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Deep Thoughts: Monday Edition

Catching up today on CycleSport and their autopsy on the remains of the Pro Tour, I wonder... rather than arguing about how to design a real-life season-long competition, shouldn't we consider the possibility of not having one at all?

Let's face it, all those other year-long sports feature teams playing the same number of games, under roughly the same circumstances. By contrast, every cyclist's season plan is as completely unique as DNA or snowflakes. More importantly, (almost?) no two riders have the same calendar such that their results are worth comparing. Not only is there little learned (or more importantly, little to aspire us fans) from comparing, say, Erik Zabel's season to Alberto Contador's, there's not even much to gain from comparing Cadel Evans' to Contador's. Riders score points where there's a motive and opportunity to do so. Points scored in one subset of the Pro Tour versus another aren't really comparable... but that's all the Pro Tour does.

The only point scoring system that isn't ridiculous is the Cycling Quotient system of counting points in everything. And even there, the system yields a ranking, not a champion. There is no such thing as a season champion in cycling, just a champion of whichever race you care about most.

[On the other hand, the Podium Cafe Virtual Directeur Sportif competition: now that's a real contest.]

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hmhmhm
what if, instead of rewarding individual riders, as does the current pro tour, a season-long series was designed so as to reward teams?

the thinking here is driven mostly by what will create value for sponsors as well as interest in the entire racing season.  (that, and the matter of, that despite all of the lip-service that's paid to cycling being a team sport, it's really set up to provide the major glamor and rewards to individuals).

by R Mc on Dec 10, 2007 7:35 PM EST reply reply actions actions   0 recs

pro tour makes marketing sense.
   If you are looking for a race sponsor it is better to have the best teams so there will be a guarantee that there will be international interest in your race.  A system for determining the best rider can also spark more interest if your race has several of the top ranked riders.
Dig in the dirt often, you will find yourself there. - Zen Puppy

by flying dog on Dec 10, 2007 8:30 PM EST reply reply actions actions   0 recs

Cycling: More like Track than Auto Racing
Kinda obvious I guess because the races are so different and the riders schedules are all tailored differently. How many races are there when everyone is going all out?  Maybe the Monuments.  Not the GT's or maybe the autobus is one's idea of pushing the limit.  Then you also have riders setting up other riders... so complicated to follow casually.

 But car racing is able to get the balance between team and individual better.  But different car race competitions tend to have the same type of race month in and month out.

At least until the PC VDS Cup becomes ALL POWERFUL!!!!

TAKE A HIKE UCI!!!!  STEP ASIDE ASO!!!!!  The Podium Cafe will throw down on all of you chumps!!!!!

by ursula on Dec 10, 2007 9:36 PM EST reply reply actions actions   0 recs

That's why I voted to keep the VDS as is...
well basically.

We should lose many of the lesser races, but the format of yearlong, and GT's does better reflect cycling than just a one team affair.

Face it, cycling ain't about the seasonal slog to the superbowl or world series.  We at PC basically voted Tony the year's best rider based on about :20 seconds of riding at the end of that stage of the Tour.  Sure he won some TT WC, but that charge to the line was what we'll always remember about him.

I voted for Stuey because of his persistence, IN ONE RACE!  Cycling is about putting the hammer down in the race that you peak for.  LA peaked for the hardest race on the calendar and kicked ass.  In the minds of many, he's the baddest of them all (doped on space age polymers or not).  Just like Tony's dash, we'll always remember "The Look".

The UCI is trying to sell something it ain't got and they are trying to sell it to Asia and the MidEast... everyone else already has all they want.  The ProTour is a figment of a marketer's imagination.

Bike racing is about emotion, the moment and the epic.  If you can bring that again and again, then you are a great.  Win the KOM 7 times while being a boring jerk and you're just Virenque.

America is all about speed. Hot, nasty, badass speed. -Eleanor Roosevelt

by ELVISGOAT on Dec 10, 2007 10:59 PM EST reply reply actions actions   0 recs

pro tour demise
Speaking as someone who only started paying attention to non-TdF cycling during late in the 2006 season (after going to the deutschland tour and realizing how cool it was to follow a sport where the fans aren't cut off and alienated from the athletes), the pro tour provided me a really approachable way to follow the sport.  I never really cared much about the individual points total, but having the same teams in every race made it much easier to figure out who was who.  That said, now that I'm more familiar with the riders and the season, I'm not entirely sure how much I'll care that the pro tour is mostly gone.  

I suppose that in some sense I'm exactly the person that the UCI wanted to target.  I live outside Cycling's homeland (in the USA), and I had only a passing knowledge of the sport through watching bits and pieces of the Tour.  I'm not sure that without the Pro Tour as a sustained competition which provided a bit of stable familiarity for me from race to race (same teams, even if different riders) I'd have paid as much attention or have gotten to be as hooked as I currently am.  

by Uncle Ted on Dec 10, 2007 11:25 PM EST reply reply actions actions   0 recs

INteresting
I'd been assuming people didn't get this from the PT. But I suppose fans of other sports are conditioned to leagues, which is why the idea sounded great to me in the first place.

The difference is, w/o a league the ball sports might be in trouble. Not so with Cycling: the riders will find the races that matter, as will the best teams, as will the media coverage, and in time even the casual fans. The greatness of the Tour of Flanders is inescapable to anyone who thinks the sport seems interesting and finds this race. And that greatness is more or less unconnected to the greatness of other races.

That said, I hear what you're saying about the entree into the sport. And so too the marketers. It makes it easier to package stuff.

by Chris... on Dec 11, 2007 12:04 AM EST to parent up reply reply actions actions   0 recs

Same situation here
I had watched the Tour for years, but until 2006, I didn't pay attention to anything else. That year, I found this site and found out about all the great other races, so I watched that Vuelta, and the D-Tour, and it was really just a pretty straight shot from there.

by BDBrian on Dec 11, 2007 7:50 AM EST to parent up reply reply actions actions   0 recs

Whatever it's faults
the Pro Tour provided three things:
  • More competitive racing with a stronger field in many races that were sometimes uneven in quality before.
  • Some long-term stability for teams, making it possible for a lot of teams to race without constantly having an economic knife to their throat.
  • A more audience friendly structure to casual and new fans like Uncle Ted (and myself , it took me a couple of years to find Tour of Flanders after getting hooked on the TdF. I just didn't get where it fit in , none of the guys i was used to seing in summer raced and there were no mountains....)

by Jens on Dec 11, 2007 3:11 AM EST reply reply actions actions   0 recs

Stability
That was the idea anyway. But I think in retrospect it didn't quite work out that way.

I do like the bank guarantees. Cycling teams are less quick to fold their tent this way and leave riders holding bad checks.

OK, so my premise isn't entirely on...

by Chris... on Dec 11, 2007 10:31 AM EST reply reply actions actions   0 recs

In America the Tour is a Gateway Drug
The Tour gets folks to watch.  That includes parts of the 99% of the population that doesn't think its a swell idea to don spandex and spend crazy amounts of money on a bike(s).

But past the Tour, the fans need a Dealer.  One who is wise to the ways of what's quality out there.  Its not like we are born with the DNA that tells us that the Tour of Flanders is fantastic; we have to find it first.  That's what the PT does- or should do if only McQuaid wasn't a first class tool.

But now we are looking at a CART/Indy Car situation times 100.  Flanders will always be Flanders but it could be truly a worldwide event that alll sorts of people would love- and with an even higher number of quality riders- if it were only promoted correctly.  Course many of its fans like it small.  They don't care that other people like the sport.

by ursula on Dec 11, 2007 10:56 AM EST reply reply actions actions   0 recs

professional cycling
lacks a season-long 'rhythm' akin to what most US fans are familiar with.  

There are some early season minor races, and then 4 of the 5 monuments explode within one month.  Then it turns into Grand Tour season . . . and I'm still not sure what to do with the end of the season--by the time Lombardy rolls around what should be a climax of the season is usually an "oh well . . ."

Part of what boggles my mind is that in effect, you have to become 3 or 4 separate types of fan.

by R Mc on Dec 11, 2007 11:23 AM EST to parent up reply reply actions actions   0 recs

good point
There are really 3 or 4 seasons in cycling. The ProTour didn't really do much to structure the cycling season.

The spring classics are well defined and self contained. The courses make those races.

The TdF defines the second part of the season--the races that lead up to it, and then it's the super bowl of cycling.

The Giro is a nice counterpoint to the tour, sort of a parallel universe TdF.

After the Tour, the season is pretty anti-climactic in my opinion. The Worlds are the pro-bowl of cycling. The Olympics has a similar vibe for me.

I think the ProTour just didn't add anything to the calendar. I doubt many cycling fans were biting their nails over who would claim the protour jersey this past season.

-K-

by KevinK on Dec 11, 2007 2:00 PM EST to parent up reply reply actions actions   0 recs

I think that's just the point
There is no "climax" to the season, or if it is, it's the TdF and that come smack in the middle of the year and the season carries on for months after.  

You can't market your way out of that.  I too was attracted to the tour (back in the Lemond era) and only discovered the classics in the late 90's.  But boy when I did...

America is all about speed. Hot, nasty, badass speed. -Eleanor Roosevelt

by ELVISGOAT on Dec 11, 2007 3:57 PM EST to parent up reply reply actions actions   0 recs

A Thought
The Daytona 500 has always been the #1 stock car race, since before there was a season long race for a Cup.  Obviously that hasn't stopped NASCAR from marketing and transforming its season into an artifical race for the (sponsor's name here) Cup.  The NASCAR boys did what the PT boys haven't.  In fact they went further:  They made two Cup competitions, a big one and a minor one.

To make that transformation from a bunch of discrete individual races into a coherant series took more than  just designating that a certain group of races should be lumped together.  Other marketing strategies had to be employed such as the year end gala dinner in NYC- hardly in the center of the NASCAR fandom but near the nation's media.  Other marketing moves happened also that were positive in nature.  The NASCAR honchos made sure that the races benefited from their efforts (more profits).

Basically the opportunity is there for there to be a high profile PT- but UCI just doesn't have the vision.

by ursula on Dec 11, 2007 4:36 PM EST to parent up reply reply actions actions   0 recs

but NICECAR takes place
in one country (US) based on a hardcore following in  one region (the south) and the courses were much less diverse.  Talledega is not as different from Bristol as The TdF is from Paris-Roubaix.
America is all about speed. Hot, nasty, badass speed. -Eleanor Roosevelt

by ELVISGOAT on Dec 11, 2007 6:16 PM EST to parent up reply reply actions actions   0 recs

But
this ability is what makes us great fans ;-)

And if you start following cross then you get a seemless carry over from October to February, with a briefly refreshing break before Het Volk. What could be better?

"That rug really tied the room together. "

by Drew on Dec 11, 2007 12:44 PM EST reply reply actions actions   0 recs

Perception/reality
Sounds like the PT's benefit to fans is a somewhat artificial organization of what races to watch. This is something that could be done entirely on paper, with no involvement from the race organizers (as long as no rights within the race are expected). For example, the Podium Cafe could say we're putting up a $100,000 prize (or more accurately, a free wool jersey) for whoever scores the most points at the following races: Tours, monuments, etc. The race organizers could completely ignore us, but the riders and teams would probably pay some attention and designate someone to take home the loot, if possible. THere would never be universal agreement on what races to include, but free speech is a curse anyway, right?

The PT's more concrete benefit is something entirely different: the access for teams to race entries, and the bank guarantees behind the teams. These are two different forms of assurance for things that, in most cases, were going to happen anyway. CSC will probably pay their bills for the foreseeable future, and no race organizer in their right mind would fail to send them an invite. But there are dicier teams, whose riders aren't sure of being paid (COAST anyone??), and as we saw this year, there are teams that won't get invited to everything (Unibet anyone?) for reasons either good or questionable.

To me, I appreciate the latter more than the former, since I've been a fan for a while. But the latter is INFINITELY harder to pull off. The former doesn't mean all that much to me, but despite the origin of this post, it could be asked, why not?

by Chris... on Dec 11, 2007 3:08 PM EST reply reply actions actions   0 recs

Free wool jersey?
Free?
"That rug really tied the room together. "

by Drew on Dec 11, 2007 3:12 PM EST reply reply actions actions   0 recs

If you win
Didn't you get my email? Mr. Giro VDS winner?

by Chris... on Dec 11, 2007 5:27 PM EST to parent up reply reply actions actions   0 recs

I never saw an email
or a jersey or that $5 you 'borrowed' for donuts junior year. You've got a lot to answer for pal.

How 'bout a Fresca?

"That rug really tied the room together. "

by Drew on Dec 12, 2007 9:13 AM EST reply reply actions actions   0 recs

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