No, the Tour de France has not started yet, but a piece of news just came over the wires:
PARIS, June 18 (Reuters) - Earpieces allowing riders to receive orders from team bosses during races will be banned on two stages of next month’s Tour de France.
“The management committee granted approval for earpieces to be banned on two stages,” the International Cycling Union governing body said in a statement on Thursday.
The earpieces will be barred on July 14 and July 17.
Yeah, that's the whole story. Now, some old diehards complain about race radio making stage races boring, especially after the first couple of stages and the general classification is beginning to shape up. Breakaways become common on longer stages, even large ones of more than 8 guys, and the peloton may lose interest in contesting the stage for the big boys who want those sprint points or mountain points. The common tactic with the team earpieces, is that once everyone in the breakaway has been figured out, and none of them are considered a threat to any of the leaders, the peloton lets up, and then doesn't get serious again until there are 50 km left or so. Kind of boring for two hours or more as the peloton pedals tranquilo. Here are links to the two stages where earpieces will be banned: Stage 10 and Stage 13. If you notice, both are about 200 km long but 10 is a flat stage and 13 is a mountain stage. Stage 10 looks boring as all get-out, which would definitely be a breakaway stage with the sprinter teams reeling in the escaped riders within the last 50 km. Stage 13 may have some fireworks with that Category 1 climb mixed in with all the 2's and 3's, but only in the sense of the King of the Mountain leader trying to get points, and the GC guys making sure nobody cracks or attacks on some of those climbs.
Without earpieces, the domestiques will be busy going back to the cars to consult with their managers about who's missing from the other teams in the peloton, and then sprinting back up to their teammates for any news and tactics. Heck, one of the big boys might even slip into a breakaway and escape before the peloton notices. I think what's likely to happen is that the peloton will cover every attack, and the breakaways won't happen in the first 20 km as they have been the last few years.
The mountain stage 13 will be a confusing day on the bike, as the riders will be paying extra attention to everyone else around them. Also, I don't see the recent tactic of sending the tempo boys up in a break, and then coming back to help their leader on the later climbs, being used at all.
Except for early breakaways on the flat stage, and mountain men coming back to the big boy group on the mountain stage, I really don't think these two stages will show us anything different or dramatic. But hey, the Tour always tries something different to pique cycling nuts' interest. This year, again, no time bonuses whatsoever, so the time trials will be important, especially the team time trial.
Personally, I love the radio communication between all the team members, and it's been fun to see how, as the equipment has been getting cheaper and more reliable, that they've been given to everyone. I remember when only the most successful teams (*cough* Postal *cough*) had one or two radios among all the riders, and worked maybe 60 percent of the time. Now everyone has them, and they work about 80 percent of the time. It's like watching NASCAR or IRL at a tenth of the speed!
