As
everyone predicted stage 5 of this year’s Tour de France drastically affected
not only how the race will play out, but also the final outcome of the race. Defending
champion Chris Froome (Sky) has abandoned; Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo), one
of the primary GC contenders, is over two and half minutes behind; and Vincenzo
Nibali (Astana), one of the underdogs, is sitting pretty in the yellow jersey
with minutes on all of his closest rivals. Without question, Nibali rode
fantastically and proved he is worth of the yellow jersey. Yes, the winner of
the Tour de France should be the best all-around rider, but should cobblestones
be included in the Tour de France?
Great TV
Including
cobblestones in the Tour de France makes for great TV. We viewers love the
drama that plays out—the crashes that occur, the General Classification riders who
will lose time, and the valiant effort a rider will give to win this majestic
stage. In fact, when the Tour de France route was released in October everyone
looked to this stage to be what cyclists call epic.
Amaury
Sport Organization (ASO) owns and operates the Tour and leases out the
television rights every year. They make hundreds of millions of dollars from these
television rights. Guess how much the professional cycling teams get? Zero.
Professional Cycling Teams get none of the revenue gained from the TV rights at
the Tour de France for providing the entertainment. That seems a bit unfair if
you ask me considers NFL teams, NBA teams, European soccer teams, ect, get a
share of the TV revenue. Cycling is one of the only sports in the world where
the teams do not get a share of the TV revenue.
The
obvious option would be to boycott or protest at the start line of the race.
The problem is the riders want to race, that’s what they love doing, racing their
bikes. Furthermore, the cycling governing body, Universal Cycling Institute (UCI)
is a bit of a dictatorship and has the ability for fining riders for doing just
that. It is a lose, lose situation for the riders.
Also,
because the teams do not get money from television revenue they survive almost
completely on sponsorship dollars. For this reason alone, professional cycling
teams are not profitable endeavors for the owners. In fact, most team owners contribute
some of their own personal funds just so the team can survive. With cycling’s
dark secrets now coming out of the closet sponsors are hard to come by these
days. The bottom-line is that the riders and teams should get a share of the TV
revenue for providing the entertainment.
If
professional cyclists are going to put themselves on the line for this race, they
and their teams should be able to get a slice of the TV revenue pie. Plus, this
would take some of the burden off finding sponsorship dollars to run the teams.
It would be a win, win—the extra money would prevent more teams from folding
and create more competition to try to get a coveted World Tour license that
guarantees entry into all of the big races.
Rider Safety
Rider
safety has been a topic that has been gaining momentum. So, the cobblestones
bring in the viewers, but what about the riders, how safe are the cobbles for
the riders? I believe cobblestones are made for the Spring Classics and should
stay out of the Grand Tours for a number of reasons.
First,
very different riders compete at the Tour de France than say Paris-Roubaix. At
Roubaix you have big 180-pound guys who produce massive power on the flats and
can roll right over the cobblestones. These are the same guys that are domestigues
at the Tour for the same reason. In contrast, the Tour de France brings in 140-pound
climbers who bounce around the cobblestones like ping-pong balls. General
Classification riders at the Tour do no compete in the Spring Classics because
they are not built for the rough roads of Northern France.
Today’s
stage was an example of what happens when riders not suited to cobbles (light-weight
climbers) try to tackle them. In addition, the rain made everything worse and
sent everyone’s stress level through the rough. It is similar to what happened back
in 2010 when cobblestones were last in the Tour—Frank Schleck broke his
collarbone entering a sector of cobbles. In response to today’s stage, ASO may
claim most of the crashes occurred before all of the cobbles. But those crashes
occurred due to anticipation of the cobbles to come and the critical need to
take risks to be at the front.
This
should be a wake-up call for ASO when 3-time Paris-Roubaix winner Fabian
Cancellara (Trek Factory Racing) says in a post-race interview on NBC
SportsNetwork, “This stage has no place in the Tour de France.” These are the
words coming from someone who loves the cobbles and has been looking forward to
this stage since October when the route was announced. Furthermore, GC rider
Tejay van Garderen (BMC) was clearly upset after the stage, but held back a
little saying “I think ASO needs to rethink putting days like this in the
[Tour].”
The
hands of the teams and riders are tied. They can complain about the course
conditions and rider safety, but they are unable to do anything. They are at
the mercy of the race organizers and have to trust the organizers to look out
for them. The problem is, the organizers have different priorities. Everything
comes down to money. TV revenue brings in oh so many dollars, a priority for
organizers, leaving no organization looking out for the riders. Regardless of
what you think about Lance Armstrong, his tweet said it all, “Two Words:
Riders. Union.” A riders union will protect the riders and prevent carnage days
like today.
It
is time for cycling to quit being so old fashioned and for it to move into
today’s world. TV revenue sharing would create more teams and competition
within the sport, which is good for everyone. More competition brings more viewers.
Furthermore, the riders need to be looked out for. Today’s cobblestone mess was
a disaster and should never be allowed to happen again.
Could not agree more about the TV money
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