Feedback Over The Race-Radio
Some well known names weigh-in on my post on banning radios & power-meters in Tour de France. Guy Andrews, Ben Serotta, Alex Stieda (first North American to wear the yellow jersey) & Philippa York.
It’s easy in this culture for winning to be more important than improving.
Stay with Peloton. Please don’t Go Off The Back.
This will be my first piece that will frustratingly disappear behind a reasonably price pay-wall, at some point as you read. I will continue to post regular free essays and musings, as well as deeper articles, podcasts and Q&A’s, that involve additional preparation and collaboration. This article, for example, includes comments from Tour de France stage and Polko-Dot Jersey, winners. As well as from Greg LeMond’s biographer and Tour de France team bike-builder. I interviewed over a hundred people for my new book, The Cycling Addiction. Many of their contributions did not make it into the final edit of the book. But every single of them was fascinating and valuable. I hope to include many of their voices in future. I hope you can join me as I seek to deepen the conversation.
Phil
Race-Radio Feedback
It seems that I am not the only one with strong opinions on team radios in the Tour de France. The often cited reason to keep radios that connect the team car to its riders, is one of safety. A DS can quickly alert all his or her riders to potential problems, or obstacles on the parcours. And I am sure that is part of the justification, but maybe not all of it. If that was the case all riders could have the same safety-oriented feed that is heard by the whole caravan and indeed the public. Radios are partly or maybe even mostly about control and winning. Marshalling forces and dictating the shape of the race. Does that also make everyone safer? Well not if you think about the first four stages of 2025 Tour de France - it has been alarmingly crash-strewn.
I take some soundings from some of the folk whose opinions I particularly respect - Guy Andrews (Rouleur Founder, Author), Ben Serotta (The Godfather of Custom) and Philippa York (raced as Tour de France as Robert Millar).
