Tough but fair

There are two days left in the Giro and it looks like we’ll make it through without a major doping scandal. Before the race, there was Petacchi’s ban, although the Court of Arbitration for Sport found “no significant fault of negligence” in his overuse of an already approved inhaler, and a CSF-Navigare rider who was removed from the start list after a positive for stanozolol. During the race, Andrea Moletta’s dad was stopped at the Italian border with a carload of um… Viagra.

But, at least on the doping front, it’s been fairly smooth enough sailing for the last three weeks. Nonetheless, the Giro hasn’t been without controversy. In this case, riders have been at odds with race promoter RCS over the difficulty of the stages and inter-stage transfers. In contrast to a single transfer by high-speed rail in last year’s Tour, there are 12 transfers in this year’s Giro, including a 250-miler on the second rest day and a 167-mile bus ride after the uphill time trial.

That course, which featured over 5km of dirt roads and grades up to 24%, seemed to be the straw that broke the camel’s back. Enrico Gasparotto, Jens Voigt, David Millar, and presumably many other riders were pretty adamant it was too difficult. “Impossible”, said Gasparotto. But the stage was possible. Only 6 riders out 152 missed the time cut and Gasparotto himself beat over 60 of them. Clearly, the issues of the stages being too tough and the transfers being too long go hand in hand. If the riders weren’t so exhausted, the transfers wouldn’t be as insufferable, and vice versa.

Race director Angelo Zomegnan’s response to the grumblers was, “I think that we need spectacular shows in cycling to pull ourselves out of this mediocrities. Without something spectacular it would be normal, and this is something is extra.” Reading between the lines, he’s saying, “It’s not enough just to run a clean version of cycling as it’s always been. If we want to win back our audience, we need to put on a better show than ever before.”

Look at Major League Lacrosse. Their audience is growing, but it’s not because they’ve never had a doping scandal. It’s because they have a product that entertains people. On the other hand, the 12-year-old WNBA has yet to break through despite their lack of doping scandals, the NBA’s vast financial and promotional resources, the overall popularity of basketball and the growth of women’s sports in general.

Getting back to cycling, Zomegnan is right. The Giro needs to put on a show that people want to watch, and this was a great show. In addition to the gnarly uphill TT, the race began with a team time trial and will finish with another ITT into Milan. RCS has done a great job of shaking up the format to keep the race exciting until the final day. To be fair, though, the riders’ complaints were more than understandable. The public wants to see a grueling, spectacular race, but how do you balance that against a race that keeps the riders reasonably happy until the finish?

Maybe it’s time to revisit the idea that you have to finish every stage of the race. Sure, that’s the way it’s always been. But in stage 19, a group of almost 100 riders finished together, almost 40 minutes behind the stage winner. It does not make the race more exciting that most guys are just barely dragging themselves to the finish of the hardest stages. Here’s an idea.

This year’s Giro covers 3,323km. Each rider could get an allotment of, say, 200km of the total that they don’t have to ride. So Carlo Scognamiglio, currently 2.58.10 behind the leader, could have ridden the first 32km of 232km stage 6 then hopped in the team car, but he’d have to finish every other stage. Or Yann Huguet, 3.23.46 off the pace, could skip the last 40km of 5 different stages.

To keep the GC contenders on an even playing field, there would have to be major time penalties for kilometers skipped. Riders would have to at least start every stage, if only to get them out of bed. Because the broadcasts rely on a stream of riders past fixed cameras, everyone would have to ride all the time trials.

On the mountain stages that mostly determine the overall standings, we’re only paying attention to a few riders: the stars, their top domestiques, and maybe some guys in a breakaway. So why not throw a bone to the majority of the peloton?

It gets back to the idea that the best thing for cycling is to put on a race that people can’t take their eyes off of. Doping is a good reason for people to look elsewhere for their entertainment, but listening to professional athletes complain isn’t exactly going to win over the fans. The Giro is on the right track by thinking about tweaking cycling’s traditional format but there’s still room to make adjustments that benefit the majority of the riders without detracting from the excitement of the actual bike racing that’s going on at the tête de course.