Chris Baldwin interview

iainf72

In the final Velonews / Cycling Podcast, they have a longish interview with Chris Baldwin, the press officer for Astana.

It's a fantastic listen - Fascinating guy and I learnt a lot. And maybe hate Astana slightly less!

https://audioboo.fm/boos/2357489-the-ve ... 4#t=26m13s

chrisday

Just finished listening to it on way home from work - exactly the same response! Really interesting life story, some lovely little anecdotes (particularly the Irish Bobsleigh team one), and left with a slightly warmer feeling to Astana now.
And now curious which bit of Blackheath he lived in...

takethehighroad

It also helps if your comment about it gets a retweet as well

frenchfighter

That guy would be good to have a beer with - sounds very interesting. Good press officer no doubt as he could talk you into submission. Sounded more like a monologue then an interview - has to be the longest explanation of how he got the job. Interesting hearing about Kazak's mission. Vinokourov is the boss.

Good to hear Horner mention about illnesses caused by the cobbles. The circus stage provided two hours of excitement but two following weeks of many good, ill riders, many requiring antibiotics...Costa, VDB, Mollema, Horner, Porte srping to mind...which detracts from the fans enjoyment.

PBo

He's obviously very good at his job if he gets everyone feeling warm and fuzzy about Astana!!

Pross

frenchfighter wrote:

That guy would be good to have a beer with - sounds very interesting. Good press officer no doubt as he could talk you into submission. Sounded more like a monologue then an interview - has to be the longest explanation of how he got the job. Interesting hearing about Kazak's mission. Vinokourov is the boss.

Good to hear Horner mention about illnesses caused by the cobbles. The circus stage provided two hours of excitement but two following weeks of many good, ill riders, many requiring antibiotics...Costa, VDB, Mollema, Horner, Porte srping to mind...which detracts from the fans enjoyment.

I'd love to hear an medical explanation of how riding on cobbles causes chest infections etc. If that stage caused illness it would have been down to the weather conditions and would have happened if they had been riding on the smoothest tarmac in France.

frenchfighter

Well for one, riding on that parcours throws up more dirt etc which carries bacteria. There were far more ill riders than usual.

mm1

Perhaps they should only race when it's dry and sunny then? A bit like cricket.

The Baldwin interview was great fun, even recommended it to my Mum.

Pross

frenchfighter wrote:

Well for one, riding on that parcours throws up more dirt etc which carries bacteria. There were far more ill riders than usual.

So MTB riders and Cross riders must be permanently ill? There were riders who came into the Tour with illness and then they are in close proximity to each other day in, day out with their bodies getting run down my exertion and prone to picking up bugs. Hygeine probably isn't as good as it should be (e.g. riders have bottles that have been stuck inside another riders sweaty jersey). It's the same every year and didn't seem any higher this year. Usually riders only mention their illness when they have an off day or two. In the circumstances I'm actually surprised how few riders get ill enough to have to withdraw.

frenchfighter

It increases the chances it doesn't make it a definite.
MTB/Cross riders would have differently adapted immune systems.
It was higher this year - I have listed a handful of important riders.

Anything else?

RichN95.

Pross wrote:

So MTB riders and Cross riders must be permanently ill?

They don't race on two consecutive days, let alone a dozen. They get more rest so their immune systems are a lot more robost.

Pross

I don't see anything there supporting the view that the cobbles caused the illness. It was a wetter than normal Tour I would suggest and as I said before several riders came into the Tour with their health problems. Horner was never likely to perform given the injuries he has just come back from, Costa from recollection was claiming illness in the first few days, Porte's illness was only reported once he got dropped in the mountains and lost time (so a week after the cobble stage) - make of that what you will. I believe Mollema was only declared ill in the final week, he was also ill in 2011 (no cobbled stage that year).

Pross

RichN95 wrote:

Pross wrote:

So MTB riders and Cross riders must be permanently ill?

They don't race on two consecutive days, let alone a dozen. They get more rest so their immune systems are a lot more robost.

Any chance you can check the stats on numbers of ill riders over the last 5 years in the Tour and show which races had cobbled stages and how many wet days they had?

frenchfighter

Pross wrote:

I don't see anything there supporting the view that the cobbles caused the illness. It was a wetter than normal Tour I would suggest and as I said before several riders came into the Tour with their health problems. Horner was never likely to perform given the injuries he has just come back from, Costa from recollection was claiming illness in the first few days, Porte's illness was only reported once he got dropped in the mountains and lost time (so a week after the cobble stage) - make of that what you will. I believe Mollema was only declared ill in the final week, he was also ill in 2011 (no cobbled stage that year).

Day of declaring an illness is not the same day it is contracted.
Illness symptoms may not be evident the same day of contracting it.
Horner specifically said he was ill as a result of the cobbled stage.

Pross

frenchfighter wrote:

Horner specifically said he was ill as a result of the cobbled stage.

But how can he know that? Also, being ill due to that stage is completely different to being ill due to the cobbles. It's far more likely he got ill due to the appalling weather that day or that he would have just got ill that day in any case.

frenchfighter

Ok Pross. Gald you enjoyed the circus.

You should check out Tro Bro Leon. Unusual, one-day, road race on un-paved roads. Through Brittany.

Pross

frenchfighter wrote:

Ok Pross. Gald you enjoyed the circus.

You should check out Tro Bro Leon. Unusual, one-day, road race on un-paved roads. Through Brittany.

Watched it the last two years, it's one of my favourite races now.

Sjaak

Pross wrote:

frenchfighter wrote:

Horner specifically said he was ill as a result of the cobbled stage.

But how can he know that? Also, being ill due to that stage is completely different to being ill due to the cobbles. It's far more likely he got ill due to the appalling weather that day or that he would have just got ill that day in any case.

has no one heard of Geodermic Grantitis?

bipedal

frenchfighter wrote:

Well for one, riding on that parcours throws up more dirt etc which carries bacteria. There were far more ill riders than usual.

Correlation does not equal causation, Horner is reading far too much into a coincidence of events - it's unlikely that the riders caught a respiratory infection from road splash, more likely that they got cold due to the weather and that made them more prone to any circulating respiratory pathogens and/or opportunistic pathogens already in their lungs

btw for my day job I do academic research on respiratory infection...

Pross

Sjaak wrote:

Pross wrote:

frenchfighter wrote:

Horner specifically said he was ill as a result of the cobbled stage.

But how can he know that? Also, being ill due to that stage is completely different to being ill due to the cobbles. It's far more likely he got ill due to the appalling weather that day or that he would have just got ill that day in any case.

has no one heard of Geodermic Grantitis?

dish_dash

Missed this from earlier in the year. But Chris Baldwin got Pez'd. He's left Astana, though his twitter feed on yesterday's Astana shenanigans at 3DPK was amusing.

philbar72

Sjaak wrote:

Pross wrote:

frenchfighter wrote:

Horner specifically said he was ill as a result of the cobbled stage.

But how can he know that? Also, being ill due to that stage is completely different to being ill due to the cobbles. It's far more likely he got ill due to the appalling weather that day or that he would have just got ill that day in any case.

has no one heard of Geodermic Grantitis?

rides for cofidis doesn't he?

disgruntledgoat

Vibration White Finger

yorkshireraw

dish_dash wrote:

Missed this from earlier in the year. But Chris Baldwin got Pez'd. He's left Astana, though his twitter feed on yesterday's Astana shenanigans at 3DPK was amusing.

What's his Twitter name? (Search didn't throw up anything obvious)

dish_dash

hitchlessly @cgbaldwin

yorkshireraw

dish_dash wrote:

hitchlessly @cgbaldwin

Cheers