No black athletes in the tour?

[Volnix]

Hi ya all... Long time no see...

I hope everyone is fine...

I was watching the Paris Roubaix today... Coz of the future shock Spesh spammed me about to be honest though... and made for another time the observation that there are no black athletes participating in pro level cycling...

Why so? I don't think I know of another sport that does not include any... Do they Dope-Ban them because they do it for ~Looonger~ ?

I haven't seen too many Asian athletes either...

Any... Comments on this?

 

[jeremyrundle]

What a thick comment and thread.

It is like women moaning about the lack of women in engineering or top managerial roles, if there are none good enough then there are none good enough, IF women don't "want" to become engineers then just perhaps that is a reason??????

You can't force people to participate, or are you one of these who wants people to do the job even if they are either not good enough or don't want to.

 

[Volnix]

Yeaaaah Dude!

Yeah I make 'em thick, just like Spesh's last year headtubes in the Roubaix..
(They could just make even fatter tires but noooo.. )

I like how you try to stick Gender (aka Sex ) with ethnicity... I really do!

I am an engineer... There were 4 girls in our class. 2 of them were Greek. One Bulgarian. One French. 300 people class yeah?

So black people dont want to cycle? Saddles not long enough?

Ah I can already see this thread in flames...

 

[jeremyrundle]

If women/girls don'e want to be engineers what is your problem

 

[Volnix]

If women/girls don'e want to be engineers what is your problem

My problem?

 

[dabac]

I've wondered about that too.
Blacks are very succesful in running endurance events, so it seems odd that they're not more represented in cycling.
Some European soccer clubs do heavy recruiting in Africa. They have schools locally, those who do well get transferred to European training camps, those who make it there get pro deals.
If soccer can operate like that, what's keeping the pro cycling teams from doing something similar?

 

[jhuskey]

The Lycra bibs probably can't contain the stress load.

 

[Volnix]

Well in Greece there are no black people, except some weird military exchange guys that you see some times, some "Students" from Africa which are here with a student visa and ofcourse the countless soccer and basketball players... The track athletes are usually whitey Greek...

Except Yanni Antetokounmpo ofcourse... Who thank God that he made it into the NBA and is now considered more Greek then Leonidas...

But... France, Netherlands, Belgium, all the countries with the A1 level cycling teams actually do have black people living there for ages... they don't even have to come from African teams, they can register right there...

None of those picked up cycling? I find it hard to understand why either... (Btw I just googled it and in Africa, which does have a reputation of considering some things "Taboo", using a bicycle is considered as a sign of being too poor to drive a car... That is the case in Greece some times too... especially with older folk... We had some old geezers shouting at us "You guys are broke" when in a group ride once ... )

Here's one: Teklehaimanot from South Africa... Apparently he had some racial incidents from other athletes though... Maybe he just picked up cycling just to get away from other black people for a while...

I'm trying to check if there's some reinforcement in these Castelli Bibs but the picture is too dark...

 

[Volnix]

Oh and btw, black hoses are totally sexualized in porno... They should not do that... It's bad or something...

 

[Uawadall]

Cycling is a niche sport, their are far more lucrative athletic opportunities out there. I'd say for the most part, the best pro athletes many of which are minorities including those of African decent grow up poor. Bikes and bike maintenance can be expensive. Not to mention, many nations don't even have roads suitable for road cycling. Chris Froome definitely has prodigious talent to have been born in Kenya and learn to ride in sub par conditions. If you had the proper roads, gear, and money, their would be plenty minority pro cyclist.

Now about you Volnix....You seem to talk loads of **** and one begs to wonder if YOU even ride. When was the last time you've even sat on a bike saddle?

 

[Volnix]

When was the last time you've even sat on a bike saddle?

Yesterday!!

 

[Froze]

There's a black pro cyclists currently by the name of Erik Saunders, Daniel Teklehaimonat, Merhawi Kudus, Zakayo Ndbri, and Mwangi Samwel, all current and next TDF riders . And Ji Cheng is now the first Chinese pro and will be in this years TDF. Yukiya Arashiro also ran in the TDF from Japan. So there are other races being represented, they're just slow to catch on, but they will gain momentum as time goes on and they start looking at other sports more seriously.

 

[Volnix]

There's a black pro cyclists currently by the name of Erik Saunders, Daniel Teklehaimonat, Merhawi Kudus, Zakayo Ndbri, and Mwangi Samwel, all current and next TDF riders . And Ji Cheng is now the first Chinese pro and will be in this years TDF. Yukiya Arashiro also ran in the TDF from Japan. So there are other races being represented, they're just slow to catch on, but they will gain momentum as time goes on and they start looking at other sports more seriously.

Yeah but they don't really try... Except during the playoffs. lolol

I might watch the tour a bit this year... They are really starting to play nice over there... No freakzoid 60kmh descents... No bloody jerseys... Classy!

 

[TommyScholl]

The Lycra bibs probably can't contain the stress load.

I've seen a few and I wasn't that impressed.

 

[Froze]

I've seen a few and I wasn't that impressed.

I guess what we really want to know is why would you be looking in hopes of seeing something "impressive"?

 

[Henrywrites]

I'm against controversial statement and that is the reason I wouldn't agree with you on this thought that black riders were intentionally taken off not to be part of the ride. The truth is that the sport of riding is one that is competitive and once you are good, you will always make the cut.

 

[Henrywrites]

If women/girls don'e want to be engineers what is your problem

This is true in the sense that, if those blacks in those places don't have the desire to ride, we shouldn't force them to be a part. Riding is all about the passion and not about which race is taking part of not.

 

[Froze]

I had a discussion with a black friend as to why he thought blacks weren't represented well in cycling, and he said it's because a lot blacks live in cities where the going sports are baseball, basketball, and football, not cycling, so they never look at cycling as a serious sport. Also he said that most black males think that they can make money sooner and more of it going into those three sports whereas with cycling it's a lot more difficult to make the big money, and only a few ever make the big money as pros, there just isn't enough spots in cycling to spike their interest, the top riders making most of the money wouldn't even field a football team! So going to one of the 3 major sports gives them a far better chance at going pro so they concentrate on those sports.