Are we sitting comfortably?
OK, first concern: points. Already covered: see UCI Points: time for a rethink of last month. In brief, all points are shared out amongst the team: the person who wins them gets the bulk of the points, but everyone on the team gets a share. It will be up to the UCI to sort out the actual numbers of points, and it might mean an increase in the number of points awarded, but I'm sure some bright young thing with a calculator can do what's necessary. It will also require some rules on how you deal with riders crashing out or retiring - do they still get their share, or do they go back in the team's "pot": again, it will require a bit of thought, but it's not beyond comprehension.
Second concern: safety. A lot of the safety problems seem to be down to the sheer size of the peloton. So I suggest that a team should be 9 riders, but only 7 of them ride each day. GC contenders have to ride on all days, but domestiques can be swapped in and out depending on the stage, the parcours, injuries, etc.
Jerseys should remain as they are, with the addition of a Stage Winner jersey, for the person who won the previous day's stage. Clearly it won't be awarded on the first day, but I think it's a bit sad that someone can win a stage but not get any sort of jersey or recognition. Regarding the colour, well, red would be nice, or maybe something multicoloured but not rainbow bands, as that would clearly be confusing. Elzrocks suggested a red lightning bolt, that would do the trick - very DC comics!
The race should always start with a time-trial prologue, and the polka-dot jersey should not be awarded until such time as there have been hills to climb! I think it's really silly and counter-productive to hand out polka dots to whoever was in the first break of the day... when the so-called "mountain" was barely discernible. I'd rather not have KoM points until they were appropriate, thank you.
How about ways to gain bonus seconds for those who know they are going to struggle with mountain finishes? Ever watched Nordic skiing events? They have a penalty loop, so if they fail to shoot enough targets during the "rifle" section, they have to do one or more loops. For our guys, they could set up a loop and time how long it should take to go round it: then if a rider does it in less than the (fairly lax) "par" time, they get a bonus of say 2 mins per minute under par, plus the "par" time. So if they are allowed 5 mins to go round, and they do it in four, then they get 5 mins + 2 mins off their time for that stage. Of course, this puts them 4 mins behind the peloton, so they would not be able to do a loop as well as contest the stage: but it would also help reduce congestion by thinning things out. I haven't really thought that one through properly, but it's an interesting idea: it would help sprinters in the mountain stages, if they could make up a couple of minutes or more they might not have problems with the cut-off times.
Another "interesting" (ie plain silly) idea to make it more interesting for non-cycling-fan-viewers would be to have competition sections along the route: I thought one for discarded bidons into a net would be a good start: one per team member as they fly through the zone, with a time bonus of 10 secs for each rider, per bidon.
How about a Pit Stop Bonus? Involving a rear wheel change: only one rider per team to take part, to avoid congestion. A time starts as they go through the first gate, stop, wheel out, new wheel in, push start and back up to speed before getting to the second gate, when the time stops. Bonus seconds for every second below a "par" time. Possibly this one could be combined with the Team Time Trial prologue: maybe it could be set for three-quarters of the way through the TT, so the weakest member could elect to do the Pit Stop and thus possibly gain some seconds for the team. This would be a chance for the mechanics to have a star moment, which would be nice for them.
At this point I started to wonder how the soigneurs could become more involved, which led to thoughts of bonus seconds for the quickest wipe-down and change of shorts... no, maybe better not. Scary visual place, as they say.
Well, there you so, that's some food for thought, isn't it?
Hi Coug,
ReplyDeleteI'm completely at your side with dividing the UCI points, jersey for the stage winner and the Polka dots. About the rest I've got my doubts.
Although I would love to have a point system for soigneurs and mechanics, bonus SECONDS are not my favourite. I'm just not sure if the directors are able (in the line of fire) to do all those calculations.
On the side, do you think that AC has a point about not resigning with Saxo for being forbidden by BR to eat donuts?
Barbara(q)