[banners_ad id=136]
Cycling’s shift towards data and apps like Strava is contributing to the crashes we have seen on the Tour de France's opening stages, WorldTour rider Mitch Docker believes.
The Australian, who rides with EF Education Nippo and has been a pro since 2006, said the route into pro cycling had changed during his time in the sport. He added the way teams were identifying talent was also different now.
His remarks are interesting as his career spans the period in which data has become so important in all aspects of cycling; from power meters to Strava and Zwift, among other data-based tools and apps. The last five years in particular have witnessed a huge shift towards indoor training and data, even for those very new to cycling.
Advertisement
Docker (34), who will retire after this year's Paris-Roubaix, believes there has been a greater emphasis on judging riders by their data. This, he says, has been done at the expense of considering riders' ability to win races, their bike handling and general race craft.
And because of that, Docker believes riders who have very big engines but are not proven winners, race tacticians or expert bike handlers are making it into top teams at a rate never seen before.
He is convinced the higher number of riders with big engines, but poor bike handling skills, in the bunch is helping to contribute to the rate of crashes at the Tour, where rider bike handling and general race craft is really put to the test.
However, he also believes there are many other factors that also contribute to the mass pile-ups, especially at the Tour as it is so important and everyone is so keen to do well and stay at the front.
“The peloton is changing,” he said on The Cycling Podcast. “And what I mean by that is… the feeling I used to have is people got into the (pro) peloton because they were winners. And the way they were winners – and I’m generalising here – is that they learned how to race as a junior.
“And then you worked your way up the ranks. And, yes, you had good data. But it wasn’t all about data. If you could win a race and have shit data, that didn’t matter; no one knew about that data, you just won a race.
Related News
“And you learned race skills, you learned race craft, you learned how to win. And when you came into the WorldTour, you knew how to race. You’d learned your skill, you’d learned your trade.
“What I think has been happening over the years, with the access to data; SRM, Strava, whatever it might be… people are finding these engines,” he said of pro teams identifying talent based on data, citing Primoz Roglic as an example.
“He’s been in the peloton since 2013, so he’s been there for a while. But he didn’t grow up as a cyclist, and he’s just one rider. But when you grow up as a cyclist you learn how to race; this race craft, this skill as a junior. It becomes part of you and you understand how to race.
“When you put a whole bunch together now of… let’s say 50 per cent of the guys who haven’t raced as much as the other 50 per cent. And it starts to get sketchy... guys are certainly strong enough (to be pros) but have they got the race craft?
“A lot of guys have got the power to be in the peloton but they don’t necessarily have the skill; that’s my feeling about what’s changed over the years."
He added "the racing has got faster and there’s stress in the race radio" in the riders ears on races, as well as a whole host of other reasons why there may be more crashes. But he was convinced there was a lack of skill among more and more pros because they were fast-tracked in the pro ranks based on their data.
He felt this was a big factor in causing crashes and it was being overlooked in the media's analysis of why there have been so many crashes at the Tour, even though not all the incidents could be blamed on poor bike handling.
“To back all that (power) up, the riders don’t have enough skill to handle all that. And that is, I think, the missing element,” he said, adding the Tour route so far had not been “overly dangerous”.
He said riders needed to “regain the race craft” and wondered if it was wise for teams to sign riders based on power output and the size of their engines while overlooking the other basic requirements of being a pro.
“Now (for teams looking for talent) it’s a question of ‘have they got the engine, have they got the power? OK, he’ll learn how to race once he comes into the WorldTour’. And now we’re seeing the results of that.”
Topics
