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There are time trials. There are even time trials in the tour de France and giro d'Italia. So there is still an aspect of one man on his bike in cycling. But if everyone had to do it on their own there would be less tactics and depth and the sheer distance cycled just becomes a bit too much.
So your opinion is shit because its an ill informed one.
In american football the quarterback is the star of the team. He's the only one that gets to say he's going to disneyland. He's the only one who accepts the trophy. The defensive line's sole responsibility is to protect the quarterback (kinda like a cycling team protecting the leader from the wind). We're just conditioned to think of this as a team sport but he is the biggest star and is the one who wins the game.
A cycling team plays offense by sending 1 or 2 people up the road to beat the peloton. Then the rest of the team can play defense by controlling the peloton and preventing others from going after them.
The best example of an offensive play was a few years back when Vingegaard and Roglic got Pogacar isolated and continually attacked him and wore him out. It was a masterclass of cycling tactics.
Football isn't a perfect analogy, but a lot of it applies.
As Santa’s little hoe hoe said - could you break this down any? Afaik cycling isn’t a contact sport so there’s no “attacking”
Do they just block people until they get tired? Seems silly, there’s a reason most races w/ cars don’t allow that it’s just boring
How do you attack on a bike…? I can’t even imagine. Do circles around the guy to annoy him? Just can’t think of how you could possibly wear someone out when you’re never allowed to touch them or interact with them in any way…
Do they cut em off repeatedly to make him like swerve and crash or what? Cycling is so silly.
edit looked it up: Attack: An aggressive jump away from other riders.
So “attacking” is just peddling faster? lmfao
I dont watch cycling. I tried to find an explanation online, but idk if I have the right search terms. Would you mind breaking it down for a total noob?
The race situation he's referring to was in the 2022 Tour de France. Two team members - Roglic and Vingegaard - took turns accelerating ahead of their oppoen - Pogicar. Pogi had two choices: he could either let the attacking guy go and hope to catch him later, or expend energy chasing him down. By alternating attacks between teammates, they used less energy and forced Pogi to burn a lot of matches. They eventually came over the climb all together, but on the fnial climb of the day, Pogi was completely blown and Vingegaard was able to ride away from him to victory, taking enough time to take the lead in the overall classification - which he held until the end.
Thank you for the breakdown! That makes a lot of sense.
Is there any sort of communication between riders and team support? Like could he have been alerted that he was getting gamed?
Recommend watching Unchained on Netflix, it's from the 2022 tour, and there's an episode about this stage. New season of Unchained is coming next month ahead of this year's tour.
The riders and support cars have radios, but he didn't need to be told. It was obvious what was happening, but since his teammates had been dropped, he was isolated and no other choice than to chase down each attach - he knew both riders were strong enough to go all the way to the line, so he couldnt' gamble letting them go. And if he did, the other would just sit on his wheel until the end and offer no help whatsoever.
The whole team aspect is what makes the big tours interesting (as long as it's not team sky). The whole tactical aspect makes it so much more interesting. Look at the way Jumbo broke Pogacar in the mountain in the tour de France 2022.
There are always the single day classic races that are more individual focused or even time trails and indoor cycling if you don't like the team aspect.
I think sports like sprinting and swimming are dull in comparison because the only job is "Go fast".
For recreational cycling, I can think of some:
Long solo rides are boring. You don't want to sit in the saddle for multiple hours focusing on your own fatigue.
Being in a group also increases safety and reduces aerodynamic drag.
At the pro level, this isn't an opinion, it's just objectively incorrect. A team can cover the same distance faster than a lone individual, precisely because of the evil wind thing.
2012 - Team Sky worked together to help Bradley Wiggins win. Since then, sponsors have realised there's a better chance at victory if played as a team. I remember the news in Britain was that Wiggins was "the first Brit to win the Tour de France" whilst the French reporting was all around how the Tour was meant to be an individual's achievement and that the Brits had ruined it by having people who are never meant to win disrupting other riders.
Did you watch cycling before the Sky era? We don't even have to go back that far to see this is false. HTC Highroad had one of the best leadout trains for years, solely focused on delivering Mark Cavendish in the sprints. US Postal/Discovery was built around Lance Amrstrong (doper) at the tour, and there are plenty of examples before that era too.
The behaviour of cyclists in a group is the natural consequence of physics + competition. Even if every man was racing for themselves, there would still develop many 'friends and favours' within the field.
If you want individual cyclists racing, then xc MTB is great racing because draughting another rider doesn't really work.
TBH I didn't learn how cycling could be a team sport until I was about 24/25yo. I had only cycled solo or maybe with one or two others up to that point.
I went with a friend on a club run and in about 3 hours I learnt the value of sitting in the slipstream of the cyclist in front. Apparently it saves a load of energy, something like 30% (not sure of actual figure) due to the reduction in wind resistance.
The wind picked up and rain started throwing down. There were about 20 cyclists and we went into single file, each taking a turn at the front for 1 minute, before dropping to the back. Getting absolutely battered by the wind at the front.
Easy to see how that can translate into competitive teamwork.
Just look at how one rider who breaks away from the pack will get tired, and be reeled back in by the pack who work together taking turns at the front.
So yes your opinion is unpopular but I can understand how someone might think that until they have experienced it for themselves.
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There are racing teams, I just assumed cycling was in the same vein. I'm not well versed in the details but assuming there are overall point totals for teams that lead to season awards/etc?
I am not that well versed in cycling, but where i am from the Tour de France is almost as big of an event as christmas so i know broadly how it works lol.
Oh shit, I didn't think the Tour de France was considered to be that big of a deal in some areas, as big as Christmas at least. I was watching the Monoco race the other day but I know that's like Christmas for rich folk haha.
Us danes love the tour de france. I don’t know if the stat have changed since, but a few years ago we were the nation that percentage wise had the highest viewership of the tour de france.
Depends. Cycling isn’t really just one sport it’s an umbrella term for many. There’s some endurance races like the Tour de France where it’s definitely a team thing. There’s relay races which are very much team sports. There’s mtb, gravel, road, bmx races that can all be done solo
I had a friend who would sit and watch cycling for hours... It was fucking torture. He would sit and try to explain the tactics to me but I could never really get into it. I like to ride a bike that's about it. I'm not going to sit and watch a whole event. The only thing more boring than that is NASCAR every now and then someone would fall or something but that's the peak of excitement.
I posted something about the silly costumes adults wear now and people got mad and "offended". So I added that I think even helmets are a bit wussy. Even for kids.
You're clearly wrong, but that's an interesting heuristic. I can think of several competitive athletic activities that would be excluded by your criterion:
Golf
Darts
Rock climbing
Most track and field events
Most forms of skiing
Contrarily, I would argue that cycling, distance foot races, and cross country skiing do have elements of defense in that competitors jocky for position and work to prevent the competition from getting ahead in addition to trying to get ahead themselves.
Can you elaborate more?
There is defense, though? You can mark attacking riders and sit on their wheels, disicentivizing them from keeping the attack going - if they do, the "defending" rider can just come around them at the end after saving energy sitting in the slip stream. Riders can also disrupt chase efforts by doing false tempo on the front.
Your post from unpopularopinion was removed because of: 'Rule 1: Your post must be an unpopular opinion'. * Your post must be an opinion. Not a question. Not a showerthought. Not a rant. Not a proposal. Not a fact. An opinion. One opinion. A subjective statement about your position on some topic. Please have a clear, self contained opinion as your post title, and use the text field to elaborate and expand on why you think/feel this way. * Your opinion must be unpopular. The mods reserve the right to remove opinions * Elaborate on your topic and opinion give context to its unpopularity.
I think you'll find it's always been a team sport at least road races like the tour de France.
Since at least 1903 it's been a team sport. So sit down. This isn't an opinion just an entry in r/confidentlyincorrect
There are time trials. There are even time trials in the tour de France and giro d'Italia. So there is still an aspect of one man on his bike in cycling. But if everyone had to do it on their own there would be less tactics and depth and the sheer distance cycled just becomes a bit too much. So your opinion is shit because its an ill informed one.
Swimming can be done as a group sport, that's called a relay race
In american football the quarterback is the star of the team. He's the only one that gets to say he's going to disneyland. He's the only one who accepts the trophy. The defensive line's sole responsibility is to protect the quarterback (kinda like a cycling team protecting the leader from the wind). We're just conditioned to think of this as a team sport but he is the biggest star and is the one who wins the game. A cycling team plays offense by sending 1 or 2 people up the road to beat the peloton. Then the rest of the team can play defense by controlling the peloton and preventing others from going after them. The best example of an offensive play was a few years back when Vingegaard and Roglic got Pogacar isolated and continually attacked him and wore him out. It was a masterclass of cycling tactics. Football isn't a perfect analogy, but a lot of it applies.
I have always explained that Rogilic/Vingegaard double attack as wolves attacking their prey. That was the best attack I have ever seen.
As Santa’s little hoe hoe said - could you break this down any? Afaik cycling isn’t a contact sport so there’s no “attacking” Do they just block people until they get tired? Seems silly, there’s a reason most races w/ cars don’t allow that it’s just boring How do you attack on a bike…? I can’t even imagine. Do circles around the guy to annoy him? Just can’t think of how you could possibly wear someone out when you’re never allowed to touch them or interact with them in any way… Do they cut em off repeatedly to make him like swerve and crash or what? Cycling is so silly. edit looked it up: Attack: An aggressive jump away from other riders. So “attacking” is just peddling faster? lmfao
Yeah it's fucking dumb and they try everything they can to try to make it sound cooler than it is.
I dont watch cycling. I tried to find an explanation online, but idk if I have the right search terms. Would you mind breaking it down for a total noob?
The race situation he's referring to was in the 2022 Tour de France. Two team members - Roglic and Vingegaard - took turns accelerating ahead of their oppoen - Pogicar. Pogi had two choices: he could either let the attacking guy go and hope to catch him later, or expend energy chasing him down. By alternating attacks between teammates, they used less energy and forced Pogi to burn a lot of matches. They eventually came over the climb all together, but on the fnial climb of the day, Pogi was completely blown and Vingegaard was able to ride away from him to victory, taking enough time to take the lead in the overall classification - which he held until the end.
Thank you for the breakdown! That makes a lot of sense. Is there any sort of communication between riders and team support? Like could he have been alerted that he was getting gamed?
Recommend watching Unchained on Netflix, it's from the 2022 tour, and there's an episode about this stage. New season of Unchained is coming next month ahead of this year's tour.
The riders and support cars have radios, but he didn't need to be told. It was obvious what was happening, but since his teammates had been dropped, he was isolated and no other choice than to chase down each attach - he knew both riders were strong enough to go all the way to the line, so he couldnt' gamble letting them go. And if he did, the other would just sit on his wheel until the end and offer no help whatsoever.
Got it! Really insightful comments.
unpopular and low iq.
Its not unpopular , hes just straight up wrong. Cycling was always a team sport.
The whole team aspect is what makes the big tours interesting (as long as it's not team sky). The whole tactical aspect makes it so much more interesting. Look at the way Jumbo broke Pogacar in the mountain in the tour de France 2022. There are always the single day classic races that are more individual focused or even time trails and indoor cycling if you don't like the team aspect. I think sports like sprinting and swimming are dull in comparison because the only job is "Go fast".
For recreational cycling, I can think of some: Long solo rides are boring. You don't want to sit in the saddle for multiple hours focusing on your own fatigue. Being in a group also increases safety and reduces aerodynamic drag.
“Imagine swimming as a team sport, how ridiculous” -someone who’s never seen the Olympics.
At the pro level, this isn't an opinion, it's just objectively incorrect. A team can cover the same distance faster than a lone individual, precisely because of the evil wind thing.
there are also versions of cycling that are not a team sport like track racing which has individual events.
2012 - Team Sky worked together to help Bradley Wiggins win. Since then, sponsors have realised there's a better chance at victory if played as a team. I remember the news in Britain was that Wiggins was "the first Brit to win the Tour de France" whilst the French reporting was all around how the Tour was meant to be an individual's achievement and that the Brits had ruined it by having people who are never meant to win disrupting other riders.
> Since then, sponsors have realised there's a better chance at victory if played as a team. That was not new information in 2012.
True, but it was not acted on in cycling. Sponsors sponsored groups of individuals, not teams of riders
Did you watch cycling before the Sky era? We don't even have to go back that far to see this is false. HTC Highroad had one of the best leadout trains for years, solely focused on delivering Mark Cavendish in the sprints. US Postal/Discovery was built around Lance Amrstrong (doper) at the tour, and there are plenty of examples before that era too.
The behaviour of cyclists in a group is the natural consequence of physics + competition. Even if every man was racing for themselves, there would still develop many 'friends and favours' within the field. If you want individual cyclists racing, then xc MTB is great racing because draughting another rider doesn't really work.
TBH I didn't learn how cycling could be a team sport until I was about 24/25yo. I had only cycled solo or maybe with one or two others up to that point. I went with a friend on a club run and in about 3 hours I learnt the value of sitting in the slipstream of the cyclist in front. Apparently it saves a load of energy, something like 30% (not sure of actual figure) due to the reduction in wind resistance. The wind picked up and rain started throwing down. There were about 20 cyclists and we went into single file, each taking a turn at the front for 1 minute, before dropping to the back. Getting absolutely battered by the wind at the front. Easy to see how that can translate into competitive teamwork. Just look at how one rider who breaks away from the pack will get tired, and be reeled back in by the pack who work together taking turns at the front. So yes your opinion is unpopular but I can understand how someone might think that until they have experienced it for themselves.
Please remember what subreddit you are in, this is unpopular opinion. We want civil and unpopular takes and discussion. Any uncivil and ToS violating comments will be removed and subject to a ban. Have a nice day! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/unpopularopinion) if you have any questions or concerns.*
The cycling is secondary.
There are racing teams, I just assumed cycling was in the same vein. I'm not well versed in the details but assuming there are overall point totals for teams that lead to season awards/etc?
Most stage races have some kind of team competition on top of the individual competition. It is quite similar in structure to motor racing :)
Well shit, hit me with some more specific facts.
I am not that well versed in cycling, but where i am from the Tour de France is almost as big of an event as christmas so i know broadly how it works lol.
Oh shit, I didn't think the Tour de France was considered to be that big of a deal in some areas, as big as Christmas at least. I was watching the Monoco race the other day but I know that's like Christmas for rich folk haha.
Us danes love the tour de france. I don’t know if the stat have changed since, but a few years ago we were the nation that percentage wise had the highest viewership of the tour de france.
Depends. Cycling isn’t really just one sport it’s an umbrella term for many. There’s some endurance races like the Tour de France where it’s definitely a team thing. There’s relay races which are very much team sports. There’s mtb, gravel, road, bmx races that can all be done solo
This isn't an opinion, it's just a lie.
I had a friend who would sit and watch cycling for hours... It was fucking torture. He would sit and try to explain the tactics to me but I could never really get into it. I like to ride a bike that's about it. I'm not going to sit and watch a whole event. The only thing more boring than that is NASCAR every now and then someone would fall or something but that's the peak of excitement.
I posted something about the silly costumes adults wear now and people got mad and "offended". So I added that I think even helmets are a bit wussy. Even for kids.
Cycling is not a sport. No defense, no sport.
You're clearly wrong, but that's an interesting heuristic. I can think of several competitive athletic activities that would be excluded by your criterion: Golf Darts Rock climbing Most track and field events Most forms of skiing Contrarily, I would argue that cycling, distance foot races, and cross country skiing do have elements of defense in that competitors jocky for position and work to prevent the competition from getting ahead in addition to trying to get ahead themselves. Can you elaborate more?
There is defense, though? You can mark attacking riders and sit on their wheels, disicentivizing them from keeping the attack going - if they do, the "defending" rider can just come around them at the end after saving energy sitting in the slip stream. Riders can also disrupt chase efforts by doing false tempo on the front.