Good money, no team tactics and cute dogs: the rise of pro cycling freelancers | Hacker News Reader

Good money, no team tactics and cute dogs: the rise of pro cycling freelancers

theguardian.com

36 pointsPaulHoule25 comments

US riders and promoters have created a parallel racing circuit with no drug testing. Many of the biggest and most lucrative events in American cycling aren't sanctioned by any sporting body and aren't subject to any form of external oversight. I don't want to cast aspersions on any individual rider, but the incentives at play are very obvious.

LifeTime Grand Prix has at least _some_ testing.

I like it. I always wanted these sports where the competitors can kill them freely with dope.

I too. The other thing is a motorsport with rules of something like at least 3 wheels.

Let us see best and worst humanity can do. Despite the consequences.

Why three? The world's fastest monowheel would be something.

Why not cut out the middle men and pretences and just go back to classic gladiator style fights to the death?

Motorsports do bring something extra. Just how fast machine can we build.

Gladiator fights is different thing and modern weapons make them rather boring. And somethings like biological weapons could take too long time to be effective, so you only see one person keeling over...

They could go back to gladiator fights with costumes and weapons appropriate to the period (swords, maces, etc.).

Or combine them into gladiator motorsports

The problem is the incentive structure. We know the drugs work, we know they have serious medical side effects. So the only question you'll be answering is "Which of these athletes is willing to trade off the most dire long term health consequences to win". And the answer will be that some athletes are willing to do practically anything and will die of various entirely preventable problems at incredibly young ages. And what's the benefit? Some measure will read 1m 57 seconds instead of 2m 4s?

1m57s, which was enough to place first in the podium, gaining the athlete the prize money and additional exposure to sponsors, earning them a major sponsorship deal that allowed them to finance the off season training and take care of their family, who sacrifices with the athlete being on the road all the time vs 2m4s, who placed fourth, just off the podium and was relegated to relatively obscurity, and who went back to their desk job.

But the thing is, the one that did 2m4s may also have done all the drugs, but still have the downsides.

If everyone dopes, the best is still the 'best', its just their time is a little better, 4th place is still 4th place, but everyone has to deal with the fallout from that doping.

Does anyone follow gravel racing? If I wanted to watch a couple of past races (ideally on YouTube) to see if it's for me, is there anything you'd recommend?

For context, I'd thought I wouldn't like pro cycling as a spectator sport, since my exposure to it was just from Tour de France and track cycling both of which I find somewhat ridiculous for different reasons. But I was totally riveted by the road races at the Olympics this year.

(Aside: What's up with the "cute dogs" in the title? The article body text has nothing to say about dogs.)

The "cute dogs" in the title is obviously clickbait but at least one cute dog does show up in the article:

> Vermeulen produces a popular YouTube series starring his dog, Sir Willie the Wiener, riding on his back.

Not the video you asked for, but that is one cute dog! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqhhadyMntk

Lifetime Grand Prix are the biggest right now. They have a series of 7 races that they are doing great media on. Start with Unbound, it’s the most prestigious

I like it already!

Unbound athlete guide [1]:

"Special Note: The Flint Hills region of east-central Kansas is an extremely remote area. You will rarely pass through any towns, and there are no convenience stores between checkpoints. Always be aware of the distance to the next checkpoint and be prepared to travel that distance with the supplies you carry. Participants are solely responsible for their personal well-being, will have to make their own informed decisions, and suffer the consequences of those decisions. Please be aware... if you break down or become injured, it is YOUR responsibility to contact your support crew to come get you. DO NOT CALL US. WE WILL NOT COME RESCUE YOU. EVENT PROMOTERS AND SPONSORS ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR SAFETY AND WELL-BEING. If you sign up for this event, make sure you have a support crew with a well thought out emergency backup plan. If you do not feel you are prepared to meet such a challenge, please consider a shorter route option."

Support crew info [2]:

"Support Crews are NOT allowed on course, except to pick up a rider who is abandoning the event. IF A SUPPORT CREW VEHICLE IS SPOTTED ON COURSE, THEIR RIDER WILL BE DISQUALIFIED. Providing support to a rider while on course goes against the self-sufficiency spirit of this event. It is unfair to other participants, and therefore will not be allowed."

[1] https://www.unboundgravel.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/202...

[2] https://www.unboundgravel.com/support-crews/

About the dogs, from what I've seen the social media presence for these US gravel pros are a much bigger part of their income compared to pros in the European road racing circuit. Being a privateer is advantageous if you are a "top social" rider. This is probably comparable to what has happened in College sports where the top college athlete influencers are pulling in huge amount of eyeballs and income from their social media.

> But I was totally riveted by the road races at the Olympics this year.

In that case you would probably like the one day flanders classics in the spring as well as Paris-Roubaix and Strade Bianche.

Not explicitly, I subscribe to a couple people who do cycling and bikepacking related videos, and some of them also race gravel or MTB.

But for some reason (and maybe I'm lying to myself), they in general don't have a huge audience, so it feels less than following pro sports and more "following this rando on youtube, but the rando happens to have a couple thousand viewers and also does pro/amateur sports".

The difference, from the article, seems to be that the European teams are sponsored at the organization level, and pay the riders a salary, but the gravel riders are solo athletes, so they don't get a salary but can get sponsorships directly. Makes sense if you're up for the pressure of being an influencer.

I always figured TdF was a good metaphor for software innovation, because everyone who tries solo breakaways gets reeled in: successful breakaways involve partners who pull together to stay ahead of the pack.

Frankly, "a collaboration between you and the brand to tell a real story", translated back to the software world, sounds to me like a way to always be living on what you have coming, instead of having the ability to live off of what you have built.

And yet, the last rider interviewed characterizes it as a "more secure" line of work.

> I’m now making a lot more than I was on a factory team and feel more secure than ever. My salary is diversified across many brands, but if you’re on a team and they have a bad year, that has huge consequences.

Presumably this isn't true for everyone, and most low level domestiques are better off getting $60,000 a year from their team (more or less guaranteed - even if the contract is only for a year and there's some risk of bankruptcy) than rolling the dice on an Instagram/YouTube/TikTok career.

The narrower and vegetation lined winding paths typical in gravel decrease the potential benefits of teamwork. So a top racer does not need a team of servants to ride him to the final. The single day events without having team cars following on trac and extensive long on-tour medical/logistic staff for a whole team, non of which the 'servants' would be able to afford.

> Gravel races forbid team tactics, which opens the door for more creativity and storytelling.

I haven’t heard of team tactics being forbidden in gravel, just that they don’t work as well. Can anyone give more color?

So many delusionnal statements in this article:

"On track to become America’s next great general classification rider, he was let go in 2019 due to what he says were team politics."

His best result was 2nd in the general classification of tour of Morocco. Hardly what you'd call America's next great GC rider.

He was let go because he was not living up to the expectations.

The US gravel scene is mostly a retirement home for former world tour pros.

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