Suspense. It defines the thrill of watching a bike race. Johan Van Summeren, his deflated rear tire clanging over the last secteurs of cobblestones in Paris-Roubaix with Fabian Cancellara breathing down his back; Laurent Fignon snatching seconds from Greg LeMond on each mountaintop finish, as LeMond snatches those same seconds back in the time trials. From the spectators standpoint at least, suspense categorically defines good bike racing.
Bike racing is a monumentally difficult sport, with even the one-day races representing a magnificent display of endurance. Many one-day races are 200 or more kilometers over difficult terrain and in awful weather, where riders need to be fit, strong, and alert at all times during a competition that lasts upwards of six hours. Grand Tours distinguish themselves by aggregating the challenges from the one-day races into a three-week event; their sheer length cause riders to not only battle each other but themselves as fatigue creeps in, brought on by racing twenty days along windy coastal roads, over high mountains – in baking heat or torrential rain. Simply finishing a Grand Tour labels a rider as a “Giant of the Road”, the designation given to those few who were good enough and hard enough to endure this ultimate test of determination and stamina. Those who manage to win one will be defined by the accomplishment for the remainder of their career and, quite possibly, their lives. The V, brought to life and personified in each one of them.
Historically, one of the distinguishing factors of Grand Tour contenders has been their superiority over their rivals in one discipline or another, while typically being bested in another discipline. The Grimpeur who soars over the mountains shows weakness when they go contre la montre. The Rouleur who gains an advantage in the time trials struggles to limit their losses over the high passes. The route, the terrain, their weaknesses, and their ability to respond to the tactics of each stage characterizes the three-week struggle for domination. There is no other event on Earth like it.
The grimpeur versus the rouleur has been the Grand Tour’s great struggle, for what Merckx giveth in the Mountains, Merckx taketh away in the Time Trial. The emaciated body that the climber uses to float up the steepest gradients is little more than a waifish weather vane in the time trails where sheer strength and power are the keys to success. Conversely, the additional body mass required to generate time trial-winning power becomes an anchor when pointed uphill, allowing gravity and physics to do their cruel work.
Where in the past we’ve seen riders who could ride amongst the best in both the mountains as well as the time trials, these riders were never the dominant figure in either of both disciplines. Anquetil was strong in the time trials but struggled in the mountains – the same goes for Indurain. Hinault, LeMond, and Ullrich were strong in the time trails and, while good climbers, were always bested by others on the high passes. Fignon and Pantani could take time away from their rivals on the vicious slopes of the high mountains, but struggled to maintain their advantage in the time trials. It all came together to form a ferocious battle of riders pitting their strengths against their rivals’ weaknesses, and their rivals coming back to do the same another day when conditions were more in their favor.
Yet, in the last decade, we’ve seen an alarming shift in the qualities of some top Grand Tour contenders. With Lance Armstrong and Alberto Contador, we have seen a new class of rider who is the best climber in the world while also the best time trialist; while an awesome display of skill, it puts paid to the excitement of watching a Grand Tour unfold. Each of Armstrong’s wins came at the hands of devastating mountaintop wins coupled with domination in the Time Trials. Similarly, Contador’s 2009 record-setting VAM (Vertical Ascension in Meters) on the climb of Verbiér came alongside his defeat of World-Champion time trialist, Fabian Cancellara, his frail climber’s body managing to best the most powerful rider in the peloton.
Whatever lies at the root of this transformation, it seems these riders have found a way to abolish their weakness in these opposed disciplines, and can execute their race plans with surgical, three-week precision. With that precision comes the death of the Grand Tour; for it is the weakness of our heros that lends us the opportunity to revel in the thrill of their victories. Without that weakness, we have gained an impressive show of dominance, and lost the spectacle of suspense.
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@Pedale.Forchetta
Are you going to be up in Santa Barbara? If so, I'd be honored to show you around. Buon Viaggio PF!
@Xponti
Com'on Sammy, dance on those pedals! George, for chrissakes, win a stage. It's been awhile (I understand, I'm old too. Very V). Maybe cuddles will give you a day. Bring it Tyler. Lookin' for a home-state guy to excise some demons. Ivan, I can't say that your fun to watch most times, but you gotta give clenbutador a hard time, so the other boys can sort it out. Brother Grimpeur the Younger: while it goes against the physics of going uphill, put on a couple pounds buddy. I think you'll get faster. Keep up the good fight!
Is it the case that we're seeing more and more mountain stages? It seems every year they add more climbing but keep TT stages about the same.
Maybe a couple of 80k TTs would level it out!!
Do you think it also has something to do with the fact that riders seem to specialise in the GTs, especially in the post-Armstrong era, even post-Indurain.
The former contenders you mention were often also riding and winning the classics and other races. It wasn't all about one Tour. Therefore they would have been less able to maintain their performance over three weeks.
Whereas now the top GC contenders build their entire season and their entire team around a single race, or at most two. That must go some way to explaining better performance in a wider range of disciplines.
Plus doping of course.
Indurain didn't struggle that badly in the climbs - he was routinely second or third on almost all of the big mountain stages of the Tours he won, and it could be argued he could have claimed a few if he wasn't such a gift-giver!
Wow, nice one, Frank!
As a relatively new follower of PRO cycling it still amazes me how a rider could be so very, very good, a better cyclist than anyone most of us will ever pedal with, but still be far behind a climber if a TTer, or the other way around. I gain even more respect for these lads when I realize how challenging it is to be god in numerous disciplines.
I think it's about specialization, sports science (bikes, wind tunnels, I don't mean drugs) and sniping just a few races to truly race each year.
Bring back the Grand Tour!
@Oli
Oh, it's good to be sparring with you again, old friend. It's like Vader and Oli-Wan meeting again on The Death Star.
Indurain struggled like a bat trying to read War and Peace. He said so himself. Hanging with Cappuccino and Virenque was almost the death of him, by his own account. That's not to be confused with successfully making it up with the front-runners by the sheer force of The V. In fact, he was quite a good climber, winning mountain stages when he was younger, so he could absolutely get over the hills.
The point I was trying to make, perhaps poorly, was that his strength was the Time Trials where he was unmatched, while in comparison to the best climbers - not just the other GC contenders - he struggled. When it came to climbing he was in a different class than the true mountain goats.
And, before you point it out, Anquetil, while a worse climber than Indurain, could also hold his own up the hills...the battle on Puy du Dome comes to mind.
@Oli
Sure, although I meant in the sense of a dominant rider who really specialised in the TDF, although Indurain also did the Giro of course.
Just posing the question about how much you can contrast the more all-round GT performances of modern riders, given the very different schedules and aims of riders pre-90s.
Then there is the Cyclops - he doesn't climb well, he doesn't TT well, and he's not a Rouleur - but at least his socks match.
excellently said frank
i agree with what your saying in terms of the Grimpeur, the Rouleur, and all.
There are absolutes that make the differences. Its mass. period. Mass cannnot drag its ass over mtn tops like the thin air. Oxygenation, VO2's perfusion ratio's, and all these variables are sunk by mass in the altitude. The old saying that losing weight was the quickest and cheapest way to buy speed is a fact, but there is a breaking point obviously when you can't hold it on the rolling stretches and that power is compromised at some point.
Cuntoder has transcended this as you alude to, and i think too he is doping better than ever by the evidence of his Giro performance. He was magnificent, one man'd it and really didn't need much from his team at all. And that simply isn't human.
Schlicks however, look very human, almost quirkey in their last TT's as they tuned up, so that may be the bone of contention amongst them all, the last TT. by no accident btw, the french love the crescendo on the way to Paris.
Cuddles is a very good all arounder, not spectacular in the mtns, but can hang and then is a very apt TT.
and...where is Wiggo in all this? right. He will get dropped on stage 12 like a bad smell.
then there is Horner, my dark horse...on retirementshack, its his last real chance to do anything at the prom, and unmarked, he may do remarkable things? will see.