A Scandinavian wins Paris - Roubaix. But did anyone there notice it?

[Davide Tosi]

Yesterday, 29 years old Swede Magnus Backstedt won the
most important classic bicycles race, the Paris - Roubaix.
Such an achievement would lead to a great appreciation at
home for someone coming from Flanders, Tuscany or almost
any other place in the Central or Southern parts of
Continental Europe.

For the Scandinavian public, this achievement should be even
more great news since this is the first time that someone
coming from above the Baltic sea won one of the immortal
"Monument" cycling classics. But today it was very difficult
to find even just a mention of this marvellous
accomplishment in Scandinavian newspapers.

This leads me to a reflection: is it good for cycling to let
into those great races riders coming from places were this
sport is not popular at all? With more "Backstedts" winning
Monument races, the risk is that the local crowds in
Flanders, Lombardy and wherever else those races take place
will eventually get disaffected by this trend and start
skipping to attend them. Probably even the sponsors will
experience a decrease in return to exposition. Sure wheels
producer Alessio didn't gain as many new customers with
Backstedts win as it would have with i.e. Venetian rider
Baldato taking the top spot instead.

It just seems to me that the UCI (Union of International
Cycling) dream of cycling becoming a worldwide popular sport
is just a utopia without any chance of ever getting real.
Even with other dozens of Scandinavian winning classic
races, cycling will ever remain a fringe sport up there. It
should be better to restrict the partecipation in them to
riders coming from the usual 6-7 traditional Central and
Southern European countries.

 

[Tom Kunich]

"Davide Tosi" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> With more "Backstedts" winning Monument races, the risk is
> that the local crowds in Flanders, Lombardy and wherever
> else those races take place will eventually get
> disaffected by this trend and start skipping to attend
them.

Come on Davide, you know that every couple of years the
impossible happens and everyone in northern France shakes
their heads. It isn't as if cycling is all that big in
France anyway.

 

[Nev Shea]

[email protected] (Davide Tosi) wrote in
news:[email protected]:

> For the Scandinavian public, this achievement should be
> even more great news since this is the first time that
> someone coming from above the Baltic sea won one of the
> immortal "Monument" cycling classics. But today it was
> very difficult to find even just a mention of this
> marvellous accomplishment in Scandinavian newspapers.
>
> This leads me to a reflection: is it good for cycling to
> let into those great races riders coming from places were
> this sport is not popular at all?

No, because it makes the traditional cycling powers look
like a bunch of pussies when they get their asses kicked,
and the folks in the rider's home country don't appreciate
it. Just look at Tyler Hamilton's LBL win last year -- the
US news media couldn't care less.

However -- I have a proposal the UCI should adapt that can
remedy this sorry state of affairs. All the riders from
outside the traditional cycling countries need something to
get the media to take notice -- add sizzle to the story. Did
people in the US care about Armstrong the cyclist? NO! Give
him cancer though, and he is the media darling; throw in a
divorce and banging movie stars and pop singers, and he
keeps his name in the headlines. And of course, this is
supported by the fact that the fans haven't stopped watching
the TDF as we would expect from your original theory.

Similarly, Tyler Hamilton didn't become newsworthy until he
rode the TDF with a broken collarbone -- even finishing 2nd
in the Giro bandaged like a mummy got no media attention at
all. Lemond was just a little ****** on a bike until he got
shot -- then the US media could do sappy pieces on his
struggle to recover from near death. Vinokourov becomes
interesting because of Kivelev's death; David Millar has it
for being "mentally fragile" . . . and if by chance Hincapie
were to win a classic, perhaps he can announce he has
leprosy or something.

Now, I hope the UCI puts me on the payroll for this.

NS

 

[Amit]

[email protected] (Davide Tosi) wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...

> This leads me to a reflection: is it good for cycling to
> let into those great races riders coming from places were
> this sport is not popular at all?

dumbass, no one "let's in" anyone. anyone can get a UCI
license and if they are good enough become a euro pro.
magnus was signed by an italian team based on his results
and reputation. he won PR with his skill and power -- sorry
if this isn't scripted they way you'd like it

> With more "Backstedts" winning Monument races, the risk
> is that the local crowds in Flanders, Lombardy and
> wherever else those races take place will eventually
> get disaffected by this trend and start skipping to
> attend them.

that would be shitty for them

> Probably even the sponsors will experience a decrease in
> return to exposition. Sure wheels producer Alessio didn't
> gain as many new customers with Backstedts win as it would
> have with i.e. Venetian rider Baldato taking the top spot
> instead.
>

maybe it's alessio's fault because they decided to field a
masters team in div I instead of getting some young riders.

 

[Henrik Jensen]

"Davide Tosi" <[email protected]> skrev i en meddelelse
news:[email protected].

...snipped....

Backstedts victory was certainly noticed and covered in the
papers/media here in Denmark. Furthermore, we had Frank Høj
finishing 10. (and 8th in Flanders) which was also covered
as much as anyone could wish in the Danish papers.

Hell, we were even cheering for Bartoli who also had a flat
with a few K's to go. Riis was certain he would have been
one of the top riders if it hadn't been for that bad luck.
Bartoli will take a win in one of the upcoming races
according to Riis in the Danish newspapers, so we are
noticing cycling here in Scandinavia...

Did you check the German media if anyone is noticing the
victories of Jaksche, Voigt, Zabel, Wesemann... (Ullrich in
a few months)?

HB

 

[Davide Tosi]

Dalla voce di "Tom Kunich" <[email protected]>, eresiarca minore:

>"Davide Tosi" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>news:[email protected]...
>>
>> With more "Backstedts" winning Monument races, the risk
>> is that the local crowds in Flanders, Lombardy and
>> wherever else those races take place will eventually get
>> disaffected by this trend and start skipping to attend
>them.
>
>Come on Davide, you know that every couple of years the
>impossible happens and everyone in northern France shakes
>their heads. It isn't as if cycling is all that big in
>France anyway.

It is still the third most popular sport there, after soccer
and Rugby. Among mature public it is still the old times
sport, the traditional one. The problem in France is that
the young people are mostly of African, Arab or Caribbean
origin and those people could care less about cycling.

 

[Davide Tosi]

"Henrik Jensen" <[email protected]> wrote:

>"Davide Tosi" <[email protected]> skrev i en
>meddelelse news:[email protected].
>
>...snipped....
>
>Backstedts victory was certainly noticed and covered in the
>papers/media here in Denmark. Furthermore, we had Frank Høj
>finishing 10. (and 8th in Flanders) which was also covered
>as much as anyone could wish in the Danish papers.
>
>Hell, we were even cheering for Bartoli who also had a flat
>with a few K's to go. Riis was certain he would have been
>one of the top riders if it hadn't been for that bad luck.
>Bartoli will take a win in one of the upcoming races
>according to Riis in the Danish newspapers, so we are
>noticing cycling here in Scandinavia...

OK. Denmark is part of Scandinavia and cycling is rather
popular there. But I was refering more to the countries that
are North of the Baltic sea; those ones have a sport
tradition that is completely different from Denmark. Those
are the countries of ice hockey, nordic skiing, rally racing
and frankly I doubt cycling could ever be any popular there.
Yesterday I checked personally some on-line versions of
Swedish newspapers. It has been very hard to find any
reference to Backstedt winning the P-R.

 

[Tom Kunich]

Funny piece Nev.

 

[Henrik Jensen]

"Davide Tosi" <[email protected]> skrev i en meddelelse
news:[email protected]...
> "Henrik Jensen" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> >"Davide Tosi" <[email protected]> skrev i en
> >meddelelse news:[email protected].
> >
> >...snipped....
> OK. Denmark is part of Scandinavia and cycling is rather
> popular there. But I was refering more to the countries
> that are North of the Baltic sea; those ones have a sport
> tradition that is completely different from Denmark. Those
> are the countries of ice hockey, nordic skiing, rally
racing
> and frankly I doubt cycling could ever be any popular
> there. Yesterday I checked personally some on-line
> versions of Swedish
newspapers.
> It has been very hard to find any reference to Backstedt
> winning the P-R.
>

That's too bad, it should give cycling a boost in Sweden and
Norway. Thor Hushovdt and Backstedt have shown that it _is_
possible to become good riders even if the national sport
mostly requires snow and/or ice.

But we'd happily adopt a P/R winner )

HB

 

[Tom Kunich]

"Davide Tosi" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Dalla voce di "Tom Kunich" <[email protected]>,
> eresiarca minore:
>
> >"Davide Tosi" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> >news:[email protected]...
> >>
> >> With more "Backstedts" winning Monument races, the risk
> >> is that the
local
> >> crowds in Flanders, Lombardy and wherever else those
> >> races take place
will
> >> eventually get disaffected by this trend and start
> >> skipping to attend
> >them.
> >
> >Come on Davide, you know that every couple of years the
> >impossible
happens
> >and everyone in northern France shakes their heads. It
> >isn't as if
cycling
> >is all that big in France anyway.
>
> It is still the third most popular sport there, after
> soccer and Rugby. Among mature public it is still the old
> times sport, the traditional one. The problem in France is
> that the young people are mostly of African, Arab or
> Caribbean origin and those people could care less about
> cycling.

On the Paris stage of the 2000 Tour I was sitting at the
southern turn of the course and talking to a Breton. I
mentioned that while in France I hadn't seen ONE solitary
recreational rider in two weeks. Whereas while one day in
Switzerland I saw thousands riding.

He said that it was a completely different story in
Breton area.

 

[Tom Kunich]

"Henrik Jensen" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> Did you check the German media if anyone is noticing the
> victories of Jaksche, Voigt, Zabel, Wesemann... (Ullrich
> in a few months)?

One thing is very interesting - for a rider that didn't
have a large palmares, Riis is proving to be a genius
Director Sportiff.

 

[Bob Schwartz]

In rec.bicycles.racing Henrik Jensen <[email protected]> wrote:
> That's too bad, it should give cycling a boost in Sweden
> and Norway. Thor Hushovdt and Backstedt have shown that it
> _is_ possible to become good riders even if the national
> sport mostly requires snow and/or ice.

> But we'd happily adopt a P/R winner )

I think what we're seeing is the difference between the
impact of a classics winner and the winner of a Grand
Tour, particularly the Tour de France. Denmark is a good
example of this.

I'm sure Henrik will correct me if I am wrong on this, but
it was Riis' emergence as a Tour contender that made
cycling popular in Denmark. Prior to that Rolf Sorenson
became the first ever Danish classics winner in the 1993
Liege-Bastogne-Liege and I'll bet he got about as much
coverage in the Danish press as Backstedt's win in Paris-
Roubaix got in Sweden.

Lemond won a World Championship and won the 1983 Super
Prestige Pernod trophy, but he never would have hit the
mainstream press if not for the Tour. Much like Andy
Hampsten, who is pretty much unknown to the average NASCAR
fan in spite of having won the Giro.

Bob Schwartz [email protected]

 

[Benjamin Weiner]

Davide Tosi <[email protected]> wrote:

> It just seems to me that the UCI (Union of International
> Cycling) dream of cycling becoming a worldwide popular
> sport is just a utopia without any chance of ever getting
> real. Even with other dozens of Scandinavian winning
> classic races, cycling will ever remain a fringe sport up
> there. It should be better to restrict the partecipation
> in them to riders coming from the usual 6-7 traditional
> Central and Southern European countries.

Should Southern Italians be allowed, or only Lombards
and Tuscans?

I mean, you gotta have some standards.

 

[Tom Kunich]

"Benjamin Weiner" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:407c2427$1@darkstar...
> Davide Tosi <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > It just seems to me that the UCI (Union of International
> > Cycling) dream
of
> > cycling becoming a worldwide popular sport is just a
> > utopia without any chance of ever getting real. Even
> > with other dozens of Scandinavian
winning
> > classic races, cycling will ever remain a fringe sport
> > up there. It should be better to restrict the
> > partecipation in them to riders
coming
> > from the usual 6-7 traditional Central and Southern
> > European countries.
>
> Should Southern Italians be allowed, or only Lombards and
> Tuscans?

In the latest Gibson novel he uses the term "Lombard" to
mean "Lots Of Money But A Real ****"

 

[Henrik Jensen]

"Bob Schwartz" <[email protected]> skrev i en meddelelse
news:[email protected]...
> In rec.bicycles.racing Henrik Jensen
> <[email protected]> wrote:
> > That's too bad, it should give cycling a boost in Sweden
> > and Norway.
Thor
> > Hushovdt and Backstedt have shown that it _is_ possible
> > to become good riders even if the national sport mostly
> > requires snow and/or ice.
>
> > But we'd happily adopt a P/R winner )
>
> I think what we're seeing is the difference between the
> impact of a classics winner and the winner of a Grand
> Tour, particularly the Tour de France. Denmark is a good
> example of this.
>
> I'm sure Henrik will correct me if I am wrong on this, but
> it was Riis' emergence as a Tour contender that made
> cycling popular in Denmark. Prior to that Rolf Sorenson
> became the first ever Danish classics winner in the 1993
> Liege-Bastogne-Liege and I'll bet he got about as much
> coverage in the Danish press as Backstedt's win in Paris-
> Roubaix got in Sweden.
>

You are partly right. Cycling exploded in 1996 after Riis
won the Tour, and stayed very popular the next year or two,
then it returned to just being "rather" popular. But cycling
has always been of great interest in Denmark, especially 6
day races and other track related cycling, but also road
racing, with an earlier peak when Kim Andersen was the first
Dane to wear the yellow jersey. I do not recall the press
response to Rolf's victories, but I find it hard to beleive
that it was close to ignored.

> Lemond won a World Championship and won the 1983 Super
> Prestige Pernod trophy, but he never would have hit the
> mainstream press if not for the Tour. Much like Andy
> Hampsten, who is pretty much unknown to the average NASCAR
> fan in spite of having won the Giro.
>

Andy who? ;o)

HB

 

[Kyle Legate]

Nev Shea wrote:
>. . . and if by chance Hincapie were to win a classic,
> perhaps he can announce he has leprosy or something.
>
George would be the first ambiguously gay winner. No
leprosy needed.

 

[Amit]

"Tom Kunich" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> "Henrik Jensen" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> >
> > Did you check the German media if anyone is noticing the
> > victories of Jaksche, Voigt, Zabel, Wesemann... (Ullrich
> > in a few months)?
>
> One thing is very interesting - for a rider that didn't
> have a large palmares, Riis is proving to be a genius
> Director Sportiff.

Yeah right. What other current DS won the Tour de France ?


*Zoetemelk might have some sporting job with Rabo, but I
don't think he's a DS.

 

[H Squared]

Amit wrote:
>
> "Tom Kunich" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:-
> <[email protected]>...
> > "Henrik Jensen" <[email protected]> wrote in
> > message
> > news:[email protected]...
> > >
> > > Did you check the German media if anyone is noticing
> > > the victories of Jaksche, Voigt, Zabel, Wesemann...
> > > (Ullrich in a few months)?
> >
> > One thing is very interesting - for a rider that didn't
> > have a large palmares, Riis is proving to be a genius
> > Director Sportiff.
>
> Yeah right. What other current DS won the Tour de France ?
>
> *Zoetemelk might have some sporting job with Rabo, but I
> don't think he's a DS.

on this subject, from nov 2003 cyclesport (in case someone
hasn't read it)

"looking through a list of division one directeur
sportifs, and assistant managers, the obvious connection
between most of the names is that almost all of them rode
as professionals between the mid-seventies and mid-
nineties. conversely, very few of them, with exceptions
such as bjarnes riis of csc and joop zoetmelk of
rabobank, were considered great champions. a common
uniting factor of modern directeur sportifs is that they
were domestiques de luxe, unselfish and loyal team riders
whose talent lay in supporting their teammates. even riis
spent most of his years as a domestique, before he spread
his wings at telekom."

and then- "along with the money, the other reason great
riders don't become great directeur sportifs is in their
mentality. 'if you are a great champion, what you are good
at is managing yourself, not others,' explains de rooy.
'other riders, who are not so conspicuous in terms of
results, work in the background, and they play a very
important role in the team. these riders think in terms of
the team structure, and they have pride in working for the
team. the directeur sportif must always think in terms of
the team, and know how to get more from 25 riders than if
they were individuals. this isn't easy, but it's one of the
most important factors in my job,' he continues. levenu
agrees with de rooy. 'champions have a physical gift, but
that doesn't necessarily mean that they are good at
evaluating the condition of other riders. equipiers
understand the everyday problems faced by riders,' he says."

 

[Tom Kunich]

"Amit" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> "Tom Kunich" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>-
...
> > "Henrik Jensen" <[email protected]> wrote in
> > message
> > news:[email protected]...
> > >
> > > Did you check the German media if anyone is noticing
> > > the victories of Jaksche, Voigt, Zabel, Wesemann...
> > > (Ullrich in a few months)?
> >
> > One thing is very interesting - for a rider that didn't
> > have a large palmares, Riis is proving to be a genius
> > Director Sportiff.
>
> Yeah right. What other current DS won the Tour de France ?

I wasn't aware that a Tour win constituted a large palmares
regardless of the importance of the race. Riis pretty much
came from nowhere to win the Tour. He was hardly on the
radar screen when Miguel faultered. The following year he
was blown out of the water by Ullrich. That's no disrespect
for Riis. But we have to remember Julich was close to the
podium that year.

My point was that Riis is likely to be remembered as a
famous Director and not as a winner of the Tour. As a Tour
winner he'll always have a couple of asterixes behind his
name - one that he won a dramatically shortened stage when
everyone else was sleeping and two - he was Mr. 60%.

 

[Alexander Lackn]

"Tom Kunich" <[email protected]> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:Yf%[email protected]...
>Riis pretty much came from nowhere to win the Tour.

Ahem- 95, in the first TT of the last Tour Indurain won (Huy-
Seraing i believe): Riis rears his head, loses by seconds,
and claims he'd have won if he had had timechecks. Also
raises hell repeatedly on mountain stages. Plus, goes on
record before the Tour 96 to say he'll win it, if his new
team Telekom abides by his code.

>He was hardly on the radar screen when Miguel faultered.

?

>The following year he was blown out of the water by
>Ullrich. That's no disrespect for Riis. But we have to
>remember Julich was close to the podium that year.
>
> My point was that Riis is likely to be remembered as a
> famous Director and not as a winner of the Tour. As a
> Tour winner he'll always have a couple
of
> asterixes behind his name - one that he won a dramatically
> shortened stage when everyone else was sleeping

that stage may have been short, but Berzin put the cat
among the pigeons pretty quickly, and it was all frenzy
from then on, so it was hardly like everyone was sleeping.
Besides, you omit the Riis theatricals on his way to
winning at Hautacam.

What was your point again?

Alexander

---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-
virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.656 /
Virus Database: 421 - Release Date: 10.04.2004