Nairo Quintana calls for power meter ban

GCN did a good video (2016 Giro I think?) Where they asked the riders what they had on their head units, loads them said no to power because they didn't like it in a race. Most had cadence, speed, hr, distance etc rather than power.

I agree that DS controlled racing is more of an issue, but, the teams rec the stages anyway in the GT races so they know the plan often anyway.

Finally, Froome's infamous descent attack at tdf 2016 was unplanned and unscripted by DS, it was a big highlight, so perhaps there is something in the question about making racing more spontaneous etc

If Movistar want to ride with no scientific training and binge on wine and cigars during Grand Tours then let them, and leave the modern-day professional teams to mop up the jerseys.

Ah, of course, I remember seeing that you can buy them with Movistar colours.

Who provides Movistar's power meters? I bet they're none too happy.

No one was complaining about Froome being boring when he attacked downhill in the TdF.  

I think there's an element of sour grapes here but another factor is that Froome is riding for a team who are single minded about backing one guy and making everyone else in the team stick to it.

Others, like Moviestar, can't seem to hold their nerve and set things up brilliantly, then blow it, or can't seem to decide who's the man for GC.

Ha ha. Just got to watch today's (Wednesday's) highlights and despite being given the head-to-head race he wanted, Quintana lost and then still moaned on about Frome's use of power meters afterwards. Someone really needs to stick a microphone in his face, ask 'what's that attached to your crankset?' and 'why if you carried it all the way from the start aren't you using it?'.

Anyway, let's go for handicapping like in horseracing - attach frame ballast based on the previous day's position.

(Shame given other news from Colombia that Chavez, who was respectfully wearing a black arm band, unlike Quintana, wasn't allowed to take the stage in Diego Suta's honour)

Well, I call for a minimum rider weight...

say 75 kg ?!

And skydiving.  They should ban those altimeter thingies.  Make 'em open their 'chutes by instinct, that would bring in more spectators.

If going to do away with radios, then how about doing away with the bloke on the motorbike with a black board telling the breakaway how far back the peloton are? 

For me the different styles of climbing and tactics make for an exciting race, but riders should be using their own bodies and brain to work out how hard they should be riding, not reading a computer screen. I would ban power meters & heart rate monitors in races.

As for radios, how about linking the riders up to race radio for safety information and time gaps, but prevent communication with team cars.

I personally think the "problem" is just modern training techniques and the pressure to win the really big events.

Classics are a different beast. You have one shot to win, on the day only. All tours, GTs in particular lend themselves to being won overall by a "conservative" approach. The longer/more stages a tour has the more it lends itself to conservation of effort & minimisation of risks.

I honestly don't think radios/powermeter ban would make a great deal of difference. They may make for the possibility of an unusual occurence - maybe a GT 2nd string "fav" getting hidden away in a breakaway and making up some big time on the main men. Or of maybe a few more breakaways being succesful.

I suspect Froome knows his body well enough to be able to ride close to a steady power without a powermeter. The margin of error may go out a bit but to think that he is suddenly going to go storming off the front of climbs cos he hasn't got something on his bars flashing at him is naive. Niballi moaned about poweremeter riding a couple of years ago.

With regard to radios - don't forget the congestion there is currently on the big races. Do you really want DSs trying to get up to their riders even more desperately than they do now.

Chaos!

It does appear to be more a case of frustration at beating certain people. I think Prudhomes idea of reducing team sizes would have more effect. As long as it doesn't go too far. 8 or maybe even 7 per team but I wouldn't want to go any lower.

I would imagine most pro riders could ride by feel anyway so a power-meter ban would have no impact. Banning radios would possibly work but it's not a ban the riders or teams actually want.

Hmm, Nairo's not exactly been livening up the racing.  His attack the other day makes the news as it happens so rarely lately.

DS controlling what the team does (and when) is what's leading to the formulaic days.  One way radio 'for safety' doesn't work as the riders need to report an issue and the others need to be informed about it.  So, 'for safety' the radio traffic needs to be between riders and race director.

So blatantly targeted against "that guy, I don't like him, he keeps beating me" it shouldn't be given any consideration. Ignore he fact that Monday's Vuelta stage was exciting partially due to the differing styles of climbing.

To me, it is getting boring. Like when Schumacher was winning the F1 for years on end, it got real boring, real fast.

The TdF is becoming a bit of a yawn, with only the Spring Classics being something "exciting" to watch.

Maybe give it a try one year, get rid of radios and power metres and see what happens.

Get rid of power meters if you want, but for me the assertion that 'Power meters cause dull racing' is FAR from proven. 

The dull race days are usually the flat stages where the pelloton is rolling along relaxed just waiting for the last 10k to sprint it out.

If you want to improve the spectacle, then the best place to start is stage design... and frankly, on multi-day stage races, I find shorter 'puncher' stages tend to be the most fun - and don't go silly on loading the stages with tough climb after tough climb. When it is day after day of multiple cat 1 and HC climbs (like the final 4 days of this years TDF for example) - then the riders Have to pace themselves, power meters or not.

never mind power meters - they are neither here nor there in terms of racing, but are useful if the data is available for identifying performances worthy of scrutiny.

To imporve racing in GTs, 2 things:

1. replace 2-way race radios with ship-to-shore only radios

2. have tapering time bonuses

To explain:

race radios lead to robotic racing, controlled by a DS in the car, but are regarded as a key safety feature by riders.  Well, it is perfectly possible and not expensive to develop a special radio system to be used at races that allows riders to talk to the team car, but not each other and not from the DS to the riders.  This would enable riders to report an accident, puncture, need for drinks etc. but would not allow the DS to remote-control the racing.  The riders would have to communicate with each other, mark rivals the old fashioned way.  it would increase the chances of a break going and being successful and the chances of a big name infiltrating a break. Certain teams could not just police the peloton all day.  There could be an emergency mode, where the race director could broadcast to riders, or allow the DS to do so, for when the flame rouge collapses or a team bus gets stuck on the finish line.

The tapering time bonuses would work like this - there would be nothing on the line in the final stage, but the bonuses would increase as you go back through the race to the first stage, where the bonus would be pretty sizeable - the total amount available added up throughout the race would come to the same as in the Giro currently, say.  This would encourage the GC contenders to show some cards earlier in the race, as the bonusses available could not be ignored and the second tier of GC riders could also not be ignored by the real big guns.  It would also force whoever wins the leaders jersey on the first stage to actively defend it and in races with a prologue, it would encourage sprinters to put effort into the prologue to be within striking distance of the leaders jersey on the subsequent stages.

Together, I think these two would greatly improve racing; banning power meters would have no effect.

I think a race radio ban would be more interesting.

You'd get a lot more uncertainty in the peloton and IMHO would see more exciting racing as a result.

If you banned power meters the riders would simply adapt to using heart rate or even 'feel'.

It is race radio that allows the measured approach made (in)famous by Team Sky not power meters.

Easiest solution is to change race rules. Far more intermediate points, points for time in breakaway etc. Get creative, shake the sport up properly.

Any way, no-one up to no good wants their power tracked on race day. If you go from 380watts at threshold to 420 watts after a few months at some race other pros know the score. They say nothing, but they know. 

Do agree though for Q, the tech is amazing for training, great for rec, enthusiasts, amateurs, even tourers, bikepackers etc. But pro racing. Some really snoozing racing going on these days. 

Stick with it though in my view, it could be a plateau that will breed a new style of racing with some nice surprises. If it doesn't after a few more years, then yes, maybe start looking to curtail it or go for rule changes on point scoring.