If you were in charge...

Paul 8v

I personally think they should wear helmets, is it not law in some countries they race in anyway? I know they don't work in every situation but they work in enough to make them worthwhile. It's not like they are that restricting nowdays as they are so light and well vented. Not a great example to kids either to see their favourite riders bombing around without helmets on.

suspectdevice

Make GT's 2 weeks instead of three with no rest days.

Must have at least one uphill TT in each GT

More single day classic style races

Fans get to choose what clothing the Lantern Rouge wears each day

mike6

We, lets not get into a helmet debate on a Pro Race forum, but lets face it, the number of fatalities due to head injuries in the whole history of pro racing is miniscule. Better to look at the cause of accidents not trying to paper over the effects.

DeVlaeminck

Helmets optional.
Smaller teams and smaller squads so good riders more likely to do more races.
I'd ban power meters in racing, I'd experiment with banning race radio too.
Bikes limited to 10 gears with no gear lower than 39*23 or equivalent. Maybe a max of 53*13
Ban descending sat on the top tube.
Team cars to predate 1985 and to match the nationality of the team - teams from countries with no car industry pre 85 to use Peugeot 505s or an equivalent Renault or Citroen.

ugo.santalucia

No radios, no cameras, no computers, no power meters, no HR monitors, smaller teams (5-6 for a grand Tour) team budget capped...
Also, races are races, even when it rains and snows... clever riders will use appropriate bikes and if that's a MTB, so be it... no whining, no moaning, races should not be cancelled unless something pretty spectacular happens... an inch of snow in the mountains is nothing short of normal.

The best images of 2013

1) the last few Km of Milan Sanremo
2) Nibali in the snow up the Tre Cime

Bad weather makes for great racing!

alihisgreat

ugo.santalucia wrote:

No radios, no cameras, no computers, no power meters, no HR monitors, smaller teams (5-6 for a grand Tour) team budget capped...
Also, races are races, even when it rains and snows... clever riders will use appropriate bikes and if that's a MTB, so be it... no whining, no moaning, races should not be cancelled unless something pretty spectacular happens... an inch of snow in the mountains is nothing short of normal.

The best images of 2013

1) the last few Km of Milan Sanremo
2) Nibali in the snow up the Tre Cime

Bad weather makes for great racing!

Bad weather makes for boring racing... its all well and good looking at the pretty pictures afterwards.. but when you watch it live its awful when the weather is bad

rayjay

I would have a 2 riders at a time TT up a mountain. Starting in reverse order.

Helmets optional.

PED's optional under strict supervision.

Bike weight limit dropped to at least 12lb.

No same time on any stage. If you crash at 1km and lose time then tough. All must race to the end.

ugo.santalucia

ALIHISGREAT wrote:

Bad weather makes for boring racing... its all well and good looking at the pretty pictures afterwards.. but when you watch it live its awful when the weather is bad

NO, the boring bit is that they don't allow unconventional equipment and therefore they have to cancel races, shorten courses and riders play the game and don't race!... let them race and if the weather is bad let them take responsability for what they ride... Nibali changes the bike to a MTB with spiked tyres 3 Km from the top of the Gavia for the descent, while Rodriguez plows ahead, but then... he is still waiting for the admiral car at t he top... drama, where is the admiral car? It's struggling without snow tyres 2 miles behind with no radio to communicate... unfair racing if you want, but who cares? We want more drama... less tactics and more drama

alihisgreat

ugo.santalucia wrote:

ALIHISGREAT wrote:

Bad weather makes for boring racing... its all well and good looking at the pretty pictures afterwards.. but when you watch it live its awful when the weather is bad

NO, the boring bit is that they don't allow unconventional equipment and therefore they have to cancel races, shorten courses and riders play the game and don't race!... let them race and if the weather is bad let them take responsability for what they ride... Nibali changes the bike to a MTB with spiked tyres 3 Km from the top of the Gavia for the descent, while Rodriguez plows ahead, but then... he is still waiting for the admiral car at t he top... drama, where is the admiral car? It's struggling without snow tyres 2 miles behind with no radio to communicate... unfair racing if you want, but who cares? We want more drama... less tactics and more drama

I think the UCI do manage to strike a fair balance between allowing for a variety of gadgetry and technology to satisfy the viewers, whilst also maintaining a safe and fair playing field. No need to bring MTBs into it!

and rider safety is a big factor.. I wouldn't want anyone to miss out on any racing because they fell off an icy mountain; if you look at the Giro this year half of the big names went home early so they didn't ruin the rest of their season.

DeVlaeminck

I agree with Ugo - ride a bike to suit the conditions - and wear kit to match. How many riders packed in MSR riding £8k bikes for the want of £200 on decent gloves, overshoes and another couple of layers?

In truth a MTB wouldn't be needed in any race I've seen - but maybe occasionally a cross bike might - why not.

morstar

No drafting. Riders start each stage staggered by their time gap on GC.

No takers.....

It would be the purest form of the sport. Everyone would know exactly what they had to do every single day and you'd always get a strong winner.

Sticking with a more conventional theme. Keep race radio for a comissaire broadcast only. All safety and time announcements + mechanicals could be announced but no tactical instructions. Removes the safety arguments but keeps the tactical communication and decisions in the riders hands or through visits to team cars.

Macaloon

1. FIx the sponsor problem. No decent teams should be folding. But brands take a hell of risk backing teams when skeletons keep tumbling out of ryder's closets. I propose a 3 month window where riders active through 2009 (arbitrary date) can come out as 'career-clean'. Everybody else can have their past misdemeanors pardoned on the understanding that anything post-2009 is a career-ender.

It doesn't fix the JTL-type problem, but it gives cycling a chance to pitch on the same basis as other sports.

2. Fix the competitive problem. The sport's best riders (Nibali 2012, Quintana 2013?) sometimes avoid the biggest race. Also, winning the Tour is seemingly so tough that a Giro Tour double exists only in fantasy. The result is unhealthy specialisation (no classics for nibbles in '13) and only one or two days' racing per season head-head for the top men.

Either, make the Tour easier on the Giro top 5 by giving them an extra two rest days on designated flat or lumpy stages. They get the time of their first team-mate to finish.

Or accept that the Tour is the pinnacle for all-round GC riders and make the Giro winnable by a Sagan-type rider.

mike6

Macaloon wrote:

1. FIx the sponsor problem. No decent teams should be folding. But brands take a hell of risk backing teams when skeletons keep tumbling out of ryder's closets. I propose a 3 month window where riders active through 2009 (arbitrary date) can come out as 'career-clean'. Everybody else can have their past misdemeanors pardoned on the understanding that anything post-2009 is a career-ender.

It doesn't fix the JTL-type problem, but it gives cycling a chance to pitch on the same basis as other sports.

2. Fix the competitive problem. The sport's best riders (Nibali 2012, Quintana 2013?) sometimes avoid the biggest race. Also, winning the Tour is seemingly so tough that a Giro Tour double exists only in fantasy. The result is unhealthy specialisation (no classics for nibbles in '13) and only one or two days' racing per season head-head for the top men.

Either, make the Tour easier on the Giro top 5 by giving them an extra two rest days on designated flat or lumpy stages. They get the time of their first team-mate to finish.

Or accept that the Tour is the pinnacle for all-round GC riders and make the Giro winnable by a Sagan-type rider.

What has Ryder done to upset you, and why do you think he keeps anything but clothes in his wardrobes?

Apologies, couldn't resist.

rayjay

Macaloon" FIx the sponsor problem. No decent teams should be folding. But brands take a hell of risk backing teams when skeletons keep tumbling out of ryder's closets. I propose a 3 month window where riders active through 2009 (arbitrary date) can come out as 'career-clean'. Everybody else can have their past misdemeanors pardoned on the understanding that anything post-2009 is a career-ender"

You can never stop a rider from doping. Just look at the last few weeks. Sponsors have to be realistic.
Did not see to many sponsors moaning when Armstrong, Ulrich and co were bringing in the big bucks.
No team can control an individual and if he his getting that sponsors name in the spotlight a blind eye will be turned. Money talks.

"It doesn't fix the JTL-type problem but it gives cycling a chance to pitch on the same basis as other sports"
All the other sports that have a doping issue as well but more money to make the problem go away

TheBigBean

Not a popular one I know, but ban national jerseys outside of the country in which they were won e.g. the only national champion jersey at tour would be the french one.

Remove intermediate sprints for points jersey, but add a panache jersey. Panache points would be earned daily and awarded for various things e.g. epic solo breakaway caught 100m from the line would score very highly.

napoleond

Pelo-cam!

shinyhelmut

Compulsory retirement for after any rider publishes an autobiography.

ddraver

Cameras and telemetry in the peloton are probably my only ones

TTT's to be banned from all GT's for ever and ever.

Power meters to be banned for a year so that all the people whining about them can see how irrelevant they are.

However race radios to either only broadcast race radio or be open to all riders/teams at once

I like the idea of start line dope checks just to throw the cat among the pigeons a little...

If Cav wants to wear an ASBO becasue he can't update his ADAMS then he should be allowed. Him and Peta would probably think it looked well wicked innit...

mike6

ddraver wrote:

Cameras and telemetry in the peloton are probably my only ones

TTT's to be banned from all GT's for ever and ever.

Power meters to be banned for a year so that all the people whining about them can see how irrelevant they are.

However race radios to either only broadcast race radio or be open to all riders/teams at once

I like the idea of start line dope checks just to throw the cat among the pigeons a little...

If Cav wants to wear an ASBO becasue he can't update his ADAMS then he should be allowed. Him and Peta would probably think it looked well wicked innit...

I would go with that one. They are a training aid, nothing more.

DeVlaeminck

Some riders/teams do use power meters to measure effort during a race - whether it is an effective tactic is debatable but I've seen some on here argue that doesn't happen.

DiscoBoy

I'm surprised that only one person has mentioned reducing the bike weight limit.

I'd also like to see the limits on bikes relaxed. Bring back the Lotus bike and Zipp 2001 & 3001 is what I say. Why not let technology advance the sport?

rick_chasey

DiscoBoy wrote:

I'm surprised that only one person has mentioned reducing the bike weight limit.

I'd be happy to have bike weight proportional to the rider's weight. Just a pain to actually measure.


Also, if you reduce the weight limit of bikes, the ascent times would naturally decrease for the entire peloton, so you'd have to deal with all that doping sh!te on here if you did that.

ugo.santalucia

Rick Chasey wrote:

DiscoBoy wrote:

I'm surprised that only one person has mentioned reducing the bike weight limit.

I'd be happy to have bike weight proportional to the rider's weight. Just a pain to actually measure.


Also, if you reduce the weight limit of bikes, the ascent times would naturally decrease for the entire peloton, so you'd have to deal with all that doping sh!te on here if you did that.

The problem with racing now is the lack of "racing" in the Grand Tours... how will reducing bike weight contribute to better racing?
I think reducing the role of the team would be good (smaller teams, capped budget) and reducing the control over the riders (radios, communication, admiral car support etc. ). If a rider gets a bottle where he is not supposed to, he gets disqualified, not penalised by a handful of seconds... the basics

Paul 8v

I don't think they need to be reduced as the current limit is pretty light anyway.

Paul 8v

Edit: Double post!

mr_poll

In stage races would like to see sprint stages have a seperate GT finish and a sprint finish. For instance have the timed GT finish at 3km to go, then the GT contenders and their domestiques can pull over and pootle home and the clock stops - the stage winning line can then be contested by the sprint teams (or breakaway) without all the chaos of sprint train / protected GT riders getting in each others way. In other words an automatic 3Km rule without the need for a crash to injure riders, nor commisaires interpreting the rule of whether it blocked riders progress etc.

A neutral race radio that gives time gaps and warns of crashes etc that all riders can hear.

Doping charges, any ban should be from date of sentence passed not when a rider is caught - so drawn out legal action means a "longer" ban unless you are found not guitly.

Helmets to stay but follow distinctive team colours - and as above team colours should be distinct from each other.

ddraver

First idea is a good one! nTHe alternative is that the commissaires need to be a bit less strict with what is a gap. So a bike length or two is not a gap if the riders have been in the same grup all day but if a group has been riding to catch a group in front then apply a time difference...for example...

mike6

DeVlaeminck wrote:

Some riders/teams do use power meters to measure effort during a race - whether it is an effective tactic is debatable but I've seen some on here argue that doesn't happen.

Thats all well and good, but during a race, if you are stuffed on a stage, having a power meter telling you how badly you are going won't help you ride any better.

ugo.santalucia

mike6 wrote:

DeVlaeminck wrote:

Some riders/teams do use power meters to measure effort during a race - whether it is an effective tactic is debatable but I've seen some on here argue that doesn't happen.

Thats all well and good, but during a race, if you are stuffed on a stage, having a power meter telling you how badly you are going won't help you ride any better.

The problem is that if you ride with the PM, you will never get stuffed...
In the past (and excuse the present tense and future) if A attacks on a climb, B and C will chase him... now B checks his stats and decides it's best to slightly up the power and slowly go back to him, while C thinks it's a good idea and sticks to B's wheel... it's great for B and C, less so for A and incredibly boring for us. That's why in the absence of an outstanding climber (and there is none around who can match Pantani), stage races are terribly boring. How can a mountain like Zoncolan only split riders by a handful of seconds? It's only possible with technology... brain and guts will produce much bigger splits...

RichN95.

ugo.santalucia wrote:

The problem is that if you ride with the PM, you will never get stuffed...
In the past (and excuse the present tense and future) if A attacks on a climb, B and C will chase him... now B checks his stats and decides it's best to slightly up the power and slowly go back to him, while C thinks it's a good idea and sticks to B's wheel... it's great for B and C, less so for A and incredibly boring for us. That's why in the absence of an outstanding climber (and there is none around who can match Pantani), stage races are terribly boring. How can a mountain like Zoncolan only split riders by a handful of seconds? It's only possible with technology... brain and guts will produce much bigger splits...

It seems to me what you want to ban is common sense, not power meters. Taking away the meters isn't going to turn riders into tactical dullards.