Tour of Qatar cancelled

iainf72
iainf72 Posts: 15,784
edited December 2016 in Pro race
Whole thing cancelled this year - Difficulty in attracting a sponsor.

Great pity, it's the best Middle East race.
Fckin' Quintana … that creep can roll, man.
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Comments

  • Surprised. I assumed that race was solid, future-wise.

    Curveball for Classics prep
  • ocdupalais
    ocdupalais Posts: 4,224
    That's inconvenient for the 4 spectators who will need to rethink their plans in Feb.
  • OCDuPalais wrote:
    That's inconvenient for the 4 spectators who will need to rethink their plans in Feb.


    Sure the hundreds of thousands who line the streets for early season races in France, Spain & Portugal will make up for them :P
  • smithy21
    smithy21 Posts: 2,204
    Didn't think the races in the Middle East actually relied on sponsorship. I assumed the local govt just bunged them a wad of cash.
  • gweeds
    gweeds Posts: 2,549
    The sponsors probably watched the joke that was the Worlds and thought 'sod that'.
    Napoleon, don't be jealous that I've been chatting online with babes all day. Besides, we both know that I'm training to be a cage fighter.
  • Presumably promotion to the WT increased the costs.
    Hasn't Oman already folded, too?
    Of course the historical, early season stage races in S Italy are no longer around to pick up the slack.
    Globalisation is a double edged sword.
    "Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
  • Sh**ty little race in a sh**ty little country populated by backwards sh*ts.

    No loss.
  • Rigga
    Rigga Posts: 939
    Oh well, never mind.
  • UK Cycling Expert -
    First they announce the Tour of Cattarh is cancelled, now Sir Wiggins announces his retirement. Coincidence???
  • smoggysteve
    smoggysteve Posts: 2,909
    Sh**ty little race in a sh**ty little country populated by backwards sh*ts.

    No loss.

    I agree but I'm sure the teams will look at it differently if it effects revenue. Some of these $hitty little races help keep the smaller teams ticking over.
  • iainf72
    iainf72 Posts: 15,784
    Remember it's an ASO race too. Maybe part of their proxy war with the UCI?

    Starting to find the obsession with roadside spectators a bit odd though. A good cross wind in Qatar a lot more interesting than 20K people standing around screaming, no?
    Fckin' Quintana … that creep can roll, man.
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,137
    Sh**ty little race in a sh**ty little country populated by backwards sh*ts.

    No loss.
    Personally, I thought it ws a decent pre-season race which had its own character and had found a relevant place in the calendar.
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,236
    iainf72 wrote:

    Starting to find the obsession with roadside spectators a bit odd though. A good cross wind in Qatar a lot more interesting than 20K people standing around screaming, no?

    Here here.
  • awavey
    awavey Posts: 2,368
    iainf72 wrote:

    Starting to find the obsession with roadside spectators a bit odd though. A good cross wind in Qatar a lot more interesting than 20K people standing around screaming, no?

    Here here.

    where where ? as has been claimed for many years the reason Womens races dont attract the big sponsors, and therefore the big money into the sport, is because of the perceived lack of spectators.

    Without spectators looking at the ads either on the riders or the ads that supposedly promote the race, its just businesses chucking money away for the sake of it, most businesses arent that altruistic, they expect a return for their investment take the spectators away, you take the money for these teams away.

    and as per the World Championship team time trials,certainly alot of the womens race teams cant afford to fly and stay in places like Qatar if its funded by themselves alone, if their sponsorship return amounts to just two spectators and a dog watching, you cant even pretend its a way for businesses to schmooze guests and secure business deals as most of those motor races they hold in places like that sole purpose is now, because none of the corporate entities are interested in cycling over there.

    so yeah you might complain 20k spectators can be annoying, and the belgian classics a bit boring sometimes, but they generate a damn sight more cash for sponsors than a training ride in the desert.
  • ddraver
    ddraver Posts: 26,348
    Surely the only question this raises is how does the Tommeke Classics Season Form Predictor (TM) work now???
    We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
    - @ddraver
  • I'd watch almost anything, but drew the line at tour of Qatar. Never found it interesting. Sometimes it broke up so there were less people to sprint, and I didn't care either way.

    It does make a difference when there's only two people at the finish, it makes a pointless race seem even more pointless.
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,236
    ddraver wrote:
    Surely the only question this raises is how does the Tommeke Classics Season Form Predictor (TM) work now???

    I imagine it still stands.

    Don't win Qatar, don't do much...
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,236
    I'd watch almost anything, but drew the line at tour of Qatar. Never found it interesting. Sometimes it broke up so there were less people to sprint, and I didn't care either way. .

    Either you didn't watch the right stages or you don't know decent racing when it's there :P
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,236
    awavey wrote:
    iainf72 wrote:

    Starting to find the obsession with roadside spectators a bit odd though. A good cross wind in Qatar a lot more interesting than 20K people standing around screaming, no?

    Here here.

    where where ? as has been claimed for many years the reason Womens races dont attract the big sponsors, and therefore the big money into the sport, is because of the perceived lack of spectators.
    ..

    No it's the people watching on telly that matters. Unless the roadside lot are paying for the privilege.
  • gweeds
    gweeds Posts: 2,549
    No sponsor wants to see an empty stadium.
    Napoleon, don't be jealous that I've been chatting online with babes all day. Besides, we both know that I'm training to be a cage fighter.
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,236
    Gweeds wrote:
    No sponsor wants to see an empty stadium.

    It'll no doubt be down to persistent low oil prices.

    The deal the govt strike with the population in places like Qatar is the population will tolerate an autocratic family in charge in return for lavishing the locals with highly paid easy jobs, ultra low taxes an generous subsidies on domestic consumption.

    That structure is under pressure with current prices so they need to cut back the fripperies.
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,236
    edited December 2016
    I doubt quick step gives a sh!t whether they get decent roadside crowds or not in Qatar, for example.
  • iainf72
    iainf72 Posts: 15,784
    Gweeds wrote:
    No sponsor wants to see an empty stadium.

    Do sponsors who don't operate in the market give a flying f about empty stadiums? I expect they care about it being on the TV, in the press in the countries they operate in.
    Fckin' Quintana … that creep can roll, man.
  • iainf72
    iainf72 Posts: 15,784
    Fckin' Quintana … that creep can roll, man.
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,137
    ddraver wrote:
    Surely the only question this raises is how does the Tommeke Classics Season Form Predictor (TM) work now???
    As the discoverer of the Boonen-Qatar formula, I can state that the retirement of the Tour of Qatar will align with the retirement of Tommeke - therefore proving the theorem beyond doubt. If there was a Nobel Prize for cycling theory, I'd be booking my flight to Stockholm.
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • Can't say I'm sad about this, the reasons for having any race in the Middle East are pretty thin. Hopefully the rest will soon follow.
  • smoggysteve
    smoggysteve Posts: 2,909
    Gweeds wrote:
    No sponsor wants to see an empty stadium.

    Big problem when

    1. Road cycling doesn't happen in stadiums (last laps of Paris Roubaix excepted)

    2. None of the fans pay to watch

    3. Fans are starting to get a little annoying when the road ramps up.

    If your image of cycling fans are from the narrow screaming lunatics on the Alpe D'huez then I think most TV executives are going to be sorely disappointed at the reality of nearly all other road cycling where you don't get massiive crowds for mile after mile on the flat. Even in the Classics you only get the big congregations in the areas the cyclist's are climbing of going slower around narrow streets or in a closed loop. Apart from that its sparsely populated. Maybe the odd person stood outside their house cheering them on for the 30 seconds it takes to whizz past.

    I would prefer to see exciting racing and although I don't like Qatar's record, the World Championship race was exciting when the break occurred leaving half the favourites behind and seeing the Germans spit their collective dummies out. It was more like the sort of racing you see in Holland or Belgium with cutting crosswinds. I don't get what a few people stood on the side of the road would have added to that.
  • mugensi
    mugensi Posts: 559
    I was surprised to hear this as I assumed (wrongly) that some oil rich billionaires funded the race each year as with most things in many Arab states...ah well, I always found it very boring to watch.
  • ocdupalais
    ocdupalais Posts: 4,224
    No spectators in a spectator sport is an embarrassing distraction - and it's virtually impossible to shoot around.
    We can happily watch a musical performance that has no real audience (i.e. Later With Jools, or the filming of a recording), but if you saw a gig with no crowd it just feels weird.
    If I'm watching a brilliant performance on TV - either on the road or on stage- a big part of that experience is imagining what it would be like to be there sharing it with those around me.
    Being able to say "I was there" is at the heart of most recorded and social media content since their inceptions.
    Qatar never stopped feeling weird.
  • iainf72
    iainf72 Posts: 15,784
      OCDuPalais wrote:
      No spectators in a spectator sport is an embarrassing distraction - and it's virtually impossible to shoot around.
      We can happily watch a musical performance that has no real audience (i.e. Later With Jools, or the filming of a recording), but if you saw a gig with no crowd it just feels weird.
      If I'm watching a brilliant performance on TV - either on the road or on stage- a big part of that experience is imagining what it would be like to be there sharing it with those around me.
      Being able to say "I was there" is at the heart of most recorded and social media content since their inceptions.
      Qatar never stopped feeling weird.

      If we continue that analogy, the TV version of watching a cycling race offers a vastly superior experience to watching it on the road (from a sporting perspective) where as watching music live is always a better experience than watching it on TV.

      If the TV coverage is good and the racing is good, lack of people standing on the roadside should have no impact IMO.

      Qatar worlds had a lot more exciting racing than Copenhagen, but was Copenhagen better for huge crowds?
      Fckin' Quintana … that creep can roll, man.