Pro-cycling thread

this x1000

Lolz. It's just getting worse and worse for BC - http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/36157878

Flogging Olympic kit for profit is not allowed, apparently?

Edit - appears they were selling it on Ebay including £10 grand bikes bought with lottery money.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/sportsnews/article-3562231/Wheels-come-British-Cycling-Shane-Sutton-steps-stars-reveal-sport-s-toxic-culture.html

I think INRNG said it well when he compared replacing Brailsford with Surton was like replacing a general with a sargeant-major. He gets results but clearly too abrasive to be the one pulling all the strings. It's a storm that someone should have seen coming, no idea what it means for BC, hope they can ride it out.

@andyp +1 agreed. Sutton is just one man prone to saying stupid things. What needs to be addressed is the wider inequalities in cycling and sport in general, something I thought Nicole Cooke spoke about very eloquently. More events, longer events more equitable with the men, and much more media coverage.

There's at least two issues that need resolving, the allegations of sexism and whether it is institutionalised and the lack of respect for the para-olympians, but the unedifying glee that the media are displaying at the opportunity to stick the boot in sticks in my craw.

Especially as they were chief cheerleaders when BC were raking in the medals.

But that's what the media do. Build em up, knock em down, repeat.

Being the national association for any mainstream sport is generally a thankless task, so BC have done well to be in the "good books" for so long. Look at tennis. The LTA has perennially been a target for the press. Every Wimbledon, the press dig up some racism story, or complain about their level of funding compared to results. Then, we win the Davis Cup and they still stick the boot in with some revelations about the womens game coming out the same week.

Also, it is kinda their job to cheerlead when its going well and then stick the boot in when major concerns about their organisation is operating are brought to their attention.

This story would have gone away by now had Jess Varnish been a loan voice, the fact the MTB, BMX, the Para team and ex female team members have all come out in support within a few days speaks volumes and kind of means the press can't stop reporting it.

I'm not sure what you expect them to do...

I think there is glee from a lot of quarters, lots of knives being sharpened, Sutton, Brailsford and BC are not popular at all and the sound of hands rubbing together in pleasure at these revelations is loud

What's wrong with BC selling off old kit for profit, so long as that money is going back into BC? Seems eminently more sensible than just letting it sit in a shed... Or am I missing something?

http://cyclingtips.com/2016/04/after-proving-there-is-no-rainbow-curse-world-champion-lizzie-armitstead-sets-sight-on-flanders-win-before-preparing-for-rio/

Good article on Lizzie I had missed. Didn't realise she was self-coached

I imagine, if on ebay, it was being sold off to line the pockets of the coaches/staff rather than reinvested in BC.

You used to be able to buy ex-team kit direct off the BC website, I've had chainrings and 1" carbon track forks from there myself. There were surplus skinsuits etc. available too.

It will probably be the Pinarello bikes they had to get rid of after Cervelo sponsorship not the UKSI track bikes

In which case - Heads must roll

I knew rugby was a bit homoerotic but that's taking it a bit far. ;)

https://twitter.com/kevinjbolton1/status/725647854082101248/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Dreamy Pete has an issue with Emma Pooley. With Wiggins, Trott and Thomas coming out in support of Sutton it demonstrates how this may sow a lot of discord in the British camp, but it certainly seems to be a necessary process. That's a lot of dirty linen being washed in public already though.

https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/article/2011-GB-Cycling-Team-Bike-Sale-0

Olympic gold medallist Geraint Thomas said: ‘There is absolutely no place for inequality in sport, and the recent accusations made against British Cycling need to be looked at and treated seriously.

‘However, I would like to talk about my personal experience and say that Shane is one of the main reasons I am where I am today.

‘He has always wanted the best for British riders and gone the extra mile for us.

‘The inequity issues won’t finish with Shane’s resignation. There is a problem with inequality in cycling as a whole that needs to be addressed.’

There's a tweet from Rowe saying the same thing. Clearly he's not a monster, just an Aussie.....

#trollface

Oh Peter, Peter, Peter.

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/racing/peter-kennaugh-deletes-tweets-criticising-emma-pooley-222929?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=Social

Emma Pooley makes a good point, but of course the main question is still why there isn't a women's Tour de France. I appreciate that she's talking about a race that actually exists, though (and that needs to give women the other half of the road by becoming bigger). :)

I hope it will 'do a women's tennis', where I strongly suspect (not knowing much about it) that its current prominence owes much to the activities of Billie Jean King and others. That was decades ago, and perhaps it'll take that long, but there have been such excellent female road racing stars in the last few years that perhaps it'll continue to gain momentum.

Is that the same women's tennis where they don't play five sets or get paid as much as the men? I think they've got a ways to go in the equality stakes too.

I thought they often, if not always, get paid the same?

http://www.usopen.org/en_US/about/history/prizemoney.html

I also meant that tennis tournaments usually have both men's and women's competitions, and TV coverage is pretty equal.

I agree on the number of sets (aren't there some competitions in which men only play two sets for the win, too?), that's definitely similar to the shorter women's race distances in cycling. Someone will probably make a similar argument that women couldn't possibly play more, until they do, when there probably wouldn't be any problem with it. :)

I personally find tennis a bit boring, but I definitely prefer shorter matches, except for the one tennis match I can remember really enjoying, between Michael Westphal and Tomas Smid in the 1980s. That was very long and still very thrilling.

the main question is still why there isn't a women's Tour de France

there used to be, but never without 'organisational difficulties'

I think Sharapova and Serena Williams are/were on equitable cash, but they were outliers.

At least this is opening up a healthy debate. Do female tennis players want to play 3 set matches? Nicole Cooke was clear in her frustration at shorter track and road events for the women, it's all very 1930s isn't it? Protecting the frail female body from the rigours of endurance sport.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EY7lYRneHc

The cash is for winning, not down to appearance fees - the cash pots are the same for both sexes, at the major tournaments, at least. There's now the argument that the women are earning, if you like, a higher hourly rate due to the shorter games.

The women get more money than the men, because they play for less time.

At least, that was the answer on a pub quiz question...