DocRay

I've been reading some pros and cons about radio communication on races. The UCI is toying with the idea of banning team radio communication and only have race safety warnings.
I think radios have killed the surprise attack and the breakaway.

Warblade

How have they killed the surprise attack and breakaway?! We don't know when a rider is going to attack or breakaway only the directeur sportif and the rider knows when it will happen. Plus they are an essential part of racing. If someone has a flat, the team car/support car will be there in a matter of seconds.

Warblade

Also in regards to Acathi_Cyclist in the other thread, the peloton would know how much time they have between them anyways. Thats why they have the motorbike guys with the big chalkboard.

DocRay

Because all attacks are seen on TV in the team directeurs car, then the info is conveyed to the riders-this is why so few recent breakways succeed. Riders are constantly called up and down to aid others, deals are cut between teams during the race by cell phone and radio. Radios have changed racing.
If someone has a flat, the support car will be there anyway, its always behind.

acathi_cyclist

Warblade, you are partially right with regards to the chalkboard guy, but it is not as precise or up to date, and not everyone in the peloton can see it. I'm not saying that they are a bad thing, just that they've changed the sport.

ed073

One of my pet hates.....

Call me old school, but bike racing was better when the decisions were left to the guys on the road, not those watching the race on TV in a car a couple of hundred meters behind.


Ban them. Riders are becoming robots, waiting for instructions. How many post race interviews do you hear that go along the lines of:

"My directeur told me to/not to ride...."
"I could hear on the radio Team X wasn't chasing..."
"I was getting the splits on the radio..."
"We kept the pressure on because we heard Rider X was struggling..."

Flaneur

The radio is the enemy of chaos, of indecision and selfish individual ambition in a pretty regulated team sport.

Excitement, in other words.

Paul Sherwen would never use computers, which were popularised when he was still in the Pro peloton. When he was flying, he didn't need a machine to tell him he was flying. When he was grovelling, he knew that as well- and didn't want to be reminded of the fact;-)

classic1

I love it when Vino pointedly rips the headphone out of his ear then goes on the warpath.

How many more long breaks in the Tour would (deservedly) succeed without riders in the peloton being constantly updated of the time gap situation and instructed via radio?

Ban them I say, along with black socks.....

Warblade

curiously how many of you actually have used a race radio before? because they really are helpful, in my opinion. plus the teams don't care about if it makes for good "spectation", they want to win more than anything.

YMCA

I have used them on numerous occasions. They were never that helpful in strategy for us, as our races were never being televised live in our directors car. But they did help with mechanicals, feeding, and crashes. I do hate seeing the ProTour teams making decisions based on what the director see on his live Eurosport feed though.

Keith99

The problem is that to ban radio completely you really have to ban live race coverage. If there is live coverage the fans at the side of the road will know. Then they will communicate with riders. Next step not all the fans are fans, some are actually working with a team. Then the team with teh deepest pockets has the best information.

I honestly don't like race radio and what it has done. But I like a system where the rich get even more advantage even less.

ed073

Lol...

And shoe covers when it's not raining and colour-matching your team kit to a leader's jersey.

Laggard

c

Come on, Keith. That's a silly argument. A fan or team member on the side of the road is a far cry from a director in his car with a tv and calculator, calling all the shots.

EventServices

It's much safer in the caravan without all the riders coming back to consult with the DS when the pack is together.
But it would be a LOT safer if the Directors weren't watching the TV screen, woodnit?

I can go either way on this one.

But it would be interesting to see this generation of riders ride w/o the radios since I don't think any of them have ever really done that. At least not in a long while.

Spinster

It would be interesting if a couple fairly large races banned them, just to see the effects on a trial basis. Who knows, television viewership might rise due to the increasing unpredictability of the race.

flythebike

I appreciate the days when Klauswicz's term "The Fog of War" applied to racing. But the UCI is not going to go back to those days. That is just wishful thinking/baloney.

Many times the riders didn't know what was going on. I remember like a 1989 tour where somebody thought he had won and gave a victory salute but was in fact second, because there was one guy still away. That wouldn't ever happen anymore!

ed073

I think you mean the 1993 Tour where Cipollini won the bunch sprint to finish second to a flying Johan Bruyneel.....BTW, fastest Tour stage ever for a while. And yes....it still happens.

CPcyclist

I say ban the radio or ban all other technology (TVs, Cell phones, etc) in the mobile war rooms the teams drive behind the peloton.

YMCA

Or how about when Phinney won a bunch sprint Tour stage in '86/87? but didn't put his hands up because he thought that a solo break rider had won already! What a nice surprise that must have been!

ed073

Yep....remember that.

Or Gianni Bugno on Alpe d'Huez in 1991. Just rolled across the line in front of Indurain to win....still thought one or two guys were away.

Made up for it by throwing the arms up at the Worlds in Stuttgart later that year.....j-u-s-t got it from Mig that time, but it made a great photo!

JohnSFO

I vote for losing the live TV coverage in team cars.

Regardless - neither that nor team radios are going to vanish. It's too late.

DocRay

Ooo.. good thread.

There is some good in radios, and technology could help. The Race director can broadcast safety warning to all riders on one channel. The radios could go one-way from rider to team directeur in case of a mechanical problem.

Watch "Overcoming" if you can, it's amazing to see how much manipulation over the riders the directeur has, and how team directeurs are in contact with each other and cut deals constantly in mid-race. Makes you wonder what we're missing. Also wonder if teams listen in on each other-anyone know if scanners can catch the chatter?

I think some riders, like Voigt, would be much more successful without radios to co-ordinate pursuits from the peloton.

DocRay

Not really, they opened up radio frequencies for formula one a few years ago after Ferrari was manipulating finishes between their drivers.

2Rodies

Well some of the teams agreed McLaren still won't allow anyone to hear their radio communications. But back to the topic...I voted to lose them only because I feel that levels the tactical playing field. A rider who is instinctively a better tactician but who may be slightly less gifted physically has lost an edge. I think it would make the peloton more aggressive and the breaks would have to be pulled back sooner, making it less likely that 'sprinter trains' would develop. It would benefit a guy like Boonen but hinder a guy like Pettachi (sp).

Having said that I do tend to fall into the "it was better way back when" at times so I could be completely wrong and this type of racing is as good as it gets.

JohnSFO

I suppose they could try and control it but where there's a will there will be a way. Euros will still pass between teams for various "cooperations" during races with or without radios. If TVs in the cars are banned then teams will just have someone watching back at the hotel & phoning in information.