Will final climbs ever be completely barriered off?

phreak
phreak Posts: 2,953
edited July 2015 in Pro race
It's fairly common for the final km of a climb to be barriered off. With the claims that riders are getting abused (again) by a minority of spectators, might we see a sad situation whereby the whole of the final climb is?

Comments

  • durhamwasp
    durhamwasp Posts: 1,247
    Starting with the Alpe unfortunately. Its one thing seeing the awesome atmosphere of cycling fans on a mountain, splitting as the riders race up, but its another with whats going on recently. I fear for the Alpe this year, have a feeling somebody is going to be knocked off, possibly even Froome if he goes solo.
    http://www.snookcycling.wordpress.com - Reports on Cingles du Mont Ventoux, Alpe D'Huez, Galibier, Izoard, Tourmalet, Paris-Roubaix Sportive & Tour of Flanders Sportive, Amstel Gold Xperience, Vosges, C2C, WOTR routes....
  • Mailiot Jaune
    Mailiot Jaune Posts: 22
    catchy thread title :?
  • FJS
    FJS Posts: 4,820
    The urine incident yesterday happened in the first 60 km
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,661
    Merckx got punched in '70s and it was fine for 20 years later.
    _
  • slim_boy_fat
    slim_boy_fat Posts: 1,810
    You could barrier off the whole climb and some idiot will still jump the barrier and do what they are going to do. Can only hope if it does happen it's caught on camera and they are dealt with by the full force of the law.
  • FocusZing
    FocusZing Posts: 4,373
    Hope not it adds to the atmosphere, it would be a shame if some nutter forced it to happen for safety.
  • JackPozzi
    JackPozzi Posts: 1,191
    Couldn't they just issue each rider with a taser to use on any spectator being a dick?
  • mfin
    mfin Posts: 6,729
    Barrier the lot, I want to watch the cycling not cycling fans, 1% are always complete dicks. Half of the rest are just general dicks too. Being behind a barrier on mostly narrow roads of climbs is quite close enough for anyone.
  • thomthom
    thomthom Posts: 3,574
    [url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19656707#p19656707]mfin[/url] wrote:
    Barrier the lot, I want to watch the cycling not cycling fans, 1% are always complete dicks. Half of the rest are just general dicks too. Being behind a barrier on mostly narrow roads of climbs is quite close enough for anyone.

    Barriers have made Arenberg completely unnecessary in Paris-Roubaix to point where no one would notice whether they went through it or not.

    We've all seen what the lack of atmosphere does to a race.

    Watching cycling live is quite poor as it is. Let's not make it even worse..
  • The_Boy
    The_Boy Posts: 3,099
    We don't need barriers, we don't need police. The solution to people behaving like dicks in any walk of life is rarely the drafting of new laws and regulations.

    Ultimately the solution is fairly straight forward:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Bdie8BUEVw
    Team My Man 2018: David gaudu, Pierre Latour, Romain Bardet, Thibaut pinot, Alexandre Geniez, Florian Senechal, Warren Barguil, Benoit Cosnefroy
  • dougzz
    dougzz Posts: 1,833
    [url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19656718#p19656718]ThomThom[/url] wrote:
    Watching cycling live is quite poor as it is. Let's not make it even worse..

    Spot on, all day on a mountain with only what you can carry up, no decent info and short flashes of riders as they go through, no wonder they can't charge for it :)
  • Macaloon
    Macaloon Posts: 5,545
    [url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19656725#p19656725]The_Boy[/url] wrote:
    We don't need barriers, we don't need police. The solution to people behaving like dicks in any walk of life is rarely the drafting of new laws and regulations.

    Ultimately the solution is fairly straight forward:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Bdie8BUEVw

    That's a good solution. Another is to sprinkle a few 'protection' officers in the official/VIP cars and hope to get lucky. The sight of a perpetrator snatched from the roadside and rendered in the broomwagon will nip this in the bud.
    ...a rare 100% loyal Pro Race poster. A poster boy for the community.
  • No_Ta_Doctor
    No_Ta_Doctor Posts: 14,652
    I can't see much being done to protect riders until something really bad happens. I don't think it would be practical at all to fence off the entire Alpe, but more moto outriders might help.

    Ultimately though it's a culture issue, and the only people that can solve it are the fans themselves. That could get quite ugly.
    Warning No formatter is installed for the format
  • NeXXus
    NeXXus Posts: 854
    I would question whether these people are really fans. How many incidents over the years involving fans/cops/photographers is going to be too many? TDF '12- tackgate?

    Even recently, Loren Rowney was shoved off her bike at Drenth and that was a "fan", BEHIND A BARRIER!
    And the people bowed and prayed, to the neon god they made.
  • redvision
    redvision Posts: 2,958
    Even a barrier doesn't stop things being thrown.

    I think the answer is policing and more race staff lining the climbs, although that of course costs.
    Plus, no matter how many stewards you have, there is always one loon who gets by them (how many pitch invaders do we see in football?!!)
  • The_Boy
    The_Boy Posts: 3,099
    [url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19656762#p19656762]No tA Doctor[/url] wrote:
    I can't see much being done to protect riders until something really bad happens. I don't think it would be practical at all to fence off the entire Alpe, but more moto outriders might help.

    Ultimately though it's a culture issue, and the only people that can solve it are the fans themselves. That could get quite ugly.

    I agree it *could* get quite ugly, but in reality I imagine not. I genuinely believe that the vast majority of people lining the roadside aren't dicks. Crowds can be incredibly powerful forces at controlling behaviour, and I'm not necessarily talking about physically standing up to them like the tripper in the vid I posted did.
    Team My Man 2018: David gaudu, Pierre Latour, Romain Bardet, Thibaut pinot, Alexandre Geniez, Florian Senechal, Warren Barguil, Benoit Cosnefroy
  • The_Boy
    The_Boy Posts: 3,099
    To borrow from nudge theory, perhaps some subtle signage might be effective?

    10982131_10153419716898604_3300733672384876879_n.png?oh=9189845f79a8e5de069a24f81126c285&oe=56515847
    Team My Man 2018: David gaudu, Pierre Latour, Romain Bardet, Thibaut pinot, Alexandre Geniez, Florian Senechal, Warren Barguil, Benoit Cosnefroy
  • No_Ta_Doctor
    No_Ta_Doctor Posts: 14,652
    [url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19656792#p19656792]The_Boy[/url] wrote:
    To borrow from nudge theory, perhaps some subtle signage might be effective?

    10982131_10153419716898604_3300733672384876879_n.png?oh=9189845f79a8e5de069a24f81126c285&oe=56515847

    Something like that on the plastic pint glasses might be useful.
    Warning No formatter is installed for the format
  • ben@31
    ben@31 Posts: 2,327
    Do they not have event marshals lining the route on very popular sections? A security guy every 50m or so ? If football can manage getting 100's of security guards, I'm sure everyone else can. They wouldn't be a shortage of volunteers.
    "The Prince of Wales is now the King of France" - Calton Kirby
  • The_Boy
    The_Boy Posts: 3,099
    [url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19656851#p19656851]No tA Doctor[/url] wrote:
    [url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19656792#p19656792]The_Boy[/url] wrote:
    To borrow from nudge theory, perhaps some subtle signage might be effective?

    10982131_10153419716898604_3300733672384876879_n.png?oh=9189845f79a8e5de069a24f81126c285&oe=56515847

    Something like that on the plastic pint glasses might be useful.



    Ooooh. On the bottom of point glasses so people see it every time they take a drink? Subliminal, like.
    Team My Man 2018: David gaudu, Pierre Latour, Romain Bardet, Thibaut pinot, Alexandre Geniez, Florian Senechal, Warren Barguil, Benoit Cosnefroy
  • DeVlaeminck
    DeVlaeminck Posts: 9,104
    The understanding should be that the fans stay off the road - unfortunately we are so far away from that it would be almost impossible to change the culture so that happened - Yorkshire was probably worse for this than France simply because even small climbs were mobbed.

    I don't know what the answer is - fans policing fans would certainly help - as would police/marshalls snatching a few runners off the roads - might seem heavy handed but it would make a statement that it's not acceptable and those who just join in because others are doing it would think twice. They need to do it on less busy climbs too - even those where it doesn't cause a major problem because like training a dog or teaching a child you need consistency ! Some may say it's curmudgeonly but I want to watch the racing and having fans on the road obstructing riders either through idiocy or weight of numbers adds nothing and if they all stood back they'd all get a better view anyway.

    From a personal point of view I prefer descent finishes anyway so I'd be quite happy if the Alpe was followed by a descent of the Sarenne and a finish in Bourg.
    [Castle Donington Ladies FC - going up in '22]
  • fleshtuxedo
    fleshtuxedo Posts: 1,858
    I'm another that would like to see people being snatched and driven off in police vans. Just a few specially selected idiots running in front of riders or being annoying. If this can be given exaggerated coverage a few times then I think even the bellest of ends will think twice. The miscreants could be driven to the top of a deserted nearby mountain and deposited there to make their own way home.
  • above_the_cows
    above_the_cows Posts: 11,406
    [url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19657018#p19657018]FleshTuxedo[/url] wrote:
    I'm another that would like to see people being snatched and driven off in police vans. Just a few specially selected idiots running in front of riders or being annoying. If this can be given exaggerated coverage a few times then I think even the bellest of ends will think twice. The miscreants could be driven to the top of a deserted nearby mountain and deposited there to make their own way home.

    I think as an exercise in pre-emptively getting people to police their own behaviour this is the most realistic and potentially effective option.

    An alternative punishment is they will be attached by a rope around the neck and made to run the route of the next day's stage behind Cheng Ji.
    Correlation is not causation.
  • DeVlaeminck
    DeVlaeminck Posts: 9,104
    I'd love to see a few up in court the next day in the mankini they were arrested in.
    [Castle Donington Ladies FC - going up in '22]

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