Sean Kelly has said he was shocked to see the Covid19 crisis develop so quickly that many of the biggest races of the year were not run, but he believed the sport could bounce back.
However, the former world number one, Vuelta winner and
nine-time monument winner said cycling’s landscape may be changed forever with
some races likely set to go out of business if they were not run this year.
But he believed cycling would return in coming weeks or
months for a season that could finish in November of a short and hectic period
of competition.
He was also pleased Ireland’s five WorldTour pros had
contracts beyond this year, saying at least that took some pressure off them.
“I’d say we will get back racing,” he told stickybottle
when asked if he believed substantive pro racing would happen again this year.
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“It will depend in the next two to three weeks, that’ll indicate where we are going, where this virus is going to go. Is it going to plateau and then ease off? But we just don’t know. And that unknown is the problem for everybody now of course."
Sean Kelly continued: “The pro bike riders don’t know what to do at the moment. How much do you train, if you are allowed to train? And that’s another factor of course; if you look at Spain and some of the other countries it’s lockdown whereas in Belgium it’s still free for all to ride for whatever distance you like.
“And it’s the same I think in the UK and Northern
Ireland; you can ride your bike for three or four hours a number of times in a
week. So you could do that and so a small bit of intensity in the next few
weeks and just wait and see.”
Kelly believes the difference in training opportunities
available to pro cyclists in Europe and other parts of the world will influence
how professional racing returns after Covid19, adding he would expect a
one-month notice period before pro racing began again.
“You’ll have to give everyone, everywhere, a number of
weeks from the time (restrictions are lifted) before racing starts again, you’d
have to give everyone a minimum amount of time,” he said.
“Riders will need time to get ready to race again, that’s
something the UCI will be looking at. Even within each pro team, with all the
nationalities, some of the team will be stuck indoors and others will be riding
on the roads.”
Kelly said there will also be a big difference in the way
some pro riders cope with only being able to train indoors; some having no
problem continuing with quality training while others not proving as able to
adapt.
“But they will all do quite a lot on the turbo; many
hours,” he said of the pros. “But some guys, even though it’s their job, they
struggle on the turbo.
“Some riders still able to train on the road; they can
come back and be ready pretty much straight away to race again. But I think you
would have to give all the riders three weeks, maybe for weeks, to get ready to
race again.
“I think the UCI will do that and I expect them to do it. It would give everybody a chance to get to a level to get into a race and get around a race; even if you haven’t been able to train on the road as much as riders in Belgium and the UK.”
Kelly said he expected the current Covid19 measures set
to expire next Sunday in Ireland would be extended, probably for another two
weeks.
And those extensions by some countries would widen the
gap in quality training between riders in different countries.
“Nowadays riders are able to plan so much with their
training and with their coaches and they can work it so well because they have
been doing it since junior level. It’s all about programming yourself to use a certain
number of weeks and get everything right to target certain events.
“And that’s the problem now; they can’t make any plans
like that because there are so many unknowns.”
Asked what the chances were of having three Grand Tours
run in 2020 he replied: “It’s difficult to see. It’s difficult to see a Tour de
France in July.
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“I think the Tour will go ahead this year. But how late
will that be; because the Tour will get preference once we know where we are
going. Once we know (when racing will return) the Tour will say ‘right, we’re
going head in August’ or they’ll say the ‘second week of August’ or whatever
date it might be.
“And once they say that; do you have the Giro and Vuelta
going ahead immediately after that? It’s difficult to see the big three tours
all going ahead. But if they do, then the monuments will take a big hit because
you won’t have time to fit them in.”
Kelly said the UCI would now be forced to contend with
the organisers of many historic races making the case their event is so
significant in pro cycling it must get a date on what remains of the calendar.
But he did not believe any of the Grand Tours would go
ahead for two weeks rather than the usual three, as has been suggested by some.
“They’ll all want to be three weeks. You might see them
all packed in together and if that happened it would give everybody the chance
to race,” he said, as the same riders could not double up on Grand Tours packed
in closely together.
“So that would be a good thing. But if you do that you
will struggle to get the monuments in. And even some of the races that are semi
classics in Belgium, they will all want to go ahead this year. So you could see
racing overlapping.
“That would be a good thing for a lot of riders to get
racing in before the end of the year, but it would be very intense for teams
and for staff.”
Kelly believed the season could be significantly
extended, perhaps even into November. And he did not believe such a long
extension would adversely impact the start of the 2021 season.
“Riders are getting so much time off now between races I
don’t think they’d be overly concerned to see the season extended,” he said.
“And I could see that happening; that the season would be
extended to the end of October and even into November.
“But then again, they won’t have been racing at the start
of the year much. And even if they raced on for much later in the year, you
just take a bit of time off and I don’t see it being a problem for anybody.”
He said the finances of the sport and teams being unable
to pay riders, asking them to take put cuts and some smaller stage races
suffering was “a very big mess” to the extent some races would go out of business
and be lost.
“Some of these races, they were just surviving on the
budget. Even some of the bigger ones; some organisations with a number of races
will be in real difficulty if they can’t hold their races this year.”
Kelly added it was inevitable team sponsors would now be
unhappy because the suspension of racing meant the exposure they were paying
for was not happening. And so it was not surprising that some teams had already
cut or delayed salary payments.
“Some (sponsors) will be more difficult than others; that’s
a guarantee. And you will have individual cases where teams and managers will
need to speak to sponsors, see how far they are willing to go (financially) and
then cut your cloth from there.
“A lot of riders can take a substantial pay cut because
they are making very big money. But other riders are on a minimum contract and
it’s hard to cut those guys, and the team staff whose salaries wouldn’t be great.”
Asked about Ryan Mullen, Nicolas Roche, Dan Martin, Eddie
Dunbar and Sam Bennett; Kelly said it was an important season for all of them
and it was unfortunate they were losing racing opportunities.
However, all of the big five Irish riders had contracts
that carried them beyond the current season, something Kelly said was fortunate
for them as for those chasing a new contract the current situation would be
even harder.
“But (the Irish riders) all had their own targets and now
that’s all up in the air. They just need to keep ticking over and then try and
get those results later in the year.
“There will be an awful lot of riders trying to do that
of course; a lot of riders will be out of contract so it will be interesting
racing. And then you have to consider how many races we will have; it’s
important for everyone to get races.”
Kelly added riders capable of winning races or performing very well, should get plenty of racing opportunities once competition resumes. But for others, chances to race may be at a premium because the season will be shorter.
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