Team substitutions in cycling? Astana joke about a revolutionary 'test' at Paris-Nice
CyclingSunday, 16 March 2025 at 14:11
Substitutions are a regular part of many of the world's most famous team sports such as Football, Basketball, and many more. In road cycling this has never been possible, and it's not something that has been implemented in recent history, although a tweet by XDS Astana Team has caught the eye of a few people.
Paris-Nice will have on the start line today a rider that has not competed in any other stage of the race. XDS Astana's Davide Ballerini will start stage 8 for the Kazakh team, who has lost Cees Bol the previous day. Whilst he is not a rider who is set to make a big impact in the race, his mere presence may be an historical step.
Astana have shared on social media this morning the following message? "A great initiative from the organizers – on Stage 8, they allowed a rider substitution in a stage race as a test project.
In our team Davide Ballerini will replace Cees Bol. Will we see it at @LeTour as well?"
The news, of course, come as a shock to many, and is set to be extremely controversial between fans - but potentially riders as well. However, whilst this is seemingly just a jokey tweet by Astana, it does raise the topic of conversation once more. Could substitutions be a thing that could realistically be implemented in the sport of road cycling? Let us know your thoughts on the matter!
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🇫🇷 RACE:@ParisNice
— XDS Astana Team (@XDSAstanaTeam) March 16, 2025
A great initiative from the organizers – on Stage 8, they allowed a rider substitution in a stage race as a test project.
In our team @ballero_94 will replace @ceesbol1995
Will we see it at @LeTour as well? #ParisNice #XDSAstanaTeam pic.twitter.com/voJoLUOnPB
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But it wouldn't be a terrible idea IF you were only allowed to put in a rider from development team for the last stage of the stage race. Extra experience for them, real racing, pro peloton and very unlikely they will make any actual difference
Interesting idea, probably need some more conditions like age in order to stop certain teams filling the rosters with fake development riders.
Is this a joke?