"Our priority is to maintain the integrity of the sport" - UCI launch immediate investigation into Visma's revolutionary 'Control Room' for 2024 Tour de France
Cycling
On Thursday morning, Team Visma | Lease a Bike unveiled their revolutionary 'Control Room' ahead of the 2024 Tour de France. Before the day is even done, the UCI have announced an investigation into the new addition to the Visma set up.
"The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) is informed of the recent announcement concerning the use of a 'Control Room' by UCI WorldTeam Team Visma | Lease a Bike. We are currently carrying out verifications to ensure that the setup put in place by the team is compliant with the regulatory framework in force, notably regarding the capture and transmission of data as outlined in Article 1.3.006b is of the UCI Regulations," reads the official statement. "Our priority is to maintain the integrity of the sport, ensuring sporting fairness, equitable access to technology and the primacy of man over machine. The UCI is committed to upholding these principles and will take appropriate measures based on the findings of the investigation."
Go directly to the Fantasy Tour de France and create your own Fantasy team. At least 12.350 USD/11.500 Euro/9,700 GBP in prizes!
The priorly mentioned Article 1.3.006b, is in relation to onboard technology. According to the UCI's own rules, devices which capture or transmit data on positioning, still or moving images, or mechanical information are allowed, as are similar devices which can collect data on heart rate, body temperature and sweat rate. However, the "authorisation is... limited to transmission protocols which enable only the rider concerned to view the data during a competition".
For their part, Team Visma | Lease a Bike's Mathieu Heijboer said about the control room; "We are very happy that we were able to develop the Control Room with our innovative partners, which allows us to collect and analyse even more live data and get a better overview of the race. This will enable us to support the coaches in the car and help them make the best possible tactical decisions faster.”
Imagine if the Tdf was raced without any tech - beyta (a lot of money) it'd be 20x more exiting
In our discussions of the greatest cyclists of all time we forget to mention the lack of technology back in those days. Days where people didn't know where riders were on the course and how far behind until the finish line. If it makes a difference now, no doubt it made a difference then. Let's also mention the number of support cars behind the peloton to quickly get riders back to the peloton even it that means some drafting to get back there. The current gravel races in the US are probably closer to what cycling was in the first 100 years.
Will they be able to remotely control the motors hidden in the bikes from inside that van? ;)
This is exactly what Bardet is getting at. This kind of tech is akin to a more modern version of "doping". IMO the racing would be so much better if the riders had to rely more on their own experience and situational awareness.
No, this is allowing tech to use the human body in a more efficient method. It's not making the human stronger. You can say it shouldn't happen, but it's not comparable to doping.
Lappartient trying to get our beloved anchovy one way or another !!
So, are you saying they shouldn’t? https://www.theguardian.com/sport/article/2024/jun/27/uci-to-pay-whistleblowers-for-motor-doping-tip-offs-at-tour-de-france
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