Nationaility of road riders

GFowler22

Not sure if this is the right place for this, but I have been wondering why we don't see any african american, african, chinese, japanese road riders in pro cycling? Is it because the don't have the correct build or fitness for it?

DavidBelcher

GFowler22 wrote:

Not sure if this is the right place for this, but I have been wondering why we don't see any african american, african, chinese, japanese road riders in pro cycling? Is it because the don't have the correct build or fitness for it?

There's actually sizeable pro scene, and some promising riders, in Japan, as evidenced in the Tour of Langkawi coverage on Channel 4 earlier this year. Presumably for logistical reasons, the squads very rarely compete in European events, though it is surprising that individual riders haven't made it through to Europe's pro ranks.

David

cougie

I'm sure Kenyans would make excellent cyclists - but they have no history of cycling. Running - you can do anywhere. I'm pretty sure they havent got many velodromes in the bush too.

China and Japan are upcoming - and there have been some great african american cyclists - medal winners at the Olympics no less. You would have to be a bit odd though wouldnt you to head out on a bike when all your mates are playing basketball or whatever.

emadden

There are a few Japanese riders on the circuit in Europe at the moment - mostly with the Skil team. of these the most "famous" is Fumiyuki Beppu who recently rode with the Disco's. He also moved to Skil this year.

http://reviews.roadbikereview.com/blog/ ... discovery/

LangerDan

There are a number of coloured riders on the US domestic race circuit and also a large Asian "pro-continental" circuit. My guess is that the next tranche of riders from "non-traditional" countries to gain a high profile will be from North Africa and the Middle East. There are a number of programmes to improve access for other nations but I think it will be a long haul before there is sufficient infrastructure to support decent road or track programmes.

acorn_user

Rahsaan Bahati is on the Rock Racing team and wins a lot of crits.

vermooten

LangerDan wrote:

coloured

what??????? Did I just dream that the 70s were a long time ago?

LangerDan

vermooten wrote:

LangerDan wrote:

coloured

what??????? Did I just dream that the 70s were a long time ago?

..as in "people-of-colour" (which the NYT among other uses) as in the OP was asking about more than just about African-American riders.

However if I have have offended anyone I do apologise.

cougie

Is that a bad thing to say ? Does it actually offend anyone ? Or is it a PC thing.

I

Jez mon

There is a tour of Burkino Fasso which was featured in Pro Cycling a while back. For whatever reason, most black people I have spoken to see cycling as a white man thing. Even in cosmopolitan London, most cyclists i see are white. I guess that filters through to racing.

afx237vi

Skil-Shimano recently won the TTT of the Brixia Tour with two Japanese riders in their team. As emadden says, Discovery Channel had Fumiyuki Beppu on their team for a few years and they also had the first Chinese rider to be on a Pro Tour team, Fuyu Li.

The UCI Asia Tour also has a load of good races, including Langkawi, the Tour of Qinghai Lake, Tour of Siam, Tour of Japan. Riders like the Fukushima brothers are pretty big names in Asian cycling.

guinea

I've read several times that african have higher bone and muscle densities which make them heavier. This is the reason cited for there being very few black swimmers at elite levels.

Maybe this would hold road racers back. However, on the track it would possibly be an advantage. Just look at the colour of the worlds top 10 100-200m sprinters and you'll see there is a huge power advantage.

GyatsoLa

Given the variety of shapes and sizes top roadies come in, I doubt if there is any physiological reason why one ethnic group would be better than another.

I think Eritrea is quite a hot spot for racing in Africa - something to do with the legacy of Italian colonialism. in the 1930's. Its a very small country though, so they are not likely to make much of an impact. In the rest of Africa, I'd imagine the poor quality of the roads would be a major constraint.

Its gotta be remembered too that in most European countries and (I think) in the States, its very much a sport of rural areas and small towns, so its much more likely to be 'whiter' than sports popular in urban areas, as thats where most ethnic minorities tend to live.

The pity is that the UCI policy of constraining bike design so that bike cost doesn't become a factor really hasn't helped the sport move outside its traditional hotspots, although I imagine it is a help in promoting it in poorer countries with an existing tradition, like Columbia or Kazakhstan.

donrhummy

Definitely not the physical issue as I'd be willing to bet all those top marathon runners could just as easily be amazing road cyclists. The issue is in culture and infrastructure. Remember that road riding requires pavement and lots of it. You can't do it in a city, so you need 50-100 miles of roads outside a city that is not a highway (which won't allow bikes). That's pretty rare in countries like China and most of the countries on the African continent.

In fact, China has built even highway roads between the cities only in the last 10 years. Just 10 years ago, very few of their cities were connected by paved roads. The only places where a road bike could be ridden was in the cities and they were so heavily populated with cars, motorbikes, people and bikes, that road cycling was impossible. I think we're going to see more road cyclists coming out of China in about 10 years or so. (BTW, there is/was one Chinese pro cyclist: Li Fuyu. He was on Discovery Channel, who also had the only Japanese pro cyclist: Fumi Beppu)

My guess is, it'll be a while before the endurance athletes in Africa start using road bikes since there still is not a good infrastructure for road cycling, along with the fact that road bikes are not cheap to own or maintain.

CheeseyJoe

donrhummy wrote:

Remember that road riding requires pavement and lots of it.

Cycling on the pavement is naughty

drenkrom

Bone structure is the reason Africa produces less good swimmers than other continents? And I though it was the lack of pools... it also explains their lack of success in cycling? Silly me! I thought it had something to do with roads, and the fact that a race-ready bike is an extremely pricey item, even by our NGP standards.

So us Canadians are good at hockey because of our genes, not because there is a rink in every park in the country and we spend 20 hours a week on it as kids? So we must be bad at cricket because of the shape of our hands, not that we don't give a flying f?&$ about it. :roll:

Seriously, there are two reasons I see: infrastructure and culture. For instance, in Canada we have all the infrastructure needed for road racing, but completely lack the culture of it. We produce great mountain bikers because that is a culture we have.

victorponf

drenkrom wrote:

Bone structure is the reason Africa produces less good swimmers than other continents? And I though it was the lack of pools... it also explains their lack of success in cycling? Silly me! I thought it had something to do with roads, and the fact that a race-ready bike is an extremely pricey item, even by our NGP standards.

So us Canadians are good at hockey because of our genes, not because there is a rink in every park in the country and we spend 20 hours a week on it as kids? So we must be bad at cricket because of the shape of our hands, not that we don't give a flying f?&$ about it. :roll:

Seriously, there are two reasons I see: infrastructure and culture. For instance, in Canada we have all the infrastructure needed for road racing, but completely lack the culture of it. We produce great mountain bikers because that is a culture we have.

Steve Bauer was a good rider isn´t?

is Charles Dionne still riding in europe?