Giacomo 1 

I guess any cycling is better than nothing, but this might be a Tour to far.

Stage 2 had to be shortened today - due to smog! C'mon, any country that cannot get it's pollution problem to at least a manageable degree simply does not deserve a World Tour. They had this problem during the Olympics to. The stage was a classic sprinters delight, but it was shortened to end on a climb. Good grief, the sprinters must have been hot about that!

Lousy scenery, to far, few roadside fans, cold weather, bad food (4 riders dropped out before they started) and racing down 10 lane highways all add up to a bad Tour. And I can't believe that any of the riders really want to be there or are in top form either. Many just finished up the Tour of Britain.

But, nice to see Farrar finish up his Garmin career strong and also nice to see Gilbert back to his winning ways to. TJ really blew his shot on day 1 though...

canam73

You may know this, but this is the last year of it's 4 year run.

Caretaker

It's about money and spreading the gospel.

Giacomo 1 

Yeah, I heard that. No great loss IMHO, unless they replace it with the Tour of Pakistan or something like that!

I get that part, although I'm not really on board with that philosophy.

The world is really shrinking these days and a lot of sports are trying to go international, like F1, tennis, golf and even our stick and ball sports like the NFL, NBA and MLB all are looking for overseas markets. However they do this at the detriment of their place of birth as they spread themselves thin. Formula 1 for instance, is giving up European races and picking up new ones in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Malaysia, China, India, Russia, S Korea etc., many of which are countries who's human rights and labor records and clean air standards are sketchy at best. Do they deserve a Grand Prix or World Tour? Do these new venues have the staying power to keep the sport alive? Do they add anything to the sport, besides there questionable money?

I think the same can be said for cycling. Going to China, a country for all of it's wealth is still basically a 3rd world nation that can't even keep it skies clean. Why do they deserve a Tour, an F1 race or anything else?

beatlebee 

Ha, I thought Stage 2 was cut short due to weather!

Deal4Fuji

Slackerprince

Not to mention Phil doing the commentary by himself.
This race is a stinker, both literally and figuratively.
Stage 1 was bleak and dreary.
Glad it'll be done.

S

MinnMan

But the sponsors want their names advertised in the giant chinese market. Shimano, Garmin, Trek, etc. probably don't sell much stuff in China yet, but one day....

Marcus_Ti

Thing is you'd think that tour was in the USA for how absolutely deserted the roadsides are in Tour of Beijing. Maybe it is the local work days that keep people from coming out as the bunch passes, I don't know.

MinnMan

Well, the customer/fan base is not there yet. and i think the chinese middle classes still associate bicycles with poverty ( how wrong they are). so the marketers have a long way to go.

But it will happen.

scott967

I thought the stage today (4) was pretty good -- scenery and competitiveness. I follow the Eurosport coverage. It's great here in Hawaii as I can actually see the live feed (we're 12 hours behind Europe which makes it kind of impractical to watch live).

scott s.
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cafzali

The Tour of Beijing was part of the "Pat McQuaid genius" and was his way of "demonstrating" the global growth of the sport. It was a dumb idea when it was launched, is a dumb idea now and no one will miss it when it's gone.

It has always struck me funny that the UCI is so bad at marketing, while golf is so good at it. When you get down to it, while cycling's global audience is smaller, the demographic is very appealing and could definitely be capitalized on if the UCI had more people who were actually good at marketing.

Caretaker

Have to disagree.

Comparing golf to road cycling as 'marketing opportunities' is ridiculous. Golf is an individual leisure competitive sport for the Western middle and upper classes and at a professional level is played on private ground where spectators can be charged. Road cycling is a minority sport in the vast majority of countries, difficult to understand as evidenced by 'newbie' questions and spectators have almost unrestricted access.

Road cycling also has a 'reputation' that many 'fans' here are determined to perpetuate. Bring up your interest in cycling to any man or woman in the street and 9 times out of 10 you know who/what they're going to mention.

Giacomo 1 

Actually, golf is shrinking at an alarming rate in the US and around the world. Golf courses are closing at a very high rate and the game is resorting to many gimmicks I never thought I'd see just to keep it alive. The show, 60 Minutes did a full segment on their troubles.

But I agree that cycling will always be a bit of a niche sport. Countries such as Italy, Belgium and France are the exception, where cycling is a highly regarded sport and treated equally with soccer. Riders there are treated as superstars. But in most other parts of the world, the casual sports fan will not invest the time it takes to actually learn the strategies involved with cycling, nor will they spend 4 hrs. in front of the TV watching a bunch of guys pedaling away with seemingly no rhyme or reason.

America could be awakened to cycling once again, like it was during the LA era, if another rider with his talent and drive would come along (PED's aside!). Not sure if TJ or Talansky can carry that flag.

Leinster

So all it needs is a cancer survivor to win the Tour de France a record number of times for cycling to be popular in America again?

I think it'd be great if an American sprinter came along with the domination of a Cavendish or a Cipollini or Kittel. Pick up a couple of green jerseys, and help Americans understand that there's so much more to the sport than just riding a bike very fast. I watched the Champs-Elysees stage last year over breakfast with a bunch of friends, and was at great pains explaining to them why, even though the guy in yellow had effectively won the race already, and there was no chance for the other guys to catch him, there was still a lot to race for on the day.

Giacomo 1 

I'm thinking more of his dominant personality, and winning mentality. The guy was driven, and tough minded and his will to train hard, really hard, drew people in. And he certainly spoke his mind! If Talansky or TJ can win one TDF, there would be some interest there, but I'm not sure they could ever see the popularity that LA did at his height. I'm not sure they have that certain "something" that would ever make them a household name.

I know that many here scoff at Tyler Farrar, but he is undoubtedly the greatest sprinter we ever produced, and while he is no longer competitive against the worlds best, he did have some great wins and he was always a threat to pull one off against Cav or the other great sprinters. But yeah, he was never consistently dominant like those guys you named. We could certainly use a new sprinter to draw interest, I agree...

Oh, Farrar is winning the green jersey in the Tour of Beijing!

Slackerprince

I agree that stage 4 was a big improvement in scenery with some nice fall colors in the trees.
The finish was very exciting.
I'm getting used to the monologue of Phil calling the race, even.
Much preferred Il Lombardia to finish-out the season, though.
As far as roadside fans go, they're probably toiling in the fields and factories and don't have the luxury of being free to stand on the road cheering.

S

cafzali

For starters, the "maintenance" and "operational" costs of cycling are nothing compared to major sports like golf, baseball, football (either American or European), etc. So while cycling is never going to have the global audience of those sports, it doesn't really need that either. What is challenging for cycling is convincing companies who aren't in a related business (e.g. a bike manufacturer or a company like Garmin) how investing in cycling as a sport will pay off. The fact that cycling still struggles to attract large, well known global brands to me is a manifestation of that.

Cycling's financial ills are compounded by the fact that promoters like ASO reap much of the financial rewards there are without having to bear costs that in other sports are traditionally borne by promoters. Basically, cycling is a sport where the UCI and promoters get all the money and teams are left fighting for scraps, hoping to win events that have relatively few well-known prizes.

Marcus_Ti

Yea...

So long as cycling being popular in the USA is contingent on having a winner...it is merely "popular" it doesn't have meaningful sport loving amateurs, which is what it needs. The difference being people who know who Tiger Woods or Armstrong are, and people who are actually out on a bike and riding. Here in the USA we have a huge problem with armchair sports "fans" who aren't active or athletic.

Half of the problem is that, in the USA, the only sport that broadcasters really know how to broadcast in a manner that is followable and fits the sport is American major (NFL) and minor (NCAA) football. Unless a sport/competition can be shown and followed in 30 second snippets spaced between 5 minutes of commercials and talking...trying to watch it and appreciate the action frustratingly impossible.

Giacomo 1 

A winner brings interest. Lance brought interest. Had he not had his fall from grace, who knows, fans might still be out their in droves for TJ or Talansky. But his fall left many of the more casual fans adrift and they left the sport. Even hardcore fans were disgusted by the PED situation throughout the sport. Cycling is lucky to have survived that period.

The US has a lot of bicyclers, but 95% of "bike" riders out there will never ever tune in to a pro race, so I don't get your statement about "armchair" sports fans. There are plenty of active people in this country, but that doesn't translate to fans in the seats. And plenty of folks here love amateur sports, just not cycling so much. That's a marketing issue IMHO..
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Rich Gibson 

Well not completely deserted. Today's race had brown uniformed guards (facing away from the roadway) and blue uniformed guards (facing toward the street) every few hundred feet for what appears the entire length of the the stage. I wonder what or who they were guarding?
Rich

MinnMan

[/QUOTE]

But the two do go together. Your typical bicycle commuter or Saturday afternoon MUP-rider probably doesn't follow the sport, but in my experience, a fair fraction of the avid club-riding roadies do. Semi-serious road riding and following the pros go together.

Giacomo 1 

Pretty weird.

I mean, there wasn't a spectator within miles of these guys, yet they stood at attention all the way through the course.

I will say, todays stage was a pretty one. Great roads, nice scenery...

Leinster

I only watched the final climb, but it looked like a really nice ride. Shame the climb wasn't a bit tougher to give the climbers more of a chance to have a crack, but the field did get ripped up at the finish so I guess it can't have been that easy.

Slackerprince

Probably making sure one of the riders didn't hop off his carbon bike to invade the country as a spy.


S