AGAINTS

Velon are taking a risk with the team format. Fans have a far less faithful relationship with teams than with the individual riders

Before I get criticised for being a miserable old curmudgeon, I should say that the format of this discussion – for and against – doesn’t quite describe what I want to say. I’m not ‘against’ any bike racing, or any format. It’s all good and I get excited watching it. I’ll get excited watching the Hammer Series. With live music and entertainments, the chance to see the riders several times per day and, hopefully, booze, they also sound a lot of fun to attend.

However, having looked at the design of the Hammer races, I worry that while the original intention was to present a simple and exciting format, it has evolved into a points structure that will make following the race confusing. The format looks like it has been designed by committee.

One of the reasons stage races captured my imagination is that while there’s a general classification which provides the main narrative, each day has the focal point of a stage winner and the logic of a race to the finish. First man or woman over the line wins. What could be easier to understand? The cumulative nature of the Hammer Climb and Sprint days’ points systems takes that focal point away.

I think Velon are taking a risk with the team format. Fans have a far less faithful relationship with teams than with the individual riders who win races. For me, emotional engagement is the foundation of sports fandom, and I think people are far more likely to emotionally engage with the heroes and heroines of cycling than the corporate entities whose names are attached to the teams.

I hope the races interact well with the landscapes in which they take place. The Tour, Giro and Classics gain their lustre from their geographical and cultural context. I wrote in an editorial not that long ago that one of road cycling’s greatest attractions was that it is such an educational sport – I’ve learned more about Flemish, or Basque, or Breton culture from visiting bike races than I ever did from a textbook. Will the Hammer races retain that same relationship with their locations? Will they stand out from each other the way each Classic does?

I can see that Velon are looking at other sports. I can see shades of Formula One and football in the Hammer concept. But cycling is cycling, and its evolution has been organic rather than revolutionary. The distances have changed, but the concept behind every bike race is still largely the same. Daily stages and a GC, or first over the line wins in a one-day race.

Cycling has never been bigger. It’s a successful sport which attracts thousands of people to the roadside, and I suspect people like road cycling simply because of what it is. Change that too much, and I worry the point has been missed.