The fading PRO tan-line

ugo.santalucia

When comparing images of the days of Indurain and Berzin with those of today one thing strikes me the most.... at the time they had a much better tan than they do now and that includes spring races, like the Giro. Even Bjarne the Viking was as dark skinned as a Greek living in Santorini.




So I come up with three possible explanations

1) Ethnical: at the time there were a lot more mediterranean riders in the peloton than there are today. The PRO tour is a lot more cosmopolitan, with plenty of north and east European riders (still doesn't account for Riis and Berzin)

2) Climate change: there is a lot less sunshine than there was back then. The roads in the Pyrenees no longer melt under the sun, in fact it's always cold up there

3) Pharmaceutical: the combined effect of melanine + an hemoglobin concentration up to 30% higher than today gave a much healtier look (after all anemics are pale)

Any other?

The_Boy

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Any other?

The desire to avoid skin cancer and ageing skin has led riders to use sun block more liberally.

The_Boy

Incidentally, point one is absolute balls. Have you honestly trying to tell us you've never seen a Norwegian or a Pole or whatever with a suntan?

ugo.santalucia

The_Boy wrote:

Incidentally, point one is absolute balls. Have you honestly trying to tell us you've never seen a Norwegian or a Pole or whatever with a suntan?

As a kid on holiday in the Italian riviera we had a lot of German tourists, they do indeed get quite dark... other ethinc groups do less... but we are walking a fine line here... I prefer your sunscreen explanation...

Daz555

Awareness of skin cancer.

Riders wear more sunscreen.

drlodge

Daz555 wrote:

Awareness of skin cancer.

Riders wear sunscreen.

FTFY :-) I was thinking exactly this.

ugo.santalucia

OK, that's been covered... any other explanation?

drlodge

Where they are training, are these training camps/places less sunny than in past years?

lancew

Increase in use of long sleeve jerseys because modern materials are more breathable so we don't mind riding long sleeves?

frenchfighter

I am sure riders cover up more now when training these days and also they have lots of different sorts of kit which blurs the fine line of the tan. Gilbert is one who is ridiculously tanned but he lives in Monaco and likes to get the look going.

me-109

A lot less racing days in the legs, so the Northern European pros get out in the sun less when training instead.

Possibly compounded by more targeted and scientific training sessions on the turbo or in the lab, instead of winter sun training in the Southern hemisphere.

ugo.santalucia

All good explanations...

ugo.santalucia

... back to my point, there seems to be a moment in history when riders were particulalry dark skinned and that's the high of the blood doping era, the 1990s...
Before then Merckx, Gimondi, Moser and the likes were not as tanned...

Could it be that hemoglobin... ? :roll:

Richmond Racer

So basically, you could have written this thread title as 'Tans arent as dark anymore cos they were all juiced up'

ugo.santalucia

Possibly, but there might be another explanation that I am missing... after all going back in history photos were black and white or faded colours and it's hard to tell.

The 1990s were a particularly hot and dry decade in Europe...

The_Boy

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Could it be that hemoglobin... ? :roll:

No. HTH.

Now you mention it, I've never seen a picture of Louisson Bobet's suntan. 'Phet obviously counteracts the effects of the sun...

ugo.santalucia

Milan Sanremo 1991, that's March.... WTF :shock:

RichN95.

Different cameras taking the photos is another factor.

thomthom

The peloton is racist.

drlodge

RichN95 wrote:

Different cameras taking the photos is another factor.

Cameras using 35mm film, which has a different colouration than modern day DSLRs. I used to notice quite a difference in the colours between Kodak and AGFA 35mm film back in the days, DSLRs probably different again and modern day photoshopping too.

ugo.santalucia

April in Belgium

frenchfighter

RichN95 wrote:

Different cameras taking the photos is another factor.

I like this reasoning.

ugo.santalucia

Another Milan-Sanremo, all looking glam... 8)

The_Boy

Well I'm convinced.

above_the_cows

Sun cream.

Also photos taken on film with manual light metres can produce different colour effects than photos taken on digital SLRs.

And I'm not sure the roads don't melt due to a lack of sun either more likely that building materials and engineering has improved.

Richmond Racer

The_Boy wrote:

Well I'm convinced.

Richmond Racer

The_Boy wrote:

Well I'm convinced.

The CIRC are using it a cornerstone of their investigations in cycling's murky goings' on

The dirty dopers dont stand a chance

above_the_cows

ThomThom wrote:

The peloton is racist.

I like this explanation. I think this is definitely the reason.

Frenchie where's that awesome pic of Titchy Richie with the awesome tan from last year's tour?

above_the_cows

Richmond Racer wrote:

The_Boy wrote:

Well I'm convinced.

The CIRC are using it a cornerstone of their investigations in cycling's murky goings' on

The dirty dopers dont stand a chance

It's a true fact that the whiter the skin the faster you go, whiter skin uses less red blood cells so red blood cells can be used to carry oxygen instead. I mean look at athletics...

ugo.santalucia

Above The Cows wrote:

And I'm not sure the roads don't melt due to a lack of sun either more likely that building materials and engineering has improved.

Having seen many stages of the Tour were riders were melting in the Pyrenees and only Indurain was not sweating (he was not fitted with pores, apparently), I packed light for my Raid Pyrenees in late June 2010. Mistake... 3 degrees at the Col du Tourmalet and not much more at the Aubisque, Sulour, Aspin, Peyresourde and all I remember is being cold most of the time.

frenchfighter

Above The Cows wrote:

Frenchie where's that awesome pic of Titchy Richie with the awesome tan from last year's tour?