Cycling crossing over into other sports

takethehighroad
takethehighroad Posts: 6,649
edited August 2014 in Pro race
Apologies as it's not entirely Pro Race, but the velodrome in Berlin (used in the Six Days of Berlin) has been transformed, with a swimming pool put in the middle for the European Swimming Championships.

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It got me thinking, as I know the UCI round of the Cyclocross in Rome last year was on a racecourse, and the Giro, Vuelta and Paris Nice have all finished on motor racing circuits in recent years, so I was wondering what other examples there are of cycling crossing over with other sports?

Edit - Fixed the photo issue

Comments

  • mm1
    mm1 Posts: 1,063
    Maybe not current (unless one views the opera as a sport), but the Giro has had TT stages finish in the Arena at Verona (its been a while since this was last used for chariot races). Similarly, didn't the opening TTT at last year's Vuelta finish in a bullring?
  • SCR Pedro
    SCR Pedro Posts: 912
    Either the Giro or Vuelta (I can't remember which) started on a motorsport race track in the Netherlands a number of years ago. Of course, it was a short prologue, but nevertheless cool.
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  • No_Ta_Doctor
    No_Ta_Doctor Posts: 13,333
    Can I be the first to whinge about mountainbikers on footpaths please?

    Thanks.
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  • deejay
    deejay Posts: 3,138
    No tA Doctor wrote:
    Can I be the first to whinge about mountainbikers on footpaths please?

    Thanks.
    So, where should they be, on Ski Lifts. ??
    Organiser, National Championship 50 mile Time Trial 1972
  • No_Ta_Doctor
    No_Ta_Doctor Posts: 13,333
    deejay wrote:
    No tA Doctor wrote:
    Can I be the first to whinge about mountainbikers on footpaths please?

    Thanks.
    So, where should they be, on Ski Lifts. ??

    Now that would be a cool sport. Ski-lift drag mountain biking.
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  • joelsim
    joelsim Posts: 7,552
    Hope this works.

    https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10152181542777854
  • deejay
    deejay Posts: 3,138
    TakeTheHighRoad wrote:
    and the Giro, Vuelta and Paris Nice have all finished on motor racing circuits in recent years, so I was wondering what other examples there are of cycling crossing over with other sports?
    Before your time maybe but the 1989 TDF Stage 3 finished on the motor racing circuit at Spa-Francochamps.
    World Road Race Champs at Goodwood and Zolder. :wink:
    Organiser, National Championship 50 mile Time Trial 1972
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 40,602
    Eddie Soens, the traditional UK season opener, is held at Aintree (they miss out the jumps though, lightweights). The Manx International RR and Mountain TT both used to take place on the IoM TT motorcycle circuit. Quite a tie up with F1 as per Rick's previous thread. I know Scandinavian cyclists used to use cross country skiing for winter training (think LeMond did too) so maybe the skiers cycle in summer? Then there's Big Maggy who was a downhill skier.
  • FocusZing
    FocusZing Posts: 4,373
    article-2171378-13FFF705000005DC-343_634x417.jpg
    Atukara.jpg
  • the article don
    the article don Posts: 578
    Can I be the first to whinge about mountainbikers on footpaths please?

    Thanks.

    Only if I can be the first to moan about 3 abreast Sunday morning roadie t*ats
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  • tailwindhome
    tailwindhome Posts: 18,941
    Apparently the proposed new velodrome in Ireland includes a Badminton court.
    “New York has the haircuts, London has the trousers, but Belfast has the reason!
  • tailwindhome
    tailwindhome Posts: 18,941
    Some people go for a swim before their bike ride and a run afterwards

    It's mad Ted.
    “New York has the haircuts, London has the trousers, but Belfast has the reason!
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,158
    TailWindHome wrote:
    Apparently the proposed new velodrome in Ireland includes a Badminton court.
    Same with the one in Derby. That'll have a basketball court too.

    I pretty sure they already do badminton at Newport.
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • knedlicky
    knedlicky Posts: 3,097
    Pross wrote:
    I know Scandinavian cyclists used to use cross country skiing for winter training (think LeMond did too) so maybe the skiers cycle in summer? Then there's Big Maggy who was a downhill skier.
    Tony Martin, Marcel Kittel and a few other central European riders do cross-country skiing in winter.
    (The skating style is better training for cyclists, rather than the traditional style in traced trails, partly because the skating routes are likely to include more/steeper up & down sections, and partly because the arms, upper body and legs are slightly differently used when cross-country skating, more suited as cross-training for a cyclist)

    When he was a rider, FDJ DS Marc Madiot used to downhill ski, as he felt it improved his descending skills on a bike.

    In the other direction, Hermann Maier, top Austrian downhill skier about 10 years ago, always rode a racing bike in summer as part of his training. In 2003, he even took part in the TdF prologue, as first rider off, and had he actually been taking part in the Tour, he would been placed 125th in the prologue, i.e. he was faster than 1/3 of the Tour’s real participants.

    Miriam Gössner, the German biathlete, is another skier who rides a racing bike in summer.
    (She missed the Sotchi winter olympics this year because of a crash she had on her bike in summer 2013. Her injuries meant a long lay-off, and by the time of Sotchi she hadn't fully regained her skiing form.
    But that allowed her the chance to pose for Playboy instead!)

    media.facebook.fa894a10-aeb0-4177-936d-4d0a5e6a260b.normalized.jpg
  • knedlicky
    knedlicky Posts: 3,097
    RichN95 wrote:
    TailWindHome wrote:
    Apparently the proposed new velodrome in Ireland includes a Badminton court.
    Same with the one in Derby. That'll have a basketball court too.
    I pretty sure they already do badminton at Newport.
    The old velodrome in Paris was used for a multitude of things – for roller-skating, in winters for ice hockey, during the 1924 Olympics for boxing, fencing, weightlifting, and wrestling, occasionally even for circuses and corridas (bull-fighting), while during WW2 it was where French Jews were rounded up into, before being sent to concentration camps.

    The multi-use aspect seems to be a policy being followed in velodrome design and usage in the USA nowadays, but I don’t have the impression that new velodromes in the UK are being planned to be multi-use, except for perhaps incorporating a couple of 5-a-side football pitches, and/or a badminton court.

    Kylie Minogue did a concert at the Berlin velodrome about 6 years ago, so concerts could be another possible use for velodromes.
  • knedlicky
    knedlicky Posts: 3,097
    Joelsim wrote:
    Hope this works.

    https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10152181542777854
    When I did the Marmotte about a decade ago, one of those taking part wasn’t on a bike but on a city roller, like this:

    trotinette-hudora-city-scooter-hornet.jpg

    On the descents, he went about as fast as the skateboarders in the above link, so he overtook we cyclists then. However, he wasn’t that good going up the climbs, on them only the really slow cyclists taking longer than him.
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,740
    Speed skating & cycling were natural winter/summer combos for a lot of people in Holland in the 60/70/80s.

    Though more for the speed skaters than the cyclists usually.
    _
  • FJS
    FJS Posts: 4,820
    Rick Chasey wrote:
    Speed skating & cycling were natural winter/summer combos for a lot of people in Holland in the 60/70/80s.
    Still. Olympic gold medalspeed skater Sven Kramer has ridden Dutch domestic pro races and he was 2nd in the junior national TT champs some time ago behind Gesink.
    Olympic gold medallist Martina Sablikova is current Czech road and TT champion
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,740
    Did not know that.
    _
  • FJS
    FJS Posts: 4,820
    The Omloop Het Volk used to finish on the service road of the Gent rowing lake
    http://sporza.be/cm/sporza/videozone/re ... 3_HNB_1993

    The Amsterdam 1928 Olympic stadium had a cycling track until at least the 1970s, as well as serving as one of Ajax' home grounds
    londen1908.jpg

    I hear some bike races finish in ski resorts. Not sure about that one
    winterradarnl-pistekaart-L%20Alpe%20d%20Huez-52.jpg
  • shinyhelmut
    shinyhelmut Posts: 1,364
    In the early 90s Bercy velodrome in Paris used to host an indoor triathlon, with a temporary 50m swimming pool in the middle, and a running track between the pool and the velodrome.
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,158
    knedlicky wrote:
    Kylie Minogue did a concert at the Berlin velodrome about 6 years ago, so concerts could be another possible use for velodromes.
    Kraftwerk did a concert at the Manchester Velodrome a few years ago. When they did Tour de France they had some of the GB team riding around the outside. There's footage of it on You Tube somewhere.
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • takethehighroad
    takethehighroad Posts: 6,649
    Search "Kraftwerk Manchester Velodrome 2009" for more videos

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtKkviSTGoU
  • phreak
    phreak Posts: 2,907
    Didn't the Scottish skier Baxter (of failed test fame) try his hand at track cycling for a short time? There was also Eric Heiden who won multiple Olympic medals in speed skating before crossing over to cycling and riding the 1985 Giro and 1986 Tour for the 7-11 team.
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,158
    Olympique Marseille's football stadium is called Stade Velodrome because until the mids 80s it had a cycling track around it.

    And the road cycling events at the Paralympics were held at Brands Hatch
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  • deejay
    deejay Posts: 3,138
    FJS wrote:
    The Omloop Het Volk used to finish on the service road of the Gent rowing lake
    http://sporza.be/cm/sporza/videozone/re ... 3_HNB_1993
    The first Het Volk I went to in 95 finished by that canal and won by Franco Ballerini.
    You have just answered a puzzle I've had since that time about a canal that seemed to go nowhere.
    (Rowing Lake) :lol:
    I was there for all the Lockeren Finishes and until 2011 with Langeveld breaking away in "Mater" to win with the assistance of Flecha catching him.
    It was a nice way to begin a season with 2 races in a weekend.
    Organiser, National Championship 50 mile Time Trial 1972
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 40,602
    Rick Chasey wrote:
    Speed skating & cycling were natural winter/summer combos for a lot of people in Holland in the 60/70/80s.

    Though more for the speed skaters than the cyclists usually.

    Rebecca Romero was looking at it as her third Olympic sport after rowing and the pursuit. Not sure what happened as she's gone for triathlon instead.
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 40,602
    RichN95 wrote:
    TailWindHome wrote:
    Apparently the proposed new velodrome in Ireland includes a Badminton court.
    Same with the one in Derby. That'll have a basketball court too.

    I pretty sure they already do badminton at Newport.

    Yep, and 5 aside. It's a nightmare for beginners trying to listen to a coach.

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