Ed Clancy

greasedscotsman

Kinda struck me whilst watching the Tour series the other night, what is Ed Clancy doing there? Surely he is as good a rider as the other members of the Olympic Pursuit Squad, who other than Paul Manning who has retired, are probably going to be at the Tour this year. Am I missing something?

Splottboy

...is a Ginge.

andyp

I believe it's his choice. He rode with Landbouwkrediet for at least one season, but think he's a home boy who prefers not to have to live abroad.

Racing domestically doesn't seem to do him any harm, if his WC performance this year is anything to go by.

shockedsoshocked

greasedscotsman wrote:

. Am I missing something?

He can't get over a railway bridge without going out the back?

timoid.

greasedscotsman wrote:

Kinda struck me whilst watching the Tour series the other night, what is Ed Clancy doing there? Surely he is as good a rider as the other members of the Olympic Pursuit Squad, who other than Paul Manning who has retired, are probably going to be at the Tour this year. Am I missing something?

Was thinking exactly the same thing. Sure he could do somehting in the Sky setup. It would feel like home.

Kléber

Wasn't he interviewed for the Real Peloton podcast? I seem to recall he just preferred the quiet life and life in England, but didn't rule it out in the future. I suppose he's fed and watered on the track team.

Monty Dog

He'll probably stay focussed on the Team Pursuit / Omnium until 2012 and then I expect consider a road career.

takethehighroad

Was it just me or does Rob Hayles look constantly f*cked throughout the Tour Series?

greasedscotsman

Splottboy wrote:

...is a Ginge.

I always thought that "gingers" would make the best riders. They already have so much pain in their lives, that the pain from racing would be nothing

ju5t1n

TakeTheHighRoad wrote:

Was it just me or does Rob Hayles look constantly f*cked throughout the Tour Series?

LOL - throughout his whole career actually, it’s just his look ...great rider though

iainf72

Kléber wrote:

Wasn't he interviewed for the Real Peloton podcast? I seem to recall he just preferred the quiet life and life in England, but didn't rule it out in the future. I suppose he's fed and watered on the track team.

He did indeed, which I found absolutely bewildering. But then I think everyone should go live in another country for a few years.

I think he said Sky might give him options of living in the UK but racing in Europe.

RichN95.

In his book, Mark Cavendish said that Clancy had no ability to suffer, which meant that he would never really make a top class road racer. While conversely Thomas had that quality in spades.

Clancy may be self-aware about this (if it's true) and is sticking to what he's good at. Plus he clearly far prefers track. If you can make a living doing what you love, don't give it up.

Pross

I think anyone riding the team pursuit is suffering and there's the added pressure that you can't take the easy option and back off a touch as the whole team is relying on you. It may be different to the pain of riding 6 hours on the cobbles of a Flanders spring or climbing the Tourmalet but you still don't ride track at that level without the ability to suffer.

Kléber

You'll always suffer on the bike if you're racing. Especially if you are tasked with holding Wiggins's wheel in the team pursuit.

Sounds like a lack of ambition or maybe some worries about living abroad, having to cope with foreign things like pasta and sunshine.

The Prodigy

RichN95 wrote:

In his book, Mark Cavendish said that Clancy had no ability to suffer, which meant that he would never really make a top class road racer. While conversely Thomas had that quality in spades.

Clancy may be self-aware about this (if it's true) and is sticking to what he's good at. Plus he clearly far prefers track. If you can make a living doing what you love, don't give it up.

I could be wrong but didn't Cav say that Clancy had a fantastic engine but absolutely no racing brain so he didn't think he could win races.

You'd have thought that if he could ride on the road he might be a fantastic addition to someones lead out train.

Pross

Kléber wrote:

You'll always suffer on the bike if you're racing. Especially if you are tasked with holding Wiggins's wheel in the team pursuit.

Sounds like a lack of ambition or maybe some worries about living abroad, having to cope with foreign things like pasta and sunshine.

Or maybe he is just happy being the best in the world at what he does, or just doesn't enjoy road racing? Could just be a case of horses for courses. No one seems to accuse Chris Hoy of lacking ambition yet think how good he could be in a bunch sprint if he could drag his arse the 100 odd miles to the finish

greasedscotsman

I don't think Chris Hoy is a fair comparison. Unless Jason Kenny or Ross Edgar had won the 100 miles race you describe. Maybe we need to wait and see how Theo Bos does in the next few years?

I'm not not trying to say Ed Clancy isn't a good rider, he's a World and Olympic champion. But then to draw more comparisons, Chris Boardman was a pretty good pursuiter, didn't win many road races but was "pretty handy" in a TT, but then it seems Ed Clancy is more of a Tony Doyle...

Pross

The thing is that the track endurance squad are racing up to 40km so the step up to racing in Pro Tour races is a huge step and some have probably spent their whole careers working to race at something between 4 and 40km. Why go from being world class at that level to risking being just another rider on the road? I'm not suggesting they can't or shouldn't do it and the likes of Wiggo show that it can be done but maybe some riders don't feel they can do themselves justice over that distance. The Hoy comment was an exageration to prove the point but it is probably comparable to expecting a world class 5,000m runner to step up to the marathon - many have done it successfully but many more haven't tried. It also seems to be that people move to more endurance based events as they get older.

graeme_s-2

I've wondered about this as well. I really like Clancy, have seen him race at Revolution a few times, and he always seems like a really nice chap when you see him interviewed on TV. I don't think he's likely to be a future GT winner or anything, but I'm sure he could be a useful domestique or lead out train member, I'd like to see him race on the road.

I know crits are different to full road races, but he's won at least one of the Tour Series races in the past, and looked like he knew how to suffer and read a race then.

Pross

But again a Tour Series race is probably ideal in length / time terms for a track endurance rider.

The thing I don't understand is why people feel he should move into road racing as if it is somehow a promotion (I know that some on here do actually see this as being the case). If you are the best in the world at your job why would you want to change job? Is he likley to make much more money as a domestique for someone like Sky than he will as an Olympic / World champion track rider?

graeme_s-2

Pross wrote:

Is he likley to make much more money as a domestique for someone like Sky than he will as an Olympic / World champion track rider?

My gut instinct is that yes, he would likely earn more riding with a pro tour team then he'd make on the track, but I have no idea what sort of sums of money we're talking about...

shockedsoshocked

Graeme_S wrote:

I've wondered about this as well. I really like Clancy, have seen him race at Revolution a few times, and he always seems like a really nice chap when you see him interviewed on TV. I don't think he's likely to be a future GT winner or anything, but I'm sure he could be a useful domestique or lead out train member, I'd like to see him race on the road.

I know crits are different to full road races, but he's won at least one of the Tour Series races in the past, and looked like he knew how to suffer and read a race then.

He rides prems nearly every week and only shows in the pan flat ones, I don't see how then moving onto the continent would benefit him in anyway? He probably knows his limits. Plus from what I can gather life on the track team is quite cushty!

greasedscotsman

Pross wrote:

The thing I don't understand is why people feel he should move into road racing as if it is somehow a promotion

So do you think kids dream of being World/Olympic Omnium champion rather than racing in the Tour de France? OK, maybe they dream of being an Olympic champion rather than riding a kermesse in Belgium and that's where he might end up, there's nothing to say a good track rider can make it on the road.

But did not Graeme Obree say the thing which inspired him attempt the Hour Record was Chris Boardman? Was Ed not sittiing in front of the telly last year watching Wiggy finish 4th and think, "I could do that, now where did I put that Slim-fast"

Pross

greasedscotsman wrote:

Pross wrote:

The thing I don't understand is why people feel he should move into road racing as if it is somehow a promotion

So do you think kids dream of being World/Olympic Omnium champion rather than racing in the Tour de France? OK, maybe they dream of being an Olympic champion rather than riding a kermesse in Belgium and that's where he might end up, there's nothing to say a good track rider can make it on the road.

But did not Graeme Obree say the thing which inspired him attempt the Hour Record was Chris Boardman? Was Ed not sittiing in front of the telly last year watching Wiggy finish 4th and think, "I could do that, now where did I put that Slim-fast"

I suspect that many of the 14 and 15 year olds I see at Newport dream just that (not the omnium bit as it's a new event but the Olympic champion part) and in some cases they aren't interested in road racing at all. That may change as they get older and have the chance to road race but hopefully some will always end up wanting to be an Olympic track champion as we need world class riders in all forms of the sport.

avoidingmyphd

doesn't matter what "kids" dream of, it's what ed clancy dreams of that matters. why get worked up if it's different to what you dream of?

the guy's an olympic champion with an enjoyable job and apparently a happy home life. I don't see any reason to start questioning his judgement, ambition etc. he just thinks differently to you lot.

Pross

If that what he thinks it's not different to me as I've been saying much the same thing all along!

lyn1

TakeTheHighRoad wrote:

Was it just me or does Rob Hayles look constantly f*cked throughout the Tour Series?

Dont think Rob is as fit as he was last year. Had he been, it may well have been enough to tip the balance in favour of Endura in such a tight series.,

Tom BB

I reckon that the joint role of manager and rider will have impacted his training/racing etc..
He's still been going reasonably well though.

RE Ed Clancy, cant imagine that he'd ever be a great success out on the road-he said himself in an interview on one of the Tour Series programmes that he is lacking endurance compared to the other top national riders. When you see him in the bunch, he's twice the size as the non track riders!

lyn1

Tom BB wrote:

I reckon that the joint role of manager and rider will have impacted his training/racing etc..
He's still been going reasonably well though.

Rob hasnt been manager since April. Garry Beckett left, Rob gave up the managers job and just became a rider (maybe it was too much doing both). Julian Wynn moved from mechanic to DS .

Tom BB

Not gonna pretend I'm as in the know as you Lyn, but on one of the Tour Series progs, Rob was talking about his dual role with the team-he wasn't talking as though he had given up the role of manager?

shockedsoshocked

Tom BB wrote:

When you see him in the bunch, he's twice the size as the non track riders!

Clancy is exactly the same weight, height and build as me, and it's not that he's big, it's that most cyclists are small!