Newbie Questions.....

andyrac

As I've only recently registered, just a few racing questions:

The last time I looked the Netherlands is flat - yet they have produced ace climbers. Why?
So, why can't we/UK produce any?
Finally, am I right in thinking that in UK there has been a bias towards track cycling, hence the great World Championship performance - but very few riders on Pro road racing teams.

le_patron

I'm no authority on this, but I'll try. You could write a book on the latter question and several have.

Firstly, cycling is very popular in Holland, therefore there will be good riders at most disciplines. Once a few Grand Tour mountain stages are won, enthusiasm increases and as a nation you get even better. Just go anywhere near l'Alpe d'Huez in the summer and see how many Dutch there are. The mountains don't need to be in Holland. Lots of kids grow up aspiring to be Joop Zoetemelk rather than Wayne Rooney (or Johan Cruyff).

As regards the UK, well the focus became TT's and track racing. Reason was that it all got horribly political, it's a long story so probably best to start with existing articles than me try to explain, e.g. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Le ... g_Cyclists
This book is also very informative http://www.amazon.co.uk/One-More-Kilome ... 300&sr=1-1

Might seems a long while ago now, but the effects of all this are still very evident today.

Hope this helps a little bit.

Sun Dodger

To answer the Holland thing, It is mostly flat - I ride 40km to work and have less than 20m of ascent... Limburg in the far south of the country has hills, but mostly only around 1km in length.

As to why there are good Dutch climbers, there are an awful lot of riders over here (there can be 200+ each weekend here in Amsterdam at a local criterium), so stands to reason that some of them are built to be good at going uphill.

andyp

Good climbers are born with the ability to climb so are restricted to geographic areas where there are climbs. One of the greatest climbers of all time, Lucien Van Impe, was born in Flanders which is flat. The ability to climb is to do with power to weight ratio so its more to do with your body shape and size than with geography.

Kléber

Exactly what andyp says.

However to add to it, there is a bit of bias, that most Belgian and Dutch riders are big solid blokes and most Spaniards can climb better. Why? Because as amateurs, they have to win races to attract pro teams and local geography means some 55kg Dutchman will always struggle in a race whereas a 55kg Spaniard will win likely his local race.

cougie

A lot of it is about numbers. More people cycle in the Netherlands than in the UK - so stands to reason that they will have more racing cyclists, and a better chance of getting better riders.

We have had great british climbers - look at Millar and even Wegelius too. I'm sure there are loads.

British cycling has been very clever to focus on the track over the past 10 years or so. Medals bring funding, and as the Italians have often shown - you can have a great road team and still cock the wins up. The track is much fairer - the fastest man always wins in a pursuit.

Now we're seeing the benefits of this with our track riders heading out to the continent. From where I'm looking - British cycling has never been as good as it is today.

Jez mon

cougie wrote:

We have had great british climbers - look at Millar and even Wegelius too.

I'm guessing Robert Millar not David Millar!

Add to that list Tom Simpson, who wasn't too shabby at going up hill (although not a pure climber)

andyp

Kléber wrote:

However to add to it, there is a bit of bias, that most Belgian and Dutch riders are big solid blokes and most Spaniards can climb better. Why? Because as amateurs, they have to win races to attract pro teams and local geography means some 55kg Dutchman will always struggle in a race whereas a 55kg Spaniard will win likely his local race.

Good point. For a gifted Dutch climber, like Gesink, to make it as a pro is astounding really, they must have to do well in races that don't suit them for so long before they get to a level where they can race on terrain that suits them.

andyrac

Thanks for the answers, I was aware of L'Alpe Duez being called 'Dutch Mountain' as they've had a lot of stage winners there, also I remember Robert Millar winning King of the Mountains in 1984.

To be honest I find track cycling slightly monotonous - it's gotta be the road for me!!

knedlicky

cougie wrote:

The track is much fairer - the fastest man always wins

Brute strength first? The 100 m runner is better than the 10 K runner, who can kick a ball hardest is the better footballer?