Pro-cycling thread

A minute ago you're saying he's unfairly demonised by the peloton because he's of Arabic descent, now you're moving the goalposts to it being a general issue of living in France and being perceived as foreign.

What's that got to do with Griepel and his peers calling him out for unprofessional conduct or his missing the tour because he broke his hand in a fight with an old man?

Racism exists, xenophobia exists, it doesn't mean that Bouhanni isn't a verified dickhead in his own right and neither of you have posted one single incident when he's been unfairly targeted and race has been involved.

So it's Greipel now?.. I think I've lost the line of the conversation I was so attentively following...

Greipel posted a tweet about Cofidis' behaviour asking fans to vote on whether it was sporting or not. I'm asking if that's being demonised for his race or if it's a reflection of his being a cunt.

I know that the north African people cop a lot of shit on France. As do people of colour in general in france. While the peloton is not entirely french, it's majority north european and white. In football it's easy to see the effects of racism from the fans (hello Italy, Russia) and on the pith(same).

I would imagine similar things are shouted said, and written by fans, journal, players, owners.

I would imagine

I'm asking you to back that up with any kind of evidence of it in relation to Bouhanni?

We know Chris Froome gets showered in piss, that Contador gets syringes thrust at him, that Moscon got called out for racist comments and is effectively a pariah in the peloton. Where's on incidence of this being cited in relation to Bouhanni's public image?

My point being:
How can you not be aware of the subtle and not subtle racism of being other in a sporting environment and how decisions have been made about you before you've done anything?

We don't have to go far back in time to see sporting personalities having their chances of representing their country scuppered because of the colour of their skin.

It might not be talked openly about but unconscious bias is a thing.

Edit: I can't. Is there a textual analysis of sporting articles for this thing? I don't read acres of sports articles, inrrng for the win.
I'd imagine it's not particularly difficult for linguistics and r to do.

Your point being that racism exists in sport. Ok, I agree. I entirely disagree that this is what has shaped Bouhanni's public image though, and think it's ridiculous to try and argue that it has. Again, you can cite nothing specific to support what you're saying.

There's plenty of sprinters that keep their noses clean, don't get in bust-ups and don't publicly slag off their own teams, unsurprisingly they don't have an image problem.

It's very good of you to inject this narrative on behalf of an adult male who is perfectly capable of defending himself or objecting to any racism he encounters on his own behalf though.

I'd imagine it's not particularly difficult for linguistics and r to do.

I have a linguistics MA and a shaky memory of what R is. What's the ask exactly?

Bouhanni is on here?

Fuck. Who as?
Maybe he can give me some tips.

Would it be possible to analyse the way words are used by people about things to determine if there are patterns in negative terminology associated with race and or otherness?

As in, if I looked at the text of the equivalent papers and sporting coverage of the sun (what's the French /other countries that cover cycling equivalent) would I find things like "2 world wars and one world cup" and do these have an affect on people?

I'm a failed academic but I'm guessing that's a master's thesis at best.

Anyone watching the football?

Specifically in relation to coverage of Bouhanni? Like you want to look for certain language used when journalists (from different countries/publications?) talk about him?

In this case yes.
But you'd probably want to build a population data set wouldn't you? As in "language used in papers about all things, negative words, do these negative words appear more frequently and at statistical significance when discussing xyZ".

Anyway. I've dragged this off into somewhere else.
Sorry.

I'm going to clean my kitchen up.

There's a lot of ways to go about it, but what's your initial hypothesis? I can devise a method once I have a better understanding of that maybe.

So now Bouhanni is a cunt because the rest of the world is racist.

Look at a representative sample of articles from some news papers.
Look at their negative word set.
identify the words they use negatively about race/culture/other.
Do these appear more frequently in articles about bouhanni? Would it be adequately powered?
I dunno.

But I don't think it needs to clog up this thread.

But I don't think it needs to clog up this thread.

Amen to that.

One of the goals of the season wow

Just wait till the giro starts. Perhaps the politics of the Giro needs its own thread. To keep the racing discussion on track!

Excited for LBL. Wonder if Dan will get a loook. Not heard much from him this year.

Read L'Equipe's reporting on him, and the comments for a fairly representative image of how he's regarded. Google translate should be fine. I buy a subscription and read it most days during the season.

https://www.lequipe.fr/Cyclisme-sur-route/Article/Cedric-vasseur-a-propos-de-nacer-bouhanni-aujourd-hui-on-ne-peut-plus-lui-faire-confiance/891681

Lots of people saying he's talented, but spoilt/arrogant and was too sheltered at Cofidis because his father was brought into the team with his brother when he signed, Vasseur's trying to build a more balanced team that isn't wholly reliant on Bouhanni and sprint victories, and as a result of not having everything designed around him his head isn't in it any more.

Not read any derogatory comments based on his race, some people saying Vasseur calling him out is an attempt to either spur him into action or get rid of him as they can't afford to carry his salary to 2019 and not get any returns.

All seems quite mature. I don't think the French cycling public are any less socially enlightened than London's.

The sad thing is that the polemica around the Giro will inevitably be wholly focused on Froome's right to ride in it or not.