Tour of Beijing - October 11-15, 2013 - General Thread **Spoiler Tags Required**

dastardly00 wrote: »

Interestingly, Dan is the highest ranked rider taking part in the Tour of Beijing this year. He could move up to 6th overall in the world rankings if he wins. Here's a link to UCI World Rankings.

And with it bring Ireland into the top 10 nations. Is there any significance to that for the World Championships next year?

dastardly00 wrote: »

Don't think it would have any significance for the 2014 World Champs since the rankings will be all reset at the start of the 2014 season. I'm open to correction though.

it does seem to be a bit confusing but I think it counts to next season

he classification shal be drawn up per season, by adding the points won from the 1st October (15th October for the Europe Tour) until the 30th September (14th October for the Europe Tour) of the next year. The classification shal be drawn up on the 25th day of each month. Where applicable, the classification for preceding months shal be corected. The new classification shal come into force on the 1st day of the folowing month and remains valid until the end of the month.

Is tomorrow the big climb?

Beasty wrote: »

Just watching today's highlights and what struck me was the complete lack of atmosphere. There was hardly anyone on the roadside until the last km or so, and even then it looked a bit like "rentacrowd" with mainly adults waving their Chinese flags

Is this really an example of true globalisation of the sport. You're over there pprederville - is it getting much publicity locally and do you feel as if there's a groundswell of support for the event?

Haven't seen any of the race so far due to college commitments so I can't really comment on the atmosphere but I'd imagine it's fairly low key. I haven't seen any advertising on billboards. I don't watch TV as the stuff they have on is dreadful (plus all in Chinese which is too hard at the moment but terrible anyway) so I don't know if they're covering it.

Cycling hasn't reached the stage here where it is recognised as a truly global and interesting sport among the masses. I'd say if I mentioned The Tour de France to people on the street here most people wouldn't have a clue. In saying that, the way I see things is that the Chinese (and possibly other Asians) don't really do mass sporting events like Europeans/Americans). It's just not in the culture. There's nothing like the Premiership here or The All Ireland (communism sucks the souls out of people and the legacy of that is still in play here). Other reasons being a lack of knowledge of sport in general, work commitments (typical work week here is Mon-Sat 8-6), expenses and inconvenience of getting from A-B. The Olympics probably made it seem like a great idea with all the interest in sport it generated but that was all a patriotic thing. Also, there is no successful Chinese cyclist that I know of (apart from Li Fuyu who tested positive a few years ago) who is successful. Can you imagine 150 Chinese/Asian riders coming to Ireland and a good Irish cycling club (good meaning well established in the cycling world but relatively unknown outside it) with 6 riders taking part in a tour of Ireland. Do you think the locals are going to line the roadside. Pretty unlikely and it seems to be the case here.

Think this tour is a legacy of Pat McQuaid and The Global Cycling Project(which according to an article on Cyclingnews is operating at a loss to the UCI) which seems to me to be a way of swinging elections which thankfully didn't work. It's probably a good idea but being run the wrong way. Develop the locals first so they are recognised in their own country as being successful, then work on bringing in outsiders. I know an Aussie guy, doesn't speak much Chinese but is on the organising committee so can't really get feedback from locals. Local knowledge is essential if you want an event to be successful. Also, the website doesn't have any Chinese on it so not really useful for the locals. The media company is Australian I believe. Not real incentive being offered to the Chinese in any form so why should they bother turning up. Definitely a "Rentacrowd".

Haven't seen any of this race yet apart from 20 minutes this morning. I was delighted when I heard Phil Ligget commentating on the youtube channel. The streaming worked perfectly. I don't have eurosport and find some of the internet sports channels are hit and miss regarding streaming. I was also pleased that Phil was commentating for itv4 for the tour de France and the vuelta. I find it hard to listen to the eurosport lads even when the streaming is going really well! So it'll be up early for youtube tomorrow morning!

Lusk_Doyle wrote: »

I think that is the first time I've ever heard anyone picking Phil Ligget over any other commentator.

Actually his commentary on that link wasn't too bad. The lack of road sound and the fact that he was doing it alone made it feel weird though.

riparooo wrote: »

Although tomorrow stage is clearly the decider I think it wont be as decisive as suggested. The climb is only 5.7% average with the steepest only 7%. So while the climb will wittle down to a select group its simply not steep enough for any of the climbers to be dropped.

I think that select groups of 10 - 20 including De Costa, Porte, Gesnik, Martin, Riblon, Basso and a half of dozen more. Alternatively one of the teams (Garmin maybe) beast it from the start and try shake off rival team mates and some of Martin's climbing challengers before the final climb.

I can see it being a sprint finish of these with the winner of the stage winning the GC on time bonuses.

Have to agree with former poster than Porte at 80/1 is a decent punt.

I've been up this climb a fair few times (in Beijing most of the time since January). Starts off gently, first 6-7km at 2-3% (think this bit is before the start of the KOM), then kicks up into a proper climb (http://www.strava.com/segments/1342452). I think the steepest bits are around 9% or so, so there are a few good places for someone to have a go. There's a bit of a ramp with about 1.5-2km to go, on a bend which might be a decent place for someone to jump. I'd say it's a climb which allows for quite a few potential winners, I suppose Dan has as good a chance as anyone since he's a decent uphill sprinter and he has good form at the moment-probably be a select group rather than a solo win, but who knows really?

When does the YouTube stream start?

Glass Prison 1214 wrote: »

while Porte is way back at 80/1, surely hes got a bit of a shot?

He lost 17min yesterday to a stage won by a sprinter so he's probably not in great shape.

YouTube not working