How Time Trials Are RUINING Professional Cycling
53,401
Published 2024-01-18
Time trials have been a part of professional cycling for over a century now, and while it isn’t known when they first appeared, 1922 sort of stands as the year when time trialing was invented. But over the years, the discipline has evolved tremendously, and it’s no longer what it used to be. Nowadays, the face-in-forearms positions can be seen causing horrible crashes, and it’s all been due to the modern racing mindset. The riders will simply always do what makes them faster, no matter the cost. But have cycling’s time trials gotten faster than the safety regulations that are in place? And do we really have a time trial safety problem?
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All Comments (21)
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The problems outlined here points out the problem which cannot be solved: athletes will do whatever it takes to win, even at the cost of personal safety. You cannot "process out" the dangerous elements of sport without completely neutering the competition itself. Honestly, the only way to make TT's completely safe would be to make the event completely virtual, which would ruin the sport. This is also why PED's have been banned; if they were allowed, the athletes and teams would be pushing the envelope beyond what is safe and reasonable in order to win.
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I consider myself a TT rider. Here in America, some organizations are starting to add the "Merckx" class to many races. You MUST use a regular road bike, NO aero bars, NO deep dish wheels sets.
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More crashes with bunch sprints and more risk of serious crashes with Mountain Stages with a downhill run to the finish. While the biggest risk is when training with some drivers behaviours.
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Racing and cycling in general are inherently dangerous. I have lost 5 acquaintances over 50 years all while recreational riding. I saw a death last year in pro cycling and Remco's fall from the bridge and many other horrifying wrecks over the years. But, to my knowledge, time trials are the safest if bad wrecks and fatalities are the measure. Kung's wreck was the fault of the course safety personnel in their failure to properly mark a course narrowing situation. Can't see with your head down? Duh! What's new? I hit a parked car 40 years ago looking down for a mystery bike noise. Professional TT's do not have parked cars on course or cars coming from side roads or pot holes etc.. I see way more issues with promoters who can't or won't force a rain or severe weather delay. TT's are "Ruining" professional cycling? I hope that's click bait for the "race of truth" deserves it's place in racing! Amen
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Safety, safety, safety... the biggest bullshit that UCI "promotes". There are never any proper researches done on the matter. do we know how many pro-cyclists crased with super tuck position? No we don't, but they banned it anyway. TTs' are awesome. TT bikes are awesome. It is a special part of road cycling. Of course riders will do anything to go faster, but so do they in downhill skiing but we still have Wengen and Kuetzbuhl downhill where the 5 of skiers that get hurt every year is much greater to the % of riders riding TT. Make roads and courses safer (I am looking at you UCI) and not impose some stupid rules on bikes and positions, that have nothing to do with safety. Or at least present a valible research on why there needs to be new mesurements and new rules, not just some ideas from the top of their heads.
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Why not show video clips of the things you're talking about (Obree arms under body, Obree Superman position)?
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tbh this take is almost laughable. we are talking about the sport of racing ... it is inherently dangerous and includes pushing physics to the limit. . at the end of the day stefan finished the tt. visually it looks a lot worse than it is. helmets are designed to break and absorb the impact force. how many people have died during a descent? racing any sort of vehicle (cycling, moto gp, gt, f1) is going to be inherently dangerous. should we ban descents greater than 6% because they are dangerous? bunch sprints are surely more dangerous .
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Very, very misleading title. The video is not about how TT is ruining cycling, but about that modern TT is too dangerous. Has nothing to do with each other. Having said that, of course safety has to matter.
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Thanks for all your videos
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I really don't think I agree with this video. I even question whether or not TT'ing actually has a higher rate of incidence than road races. Look at all the crashes that happen during the road races!? Should we get rid of those, too? Silly.
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who provides the voicing for this video? Is it an actor? or from text-to-voice software? While great sounding, the voice sounds so universal (heard everywhere... on everything)
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Excuse me? What do you expect if you hit separators on side? Do you think result would be any different if peloton hit the separators on the side? I guess the answer is no, so tt bikes are as same as regular road bikes.
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Next up: Sprints and descent
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So the new positions are causing really bad crashes and yet you don’t show a single video of what you say is happening complete bullshit
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Aerobars are up higher then pictured. Sight line is much improved over the last several years
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01:33 "However the UCI banned Obree's invention in 1994" - that was a weird edit, as you didn't introduce Obree or his invention.
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If they have a safety problem due to time trial speeds, use standard tour bikes and helmets.
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Wonder what a double mirror construction encased in aerodynamic glass could do for vision.
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Can you place a mirror somewhere to see front while looking down?
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How about growing a pair of balls? -MotoGP
