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It seems obviuos that the European stronghold on roadcycling is dwindling year after year and American racers are showing their might. this is especially true since they are doing it in the Euro's own back yard. Is cycling still the number two sport in Europe or is it falling?
May I remind you that the first American in the UCI Pro-Tour Classification is George Hincapie, ninth and 107 points adrift from leader Danilo di Luca. He is surpassed by eight European riders. Besides, how many American cyclists are really capable of winning one of the three great races? Two, Lance Armstrong and, in lesser grade, Bobby Julich. How many Europeans are there? Basso, Ullrich, Savoldelli, Heras, Mayo, Valverde, Cunego, Simoni, Garzelli...
What was the podium in the 2004 Olympics Road Race? An Italian (Bettini), a Portuguese (Paulinho) and a Belgian (Merckx). In the World Championships of Verona, a Spaniard (Freire), a German (Zabel) and an Italian (Paolini), and in the Time Trial it was an Australian (Rogers), a German (Rich) and a Kazakh (Vinokourov). Only in the Olympics Time Trial the American cyclists shone, winning the bronze and gold medal. Yet, two months after that, Hamilton's use of doping substances was discovered and he would have certainly lost his gold to Ekimov had it not been because the B-Samples were in bad state.
Does this seem to you like a dwindling of European stronghold on roadcycling?
I think there could have been other Americans win big races over the past few years if not for some bad luck and others who were devoted to their team leader
I have to wonder what Daveo's motivation for this claim was. National pride? Not a very graceful way to express it if it was. I live in a country which stinks as far as cycling is concerned but I am able to enjoy it and not worry too much about where in the world a given cyclist was born / lives.
Posts: 1 | Location: Manchester, UK | Registered: 30 October 2005
American riders are Europeans. Do you see any non Euro's in the peleton? The only non Euro team threatening to break in are the Japanese. The beauty of the sport is the odd nature of the relationship we get to heroic and usually tragic individuals who usually try and fail but occasionaly succeed. Also we can all ride our bikes and project ourselves into the Tour on a long breakaway (as we commute to work on a rainy day). The really silly fixation of the French on why an American could win 7 times (les drugs, bien sur), completely ignors the focus that Lance has brought to this race and the way it will never be the same. He could have been from any Euro decendent line and the result would have been the same. I will always love these 3 weeks in spite of the French directors and the press.
Perhaps the only good way to judge how good a country is in cycling is to take into account its results in important races and its population.
It's not as easy to find one decent cyclist in a country such as Luxembourg as to find five decent ones in the USA, but that's because of sheer number of people in the country.
For example; one could take the number of riders of one nationality in the Tour top twenty and divide it by the population of that country:
USA: 1 rider per 59,540,000 people Italy: 1 rider per 19,487,458 people Germany: 1 rider per 41,221,500 people Spain: 1 rider per 10,802,377 people Kazakhstan: 1 rider per 7,571,852 people Denmark: 1 rider per 5,415,978 people Australia: 1 rider per 20,406,800 people France: 1 rider per 63,056,200 people Ukraine: 1 rider per 47,732,079 people
Following this method, the strongest country would have been Denmark (!), followed by Kazakhstan and Spain, while Ukraine, the USA and France would have been the three worst.
I don't think Daveo is so far off the mark. No, Americans aren't going to take over the sport anytime soon, but certainly countries not generally thought of as cycling powers (pretty much anything not in Western Europe) are making a much bigger impact than before.
Australia has a made a huge dent, winning a fistful of green jerseys and Tour stage wins in the past few years. The guy in Green at this year's tour was Norweigan Thor Hushovd, who has a day or two in yellow as well. Magnus Backstedt's a Sweede and he won a Tour Stage in '98 and the Intergiro competition in '03...oh yeah, and Paris-Roubaix a year later. Plus the current Hour Record holder is Czech (Ondrej Sosenka), the most well-rounded road rider in the world (Vino', in my opinion) is a Kazakh, and the maillot blanc at this year's Tour was Ukrainian. And none of these places spring to mind when I think about cycling powerhouses.
Bike racing is one of the last true sports of our time. Man vs machine and time. Thanks to Andy Hampsten Greg Lemond and Lance, George, Tyler, Levi and other Americans. We can now use our tv's (OLN) insted of our minds to picture how races are won and lost. They all paved the road so to speak for us cyclist. Attention to our sport good or bad puts us on cnn espn abc cbs. Cycling has come a long way and needs to keep going, Lance gave us 7 great shots in the arm and hopefully the sport keeps going also keeps me from reading the papers about politics and all the dark issues in the world!! So americans in europe is a great thing two fold attention to our sport nationaly pride that we have a lot of riders that are great, and keeps bicycling in the fore front for our safety in us riding.
Posts: 1 | Location: Enfield Maine USA | Registered: 03 February 2006
I think Lance will cause a huge increse in numbers of Americans taking up the sport and this will show in results. In Australia we have a strong outdoor sport mentality and goverment suport for our teams in the insitute of sport.The weather helps as well. Yet I see now a ho hum atitude to our success in the media which will guide kids to other sports as our success is taken for granted.
Some individuals are better racers than others. Being an American or Europene does not make you a better cyclist, that person just happen to carry a passport from either the US or some Europene country. You all have it all wrong. A cycling nation should be judged by the number of ordinary people taking part in orginised cycling events. In Cape Town, South Africa we have the biggest cycling race in the world where every cyclist gets timed and is given an overall position in the race. The race was again held this past weekend (12 March) and covers a distance of 109km (68 miles). Only the first 35,000 entries are accepted. With 35,000 participants in one single timed event SA must be the greatest cycling nation! There are at least three other similar events in SA. See www.cycletour.co.za. Even some of the best cyclists ever took part (Indurain) http://www.cycletour.co.za/interactive/GetResults.asp?P...09679&res=1024&tab=4
Posts: 1 | Location: Cape Town, South Africa | Registered: 15 March 2006
I'm looking forward to the Tour in July. The greatest thing about cycling is being able to see the countryside like Europe and weekend getaways in the US.
