"There are so many riders who are going to struggle" - Sean Kelly calls on UCI to limit difficulty of Grand Tours
Cycling
Is it just a myth or a Grand Tours really getting more and more difficult? Well according to former Vuelta a Espana champion turned Eurosport analyst Sean Kelly they are and he believes something needs to be done about it.
"From a UCI point of view, maybe they need to restrict the amount of metres climbed in the first few days of a Tour because, if not, are we not going down the danger of pushing riders to the limit and doing bad things again,” Kelly told GCN, referencing the growing difficulty of Grand Tours following the reveal of the profiles and routes of the 2024 Tour de France.
"The guys who want to survive in the Tour de France, and who are struggling… for them if you make the race so, so difficult, and all the races are doing it, I’d be concerned with that," he continues. "I think that the UCI should take on more control when it comes to limiting how hard a Grand Tour can be. The riders are professional but they’re only human, and they’re not robots."
This comes after riders such as Mark Cavendish reacted with shock at the difficulty of the Tour de France route for next year. “Making it so difficult, there are so many riders who are going to struggle to get around in those races. They’ll struggle to get around and do their jobs and if there’s an opportunity to go back to the bad years, certainly the difficulty of the races will put that thought in a lot of riders’ minds because it’s their job," Kelly analyses. "When you become a bike rider, and you put so much work into coming up through the ranks, there are guys who want to do another four or five years. If that’s put into their minds then there’s always a risk again."
I Started cycling in 1986/7 and started racing in 1989 doing so for 10yrs doing Triathlons and Road Races . It was fun . But today even in a sportive its all serious with no fun , top bike top gear top powder drinks etc etc . Its gone dark already as far as I can see.
They can increase the time limit for hard races if they are worried about riders making the cut. For GC riders every race is "to the limit" racing irrespective of the hardness of the race. Anyway, the top 3 position are already decided for TDF, so doesn't make sense to dope.
I'm surprised Mr. Kelly is whining about this. Someone, go look up the profile of the 1987 Tour de France. There was a 6 km prologue Stage 2, 41 km TTT Stage 10, 87 km TT Stage 18, 37 km TT ending on Mt Ventoux Stage 24, 38 km TT There were 6 stages in the high mountains, and 26 stages altogether. No, *that* was a hard Grand Tour!
I think the point he's trying to make it that because it was so hard back in the day, like the 1987 Tour you mentioned, everyone was doping just to try and get through it. The harder the Grand Tours the more likely riders will dope
No, not really. There's more doping in the "easier" sports, like competitive weight lifting. The riders make the race (mostly), and if you gave the current riders that Tour, they'd ride slower than they otherwise would. That's the only real difference.
Exactly. Kelly made that comment having raced professionally for 22 years - in an era when the tacit, but unchallenged understanding was that drugs are simply necessary for survival. I hear Kelly implying that notwithstanding how we currently burn riders at the stake for drugs, if pressed to the point of survival, they'll likely still do whatever it takes.
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