Whoo-hoo! No radios!!

[dirtmistress]

I can't wait to see the cyclists using their own brains and tactical skill (if any)!
They are more like robots out there sometimes!!



Organizers of the Tour de France said Friday they will conduct “a safety experiment” in next month’s race by banning the use of rider radios on two stages.
The measure will affect the Limoges-Issoudun stage on July 14 and the Vittel-Colmar stage on July 17. The steps mean that team managers will have to revert to communicating with racers by relying upon more traditional methods.
The rules may also place greater emphasis on planning and pre-race strategy meetings, once-critical elements that have lost some of their importance since the 1990s when teams began employing lightweight radios to allow in-race communication between team directors and riders.
"This measure is not being imposed by the Tour de France but represents the application of the existing French Highway Code," Tour sporting director Jean-Francois Pescheux told AFP.
"It is aimed at preventing something dramatic happening one day."
In another measure, staff traveling in team support cars will no longer be allowed to watch TV coverage of the race, Tour officials said.
Some advocates of radios and in-car televisions have said the two help warn riders of possible safety issues. Others have suggested radios cause as many problems as they solve. Pescheux said adequate warnings exist with or without radios.
"In the case of an emergency affecting the course, such as a street demonstration or a roadside fire, we have in the past been able to warn the
riders very quickly," Pescheux said.
The French Gendarmerie, said Pescheux, are also trained to signal potential hazards to the cyclists

[Pain Freak]

I thought it'd be cool to listen in and have the ones not speaking english to be translated so we could get a view of their stadegy. Sometimes I just can't figure out why they do what they do.

Do the radios help? I don't really think they help that much as the communication is still relayed very quickly even without radios.

[vlad]

Wouldn't this mean the peleton will never let a breakaway go? Most of the races so far have been breakaways that are allowed to go until the last several miles and then are caught, (or sometimes not caught) or there is a setup for a group sprint near the very end. Without radios the won't know if a breakaway is 30 seconds ahead or 10 minutes ahead. And given the size of the peleton, if you are in the middle of the pack you won't even know there is a breakaway as you won't be able to see it.

I would think this means everyone will just ride in a very tight pack, with the peleton not allowing anyone else to do anything special. If Alberto or Lance or Carlos Sastre try to breakaway, the peleton will jump up to them asap and not allow them to breakaway even an inch.

Not that I have any experience with or without a radio, but I believe that without a radio there is no team tactics or strategy as nobody knows what's going on anyway? Can someone with experience explain?

[kevinator]

This is a step in the right direction. I, for one, am tired of the same old script mentioned above - breakaway forms, stays away for 198km, then reeled in during the closing kilometers. Considering the substantial tv presence it's questionable whether a significant "hazard" would present itself without the free world knowing about it prior to the peloton arriving. It'll be great to see the expressions on riders' faces when someone attacks and everyone has to jump.

Radio-free Tour, I'm in!

[victor13]

That "cause as many problems" link you posted was an interesting read for me.


Though i'm still a little confused. I had to google what "peloton" was. :P

[dirtmistress]

Use of radio's is fairly new.I could google when they started but I'll let you do that!
What it will do is make the racers use their eyes and brains a bit more. No more can they depend on their Director Sportif watching TV in a car.
I assume on a 9 man team there will be team mates protecting the GC rider and then team mates riding throughout the bunch or up at the front to go when a break does go.
All teams will want to have a team mate represented in a break away.
Another guess is having eyes and ears in the crowd on certain areas to give time gaps.
Say Lance goes by and Joe-Bob in the crowd can tell him the break is 4 minutes ahead and so & so is in the break because so & so is a threat to Lance's GC.

It will actually make racing more exciting! Right now it can be so damn predictable.

If this opens for you, there is more debate here.

http://forums.roadbikereview.com/sho...d.php?t=176647

Originally Posted by vlad

Wouldn't this mean the peleton will never let a breakaway go? Most of the races so far have been breakaways that are allowed to go until the last several miles and then are caught, (or sometimes not caught) or there is a setup for a group sprint near the very end. Without radios the won't know if a breakaway is 30 seconds ahead or 10 minutes ahead. And given the size of the peleton, if you are in the middle of the pack you won't even know there is a breakaway as you won't be able to see it.

I would think this means everyone will just ride in a very tight pack, with the peleton not allowing anyone else to do anything special. If Alberto or Lance or Carlos Sastre try to breakaway, the peleton will jump up to them asap and not allow them to breakaway even an inch.

Not that I have any experience with or without a radio, but I believe that without a radio there is no team tactics or strategy as nobody knows what's going on anyway? Can someone with experience explain?

[Pain Freak]

This could be a very good thing now that I think about it some more. A race should be a race. The way it plays out now it seems like the winner is known a week before the end of the race.

I like the team concept of team racing but I believe if you're going to claim the title of worlds fastest bicyclist you should go it alone. As a team you should be known as the fastest team.

[kevinator]

Originally Posted by Pain Freak

This could be a very good thing now that I think about it some more. A race should be a race. The way it plays out now it seems like the winner is known a week before the end of the race.

I like the team concept of team racing but I believe if you're going to claim the title of worlds fastest bicyclist you should go it alone. As a team you should be known as the fastest team.

Yes, definitely! Probably for most of the riders it wasn't so long ago when they were bangin' bars on the 'farm' teams calling the shots from a saddle, and getting along just fine without 2-way.

[sperminator]

Why not limit the crank set to one ring as well. Times have changed and technology has evolved; so let the strategy and racing adapt as well. These are some of the benefits of making it to the big times in this sport. if everyone on the tour has the 2-ways then it really is not unfair is it?

However im new to the competitive cycling scene, and aren't these guys racing for a season championship as well as winning the individual tours? It could be not in some teams plan to win the TDF but to win another tour after it and they are using the TDF as a kind of benchmark for that tour. Like i said im not too sure how competitive cyclign really works.

I am still excited that they are racing on my birthday what a great gift to me. The only thing the french have done good a race on my bday.