Improving the Tour

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Beebo

Firm and Fruity
Location
Hexleybeef
I normally go to Coolham or Grabham and occasionally, Holdham but hey ho.
Felpham is more your kinda place.
 

Captainwull

Senior Member
Location
Scotland
Give the ladies their version and watch that instead. A full version, not just one stage.
Did you know that 6 or 7 French women did the whole tour? They started the day before the men and did each stage in its entirety finishing in Paris on the Saturday. A friend of mine Anna Barrero took part. They were trying to promote women's cycling in France and trying to make the ASC consider running a women's TDF next year. I don't think it was publicised in the media over here but with all the media and celebrity focus on "empowering" women just now it would have made a great advert for the cause.
 
Did you know that 6 or 7 French women did the whole tour? They started the day before the men and did each stage in its entirety finishing in Paris on the Saturday. A friend of mine Anna Barrero took part. They were trying to promote women's cycling in France and trying to make the ASC consider running a women's TDF next year. I don't think it was publicised in the media over here but with all the media and celebrity focus on "empowering" women just now it would have made a great advert for the cause.
It was. I think it was advertised in between ITV4 coverage plus it made the cycling press and the BBC
 
It was. I think it was advertised in between ITV4 coverage plus it made the cycling press and the BBC
One of the participants was interviewed during one of the stages, I think Dani Rowe was also doing a stint as co-commentator/pundit and the impression I got was that she thought the interviewee was not very realistic in her ideas.
 
It might have been the Telegraph I saw it actually

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/cycling/inspiring-women/womens-tour-de-france/

 

Salad Dodger

Legendary Member
Location
Kent Coast
1) Give all riders a body worn transponder, of the kind used in motor racing to trigger lap times.
2) The race result to be determined by the total time which each rider takes to complete all the stages. No bonus seconds awarded, no giving a whole bunch of riders the same finish time when the one at the front of the group clearly finished several seconds before the one at the back of the group.

You can still have a points based king of the mountain and a points based sprint competition, but the yellow jersey to go to the rider who completes all the race stages in the lowest aggregate time, with no "adjustments" i.e. time bonuses.
 

Adam4868

Guru
I've got an idea. Have a short, mountainous stage. Here's the clever bit: Start the riders in a grid formation. Yellow jersey at the front, then the others behind. This will guarantee something very different and exciting. Trust me on this. It's a winner.
Grid I agree was a waste of time,I actually thought they were going in timed intervals ! But the short stage I thought was good,especially how hard it was.
 

Bollo

Failed Tech Bro
Location
Winch
I’ve just checked in to INRNG and they’ve done a bit about power meters and debunked some of the myths. It’s worth a read. Most interesting is that Tom Dumoulin has said that he barely looks at the numbers during a stage which, given the type of rider he is, says a lot. If ASO/UCI banned live power meter display during stages, but allowed data collection and post ride analysis then I’d wage a couple of Carneys that most teams would be cool with it.

http://inrng.com/2018/08/on-banning-powermeters/#more-34255

I’ve had a power meter for about 7 years but I don’t think I’ve ever even glanced during a crit (probable past tense unless Nivea anti-aging creme works on knees) and rarely use it for TTs, where I usually have my heart rate displayed full size and centre.

I like to poke around the numbers and a power meter has been useful for training, especially with a dataset going back so long. It’s telling me I’m getting old. Thanks.
 
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