NCMTBIKER

Since Lance has retired i dont think racing will be as fun to watch..maybe im wrong...

RonH

I don't know if I'm getting old or the riders are getting younger but I don't know much about many of the new riders.

luxroadie

Don't take this (totally) wrong but ... cycling has more going for it now than back in the days of LA. You just have to read up about more than LA and "the next Lance".

Maybe it is because I live in Europe - maybe because I read pro cycling mags from UK. But when I see a race coming up I can think of 12 to 24 riders who'll make things exciting.

Aside from idiots like Ricco I think we are in a grand era for pro cycling

Farby

I think outside of the US, cycling is seen much differently. In the US, it's lance, lance lance. he gets all the press so unless you are actively reading cycling websites, mags etc, you probably won't come to learn about the rest of the pros. But i think to say it won't be exciting is not accurate. Paris Roubaix was awesome and i thought the tour of flanders was good as well.
I know the more races I watch the more pros i come to learn about. Keep watching and you'll see that there are plenty of riders out there doing amazing things.

Caretaker

My first reaction to this post was to write it off as another US cycle fan who isn't interested unless an American is winning. Then a little humility.

We all have a little nationalism in us. I can remember in the 80's when Sean Kelly and Stephen Roche were winning races there was a surge of interest in pro-cycling in Ireland. Then Roche won the TdF in '87 and the interest reached new heights. Every child wanted a racing bike. The years since have been pretty lean for Irish cycling and the grand irony was in '98 when the TdF started in Ireland that was the year of the Festina doping scandal that cast a shadow over pro-cycling that continues to the present.

I've never been a club road racer but my cycle touring has given me an appreciation of the pain the pros go through. Now, it's the awe for a cyclist of whatever nationality who can climb on a bike and put themselves through pain for personal or team glory. Like all humans they have frailties and flaws.

K.Katso

There are plenty of other people doing exciting things right now, but you need to watch more races and get a feel for the other people that are racing. IIRC Versus will air La Fleche Wallonne and Liege-Bastogne-Liege as well as maybe a few other races coming up soon. De Brabantse Pijl was yesterday. The Amstel Gold Race is this weekend but I'm not sure if they cover that one. Some of these are races that Lance used to do before he started concentrating on winning Tours de France, so tuning in now you might catch the next rising star.

baj32161

In the grand scheme of things, Lance did not make cycling for me. I am a fan of more than just the Tour de France and think that even that race will be more exciting without the almost clinical way the Lance teams rode the race. Plus there are so many talented young riders out there that the sport is in good hamds. I am actually looking forward to this season without Lance. The spring classics make for some of the most riveting racing on the calendar IMHO. OP it is the optimum time to look beyond the TdF.

Keith99

Lance is gone and now vrs Carries all the 5 monuments and more.

With Lance it was the TDF and maybe whatever lead up races Lance was in.

Much better now.

Withing a few years we may even get commentators who give an honest evaluation of who the contenders in each race are.

DiabloScott

Lance was a non-factor in anything except the TdF. Still, Versus bought the broadcast rights to the TdF before Lance had won his first so it was really a pretty big gamble, whatever factor Lance played in that... I'm grateful.


M-SR wasn't on Versus this year. Don't see GdL on there either, but it's early. Worlds would also be a nice add.

https://www.versus.com/blogs/2010-tou...ycle-schedule/

Commodus

heh, you must be one of those "july-only" fans.

baj32161

In Canada we still have OLN and they ONLY broadcast the TdF...and it greatly pisses me off. If there is one thing I miss about television in the US it is (Heaven forbid) Versus .

Cheers,

Brian J

Romans8:28

I assume you mean the TDF?

I think the AS/AC duel will be fun to watch if AC is allowed to race

jbenkert111

I enjoy riding and appreciated bike racing, but the fact is that unless americans (I am one) have a big gun racing (i.e. Greg Lemond, LA) they will just NOT be interest bike racing. They do love recreational riding such as charity rides and centuries, but thats it. They like competitive running (on any given weekend you can find hundreds of running races and maybe 1 bike race and only during the season. They don't give a flip about international road racing because again, there are no (very few) top americans. Their hero's are Bill Rodgers, Frank Shorter, and Alberto Salazar and I don't see them winning any races lately (naturalized citizens from other countries don't get there attention either).

Commodus

Holy massive, nonsensical generalizations batman!

Wait, I have another:

I'll take five lines of ignorance for a thousand, Alex.

baj32161

^^^

TOLOCOMan

It's actually TSN that has the rights for this year, and they are broadcasting it in HD for the first time in Canada.

Dubbayoo

Same here! I used to read up on the foreign up 'n comers too. I haven't bought VeloNews print in over 12 years.

Keith99

My bad, I should have said it seems like they are carrying all the monuments (and more).

Did they pick up the TDF rights the first year Lance was riding teh TDF post Cancer? If so he may have played a significant part. One thing about Grand Tours is that day 1 serves as an ad for all the remaining days, as does day 2 and day 3 and on. Having an American in a toutable position (which Lance was) may have been enough to tip the scales on it being a gamble they were willing to take.

DiabloScott

I think they (OLN) actually bought the rights for the 1999 Tour before the 1998 Tour. I remember Adrian Karsten making a speech about how much he enjoyed covering the side stories in France (for ESPN) on the last day of the Tour and he was sad to see that it was coming to an end. I'm pretty sure that was 1998 and I don't think Lance's chances were considered very good at that point.

Also I remember having to dump my cable company for DirecTV to get OLN (then dumped DirecTV for DishNetwork during the 2009 debacle).

BTW, check out this video I uploaded recently:

Doohickie

I never thought it was fun to watch.

PeddlingPilgrim

agreed, the 1st TDF i ever watched was w/ floyd 'winning'. i have an old disco jersey, and much mellow johnny's gear, and i've been to that shop numerous times... but besides motivation for what i want to accomplish personally, lance has very little to do w/ my interest in cycling. when i started road biking (years before lance's TDF wins) for distance and fitness i had no idea what the TDF really was or any idea of european cycling. now that i follow some of the other races for an understanding of strategy, it's only marginal and to provide motivation, sitting around watching sports is just a massive waste of time IMO.

TommyL

I think the age of the fan and the time in which they became interested in cycling has a lot to do with it. The first tour I watched was Lance's 7th, but besides thinking it was cool I didn't become a huge fan overnight. I definitely became a "Tour de France fan" as opposed to either a "cycling fan" or a "Lance fan."

I've enjoyed every Tour since then, though the scandals have taken some of the fun out of it. At the bakery where I go to watch the Tour live, there is a younger generation of viewers that is excited about the current riders, a middle aged and/or less engaged group that turns every conversation to Lance, and an older group that talks about the times before Lance, as far back as Merckx.

This year I've been watching the classics through steephill.tv, and loving it. While maybe not as exciting as the Tour overall, they beat the pants off a flat stage. It's fun to follow my favorite teams and riders, which happens to be most of them, and see riders who are masters of a slightly different discipline than tour riding.

luxroadie

Man said a lot right there! I do hope folks who 'joined' at different times get a chance to come to appreciate the sport for what it is without a focus on one rider or one race.

I do think that is what Europeans get that Americans can't. I was lucky as I grew up in NYC but read a lot about Sean Kelly in the 80s and grew to love the sport "in that age". For me cycling is about Europe and the different countries, cultures, races, climates.

Lance brought it into a modern era (remains to be seen how we remember that era). But the sport of cycling is so much bigger than Lance or the Tour (maybe not bigger than Eddie but that's another kettle of smelt).

Cdy291

I didn't get my first road bike until after lance won his last tour, but I have been riding a bike on some level since I learned how to ride. Whatching Landis win in 2006 is what really inspired me to go do my first race though when I was 17.

Caretaker

Óscar Pereiro won in 2006.

Hope this news hasn't come as a shock or put you off racing.