Lange and "FUN Riders"

[Orbeadc]

I heard Malcolm Lange on SS last night and he comments on road cycling and the fact that it is a "fun rider" circuit is really irretating me. Factually he is correct that there is not a proper "Pro Tour" or "Pro" races in SA but reality is that is ALL we have.  He always complains about the organisation of races, the distances, the lack of tours etc.<?: prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

There is a lack of money, sponsorship and the race organiser do their best with their limited resources and we should be grateful for that.  The "fun rider" circuit does  give all the pro's a platform to earn a living.

This is an issue to be addressed by Cycling SA stop criticising what we have!!

 

[AndreZA]

We don't really have pros in this country either. The only time we will get proper circuits is if they make it 150+km like in Europe. Then you will basically have 100 entries as us "fun-riders" will not be interested in doing such long races.

[FrancoisO]

What happend to the Jock?

[Mutt]

so lets stop entering events - see how far that gets these laughable 'pros'.

 

 

 

No interest, no cash, no point in organising events, no point to sponsor so called 'pros' because were not buying the products.

 

 

 

Come on man - think a bit. Oh and if what you do have is not good enough - fix it or give it up - find something else or somewhere else to do it.

[wheelz]

if he's complaining he must go race in Europe. He had the chance but came back. so he must just accept. unfortunately there is not a big enough financial backing to support this 'pro' tour racing in SA. if we did have the finances i doubt it would really increase the level of racing in SA as they will still be racing the same group of riders.

[Zeps]

I think that's a pretty narrow minded view of what he was trying to say but hey have at it 'ubbers' crucify and burn

[Bat-ass]

Everything malcolm said is true.....

its the sports governing body that need to organise the longer pro races, with just the pros. maybe they will attract european teams if there are UCI points?

You dont see batch "B" "C' "D" and "E" starting 5 minutes apart at Liege baston liege?? What malcolm is indirectly saying is, they want pro races...

And what he said about how strong the mountain bikers are, because they race so much is also true..

[Zeps]

Everything malcolm said is true.....

its the sports governing body that need to organise the longer pro races' date=' with just the pros. maybe they will attract european teams if there are UCI points?

You dont see batch "B" "C' "D" and "E" starting 5 minutes apart at Liege baston liege?? What malcolm is indirectly saying is, they want pro races...

And what he said about how strong the mountain bikers are, because they race so much is also true..

[/quote']

 

Ah Bat-ass you have hit the nail on the head but I doubt such an objective view of the matter will sit well with the 'crucify and burners' of the hub ....

[The Hawk CT]

with all the mileage we got from Lance in South Africa, sponsorship should not be an issue....?

 

Look at cycling in Australia over the last few years...

 

I think that those in management positions must seriously pull the finger as there are many corporates in SA. We just need to approach them in the correct way.

 

The tour of Australia has gone huge now!!! Why cant we grow racing in SA?

[The Hawk CT]

soccer is getting huge sponsorship

 

hockey is getting

 

rugby is getting

 

cricket is getting

 

the list goes on...

 

 

 

we had ikons riding the argus and cape epic... cape epic is huge! why? Why cant we have a huge stage race?

[Guest coenie]

 

Everything malcolm said is true.....

its the sports governing body that need to organise the longer pro races' date=' with just the pros. maybe they will attract european teams if there are UCI points?

You dont see batch "B" "C' "D" and "E" starting 5 minutes apart at Liege baston liege?? What malcolm is indirectly saying is, they want pro races...

And what he said about how strong the mountain bikers are, because they race so much is also true..

[/quote']

 

+ 1

 

Well Said

 

[rock]

the ultra marathon events have raised the MTB game so much - there the top guys are racing 5-6 hours.....where as their road buddy's are doing 2.5hours only.......

 

 

 

but even when a select few are racing 120kms off road, there's still a 75km and a 50km race for normal MTB riders, so I can't see why they cant have 100 guys racing 180kms for prize money and TV coverage and then the rest do a 100km 'fun ride'......??

[Danger Dassie]

Everything malcolm said is true.....

its the sports governing body that need to organise the longer pro races' date=' with just the pros. maybe they will attract european teams if there are UCI points?

You dont see batch "B" "C' "D" and "E" starting 5 minutes apart at Liege baston liege?? What malcolm is indirectly saying is, they want pro races...

And what he said about how strong the mountain bikers are, because they race so much is also true..

[/quote']

 

Ah Bat-ass you have hit the nail on the head but I doubt such an objective view of the matter will sit well with the 'crucify and burners' of the hub ....

 

 

Mainstream media is failing in this regard as well, take a look at the piss poor local coverage of the MTB World Cup in Pmb last year.

Even the standard of local cycling media left much to be desired!

[wheelz]

unfortunately its all about finances and/or greed. The organises always want to make a profit(and so they should as its their time), but if there was enough cash in the sport there could definately be a pro tour and there is no reason why Europian races wont come down. we got awsome whether all year round (except for this rain in WP ), very good routes, great variety or terrain and of coarse really hot girls for the podium.

 

Just a thought...instead of eg. Medscheme, DCM, ect sending their riders over to Europe to race why dont they pool that cash into something like a pro tour and invite some Europian teams over. It would be expensive, but so is sendind a team over there for a period of time. clearly they have the finances.

[Tuxstir]

your big corporates that sponsor sports are not really interested in cycling , why? well simple.. sports like rugby and soccor have large exposure, i.e it gets broadcast live.. how much broadcast time does cycling get? i think if we where to get cycling happening really in sa we need to have events like the aurgus and the 94 to be on day time tv, live like the commrades is.  then the sponsors get their exposure and cycling will get its sponsors, the more money in cycling the moe events will happen , the more the whiny pros like lange will be happy. the stronger the sport will be.

 

[scotty]

MTB is growing faster than road, so if i was a sponsor looking at sponsoring a multi day event that is where i would look, Absa Cape Epic, Fairburn Capital Jhb2C, Sabaru Sani2c.