsnos]

It's a long way to Madrid/Paris, we'll take it stage by stage. We're not looking beyond tomorrows stage. It's a hard stage and the other teams are looking strong. We'll see how things turn out.

See, I have the makings of a GT winner. If only I could ride a bicycle quickly.

Thanks everyone for your replies but this 1 did make me smile.
I appreciate what some of your are saying but fans are a key part of the sport and therefore their interest helps! A bit of training in saying something less formulaic wouldn’t go amiss.
However, I’m the first to admit my Slovenian isn’t great!

 

[BrumJim]

Yes, but at the point is that it is all about the sport, not about the fans. Without the fans, there would still be the sport, just not as well-paid.

There is an absolute mint available if someone can invent a format where it is all about the personalities, and nothing to do with the sporting talent. e.g. you could put a group of people in a building or on an island, and then get people to vote in their favourites / vote out those they don't like.

On reflection, this seems like a fantastic idea (sorry for the pun). I must trademark / patent it before someone else steals it.

 

[G3CWI]

I’m fast forwarding his interviews

I tend to skip pretty much anything that does not feature someone actually cycling. The interviews seldom add anything to my enjoyment - unless theres has been some controversy.

 

[mjr]

The Cycling Podcast discussed this a bit in episode 162 "Wednesday in Harrogate" saying that having interesting personalities among the peloton was desirable because cycling is competing for audience share with other sports.

And apparently Roglic gave an interesting interview after the ITT! (Which wasn't played in the podcast!)