"Joe Hurley" <
[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Benjo,
>
> An excellent idea. There is, however, one problem with it.
>
> Suppose, just for the sake of argument, that the TDF let someone, say Cipollini, again for
> argument's sake, as an individual rider.
>
> Who will drive the following car? Who will support him if he has
mechanical
> problems?
>
> You're comparing 2003 with, say, 1938, which is before my parents were
even
> born. The amount of overhead required to support one bicycle racer in the Tour de France today is
> probably of a magnitude such that no one single racer could finance the effort. He needs to have
> an infrastructure behind him -- else when he flats on the roads, he's at the mercy of the neutral
> service vehicle, and if on a breakaway, that could be miles (or
kilometres)
> behind him.
>
> Also, these machines are expensive to obtain, maintain, and repair.
Unless
> he were independently wealthy, where would a solo bicyclist obtain the (substantial) amount of
> capital necessary? Given the long odds of winning any given race (proven by the fact that so few
> people have won
double-digit
> numbers of stages in the Giro or Le Tour in a lifetime), it is highly unlikely a bank would extend
> financing on such a dicey venture. They
would
> view it (and not without justification) as gambling.
>
> I agree it is unfortunate that these, shall we say material
considerations,
> have to penetrate into a sport like bicycle racing. But reality is
reality,
> much as we might have it otherwise.
>
I wasn't serious. The individuals in the 1920's and 1930's were really individuals, which meant they
were completely on their own. They had to pay for their own accomodations expenses, they didn't have
masseurs, helpers, etc. and certainly not a car behind them. Because neutral service vehicles didn't
exist yet, they had to make their own repairs Flats weren't the main problem (it took "only" one and
a half or two minutes), but if they had serious trouble, a broken frame for example, they had to go
home. And yet the individuel MarioVicino finished second in 1937, only seven minutes behind the
Frenchman Lapébie who was helped by everybody and not only his teammates... They're always saying
that bicycle racing is an individual sport played by teams. True of course, but to my regret it's
becoming more and more a teamsport and I think Cipo is the epitome of this process. I don't know if
you have seen the Giro on television: every time Cipo had to drop from the pack and wasn't
surrounded by teammates for a moment, not only he became completely helpless, but also angry and
even aggressive to journalists and cameramen. In short, I would love to see Cipo as an individual.
From an educational point of view it would be so useful
Benjo Maso