Tour D'urban - please enlighten!!

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

Hey guys - i have a gripe...

 

Mate of mine (18 yr old rookie cyclist, but sub 3 Argus rider) was seeded in grp A for the Tour, and got dropped after 20 km, cos he's just not fast enough to stay with them yet.

 

He tried to hook on to the following grp (Grp B, i assume) and was given a tongue lashing by some official to the effect that if he didn't get out of the grp, he would be dq'd. He didn't want to raise a fuss, or face the poss of dq'ing, so he dropped off and joined grp C. Cue tongue lashing number 2... He eventually had to ride by himself for the most of the race, but caught someone else in the same situ as him, facing "disqualification" if he joined a group other than his own due to puncture, being dropped, etc.

 

Now, to me, it is perfectly legit to join the next grp if u can't stay with yours for whatever reason. Isn't it? Surely it is.

 

How can a race be run like this? Please, tell me how?

 

This guy still rode a sub 3, but had his vision of a perfect race ruined, and on his first outing to boot.

[HammerHed]

Hell  Yes, have to agree with you.

 

Not sure what their rules are considering I didn't do that race, but that is the standard procedure.

 

If you get dropped by your group surely you find solace and shelter in the group behind???

 

[rad006]

He is not licensed so there is no problem but then if he is I do.....

So the officials are confused hugely

 

[HammerHed]

If he is "Seeded" then no problem!

 

I imagine that if you start in A group you are "Seeded" and not "Elite" and can then race in any group thereafter, No?

[Pantani]

I think this is a load of crap... If you get dropped then you get dropped. If you want to race with the 'B' bunch then enter that race. What if there was no bunch after the A group, in other words only one race??? He would have to ride home alone! I don't care how many Sub 3 Argus' he can ride, might ride or is going to ride, just accept that on the day he got dropped! He can always make amends some other day, no point in crying over spilled milk saying there is something wrong with the system. Even the punk who punctured? Why should another bunch pace him to a good time? He was dropped! Besides, the same applies to a slower bunch that is caught from behind, they are neutralised and told to allow the faster bunch to pass. At least in the licensed categories that is how it works. So tell your friend that if he is fast enough to be riding Sub 3 'om die berg' races why is he bothering with riding open seeded??? Go mix it up at the front, he can only improve even more!

[mudda]

In the open seeded cat - u can start with any bunch behind you (but not ahead)

 

So what if u get dropped in race with the bunch u start in? it is exactly the same as starting in the bunch behind you.

 

I would have rode with the bunch behind, and then argued at the end with the race official. Thats just me.

 

I have ridden in plenty races in different bunches - sometimes catching the faster bunches - sometimes joining a slower bunch. I think in the open seeded - anything goes - in the open seeded who gives a sh#t where u ride ?.

 

The licensed cat riders are far more serious. hence the numbers on the bike, etc, etc

[scotty]

Load of cr@p in open seeded you can fall back and race where you like. Incidently since when do officials monitor open seeds anycase.

[rad006]

Load of cr@p in open seeded you can fall back and race where you like. Incidently since when do officials monitor open seeds anycase.

 

Agreed and Pantini u go play in ur licenced bunch....

[MarkD]

Does sound like a "misguided official". 

 

In the Vets groups it is a clearly not allowed to hook onto the next age group when you get dropped as this could influence racing for positions / money in the next age category (eg. a team could get some of their 30+ riders to drop back to help the 40+ riders).

 

My understanding in the open seeded groups is that you are allowed to drop down to a "lower" seeded group at the start (but not allowed to move up to a faster group). 

 

The open batches simply have seeding to try to ensure that riders of similar ability ride together to avoid the problems of encountering slower riders - if you are "dropped" from one group but are able to stick with the next then there should be no problem.  So what if you influence that important race for 252nd place overall....

[Willehond]

Hey guys - i have a gripe...

 

Mate of mine (18 yr old rookie cyclist' date=' but sub 3 Argus rider) was seeded in grp A for the Tour, and got dropped after 20 km, cos he's just not fast enough to stay with them yet.

 

He tried to hook on to the following grp (Grp B, i assume)

[/quote']

 

Willehond2008-05-04 23:58:28

[slowpoke]

if i were him i'd have reported the so-called "officials" - in the open/seeded bunches you definitely may drop back. hell, if you start in B and are strong enought o catch up to the A bunch good for you! in the "licenced" (ie RACING licenced) bunches you may not drop back into another bunch and have to ride alone.

[Pantani]

They should have DQ'd him... CHEAT!

[Pantani]

No better than a Licensed Racing LINE CROSSER!

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

I thought as much...

As for his license status, he is pretty much like the average person - would rather pay R75 or whatever it is for a bog standard UCI cyclosport license, rather that paying anywhere between R10 and R30 for an on-the-day.

Having said that, he does not belong to a UCI "category" as he does not have a team, sponsorship etc to make that economically viable.

 

And as for the seeding on the day - Pantani, get all the info before you spout, or read properly - he wasn't going to be able to mix it with th eA group - it's only his 2nd race if u don't count Sani 2 c, and he tried to get re-seeded. They wouldn't even let him START in a later group. Now where's the logic in that?

 

However, I do agree that the more time he spends with ppl better & faster than him, the better he's going to get.

[Guest poser]

I say ban the little swine from cycling for 5 years. By the time his ban expires he will be mature enough not to ****with Pantani's vision of a perfect cycling world!

 

Way to go, Pantani!!

[MarkD]

Maybe someone to DQ would be the DL rider who started with the Vets Superseries...  Of course WinningTime failed to notice this despite the timing mats at the start and then used his DL start time to calculate that he rode a 2:27 (about 35 minutes faster than the rest of D group) - a pretty impressive improvement from a 4 hour Argus....