Hive Weekly Cycling News - October 05 2023

It’s that time of year when things kinda slow down a bit. Some of the big names take leave after the final Grand Tour of the year to have an extended break, or get surgery and allow themselves the time to heal.

There is also a lot still going on in the cycling world at this time of year though. There is still racing, all the news about team transfers(and possible mergers), and it’s also the time of year when a lot of companies announce new products in the lead up to Christmas. So keep reading as we discuss Jumbo-Vismas new major sponsor, how the world of online cycling apps has changed in the past week, we have the result from Luxembourg and the Giro dell’Emilia, as well as a breakdown of “The Cyclists Alliance” yearly survey and what are the major concerns of top female riders through 2023.

We remind you most weeks before we move on with this weeks news. Have you thought about delegating some of your Hive to the Cycling Community. You don't have to delegate a lot, but every bit helps, with the Cycling Community(@hive-177745) growing and the payouts being rewarded is also growing, so it is definately worth you time.

Wahoo To Close RGT Cycling App

It was only April 2022 when Wahoo, the company best known for its Element GPS bike computers and Kickr indoor training and smart bikes, purchased RGT to, at the time Wahoo said, would give its subscribers an unparalleled choice in how they train. Now 18 months after buying RGT, Wahoo has decided to close the cycling app and offer their paying subscribers a free 12 month subscription to Zwift. Until now the company was offering its software in two parts, the first being Systm(formerly The Sufferfest), which is a structured training app, and the RGT, which is a virtual cycling app.

A Wahoo spokesperson said, “To deliver the very best experience for our customers, we have made the strategic decision to focus on Wahoo’s long-established strengths around structured training content, through Systm, and will be closing virtual cycling app RGT at the end of October. This change of focus means that all of Wahoo’s talented software team’s energy, attention and innovation will become solely focused on Systm and the company’s long-held vision to create the very best hardware and training software to help athletes get stronger, fitter, faster on and off the bike.”

I’ve never used the app before, but always sad to see something like this close down, hearing about the magic road feature, that allows users to upload their own GPX file from any route around the world and have the RGT build an accurate virtual version of it, will be coming to an end soon.

[Image Courtesy Wahoo]

Trying To Stop Riders Cheating On Zwift

Speaking of cycling apps. The following article from The Hustle, is an interesting story about Luciano Pollastri and how he is trying to expose people who cheat on Zwift. I think Zwift is an amazing tool to help motivate people exercise, and improve there performance, but when it came to racing, and esports, I was always a little skeptical thinking that riders with the better hardware and faster connections would have an unfair advantage, turns out, there is a lot more to it and it’s a lot easier to cheat. Link to article: https://thehustle.co/one-mans-quest-to-end-cheating-in-virtual-cycling/amp/

Jumbo-Visma Signs New Major Sponsor In Amazon

Jumbo-Visma has been looking for a new major sponsor to take the place of their Jumbo sponsorship, and although, it does not fully take the place of a major sponsor, Amazon are reported to be set to join the cycling team in a sponsorship deal worth 15 million euros. You might have remembered there have been rumours of a merger between Jumbo-Visma and Soudal-QuickStep, this deal would still go ahead even if the merger actually takes place.

Further details are limited on the deal, but Amazon have worked with Jumbo-Visma before, with their Amazon Prime series ‘All-in Team Jumbo-Visma’ in 2022, with the series set to continue for a second season based around the teams successful 2023 campaign, which saw them win all three Grand Tours for the year. Personally, I don’t think the Jumbo-Visma merger with Soudal-QuickStep merger will happen, but this means the team does have the potential to still bring some big names to the table if they need to.

Salaries, Safety and Television Broadcasting Seen As Top Concerns From The Cyclists’ Alliance 2023 Survey

The Cyclists Alliance(TCA) has released the results of their annual survey, which asks female professional cyclists their opinion on the current state of cycling and competition. This years edition of the survey is the sixth and received 140 unique athlete responses from 31 countries, who compete in six different cycling disciplines. The survey asked 40 questions of female professional and elite cyclists, including topics including, employment, income, education, team environment and professional support. The aim of the survey is to obtain data and track changes in professional cycling, and used to highlight key issues and problems, with an aim to help solve these issues for riders.

The key issues highlighted in this years survey revolved around safety of cyclists, minimum salaries, professionalism and coverage of the sport.

The UCI introduced minimum wages for Women’s World Tour teams in 2020, but this does not cover continental teams, and to give you an idea of the number of riders this effects, of the latest Tour de France Femme, 22 teams were continental teams, which means that 20% of the peloton could potentially not be earning a liveable wage. From the riders surveyed it was found that

• Two in five riders do not get paid by their teams at all
• One in five riders gets paid less than 5,000 Euro per year
• One in five gets paid between 10,000 Euro and 20,000 Euro
• 15% of respondents receive a salary which meets or exceeds the mandated minimum salary for an employed person of 32,102 Euro

Salaries were the top concern for athletes who are not contracted for Women’s World Tour Teams, with those who responded to the survey indicating financial reasons continued to be the number one reason most women consider leaving the sport earlier than planned. This means that one third of the survey respondents worked a second job while performing their contracted roles.

The survey revealed that safety was the second biggest concern among athletes with certain riders noting that they were not operating in a safe working environment. This included things like poor management of concussions or a low level of professionalism from the team staff. Safety issues have been highlighted on numerous occasions in this years racing including the Tour Feminin des Pyrenees and the Tour de France Femme.

The survey respondents also indicated that live broadcasting of events was the third key concern among the women’s peloton, with the sport taking steps to bring more visibility to women’s racing. It’s has been shown in recent years how much broadcasting can help the sport with the 2022 Tour de France Femme attracting an average live audience of 2.9 million views, and the total race achieving a cumulative audience of over 23 million people.

The Tour Of Luxembourg Race Results

[Image Courtesy skodatour.lu]

The 20th of September saw the Tour of Luxembourg kick off stage 1 in Luxembourg. This year the 83rd edition of the event with Corbin Strong of Israel-Premier Tech taking the first stage and with that the overall leaders jersey. He would not hold onto it for long with Marc Hirschi of UAE Team Emirates taking the overall lead on stage 4 after placing 7th in the 24km individual time trial for the stage. Hirschi was tipped to take the overall victory heading into the final stage, his lead was only two seconds, so UAE Team Emirates had to work hard to keep control of the peloton, making sure all attempts to break away would be neutralised. There were numerous attacks across the stage but it was not until the final moments when a 13 man group was able to get clear and within the group Tobais Holland Johannessen of Uno-X was able to make a solo break, 2km from the finish line. He was able to power ahead to win the stage, with Hirschi 22 seconds off the pace, but still with enough time to take the overall win for the Tour.

Giro Dell’Emilia One Day Event Heats Up In Italy

The 30th of September saw the 106th running of the Giro dell’Emilia one day race from Capri to San Luca, a 204km road race, with two major climbs early on and then the final 40km, covering 5 laps of the climb to San Luca. The race has a lot of history and usually a dress rehearsal of Il Lombardia, set to race on October 7th.

The mens race saw a six man break away extend their lead early on, but was reeled back by the peloton with 41km to go as they approached the first climb into San Luca. It wasn’t until the final climb of the day where some of the worlds top climbers finally distanced themselves in a group of nine with Tadej Pogacar of UAE Team Emirates launching a sustained attack, reducing this group of nine to only four, but he was not able to go on with his attack, and the rest of the group all rode into the final kilometre together, where Primoz Roglic attacked with only 300m to go, where no other rider had an answer, taking the race on the same day he announced he would be leaving Jumbo-Visma. Pogacar was one second behind and Simon Yates of Team Jayco-AlUla finishing off the top three.

[Image Courtesy Team Jumbo-Visma]

The women’s race shares the name but has a little less history for only its 10th running of the race, and a little less distance covering only 103km, with two climbs up San Luca. Sofia Bertizzolo of UAE Team ADQ, attached on the first climb up to San Luca, which broke up the race and had only 12 riders remaining in contention by the time she reached the top. The group would stay together in the final lap until the final climb up San Luca where Uttrup Ludwig of FDJ-SUEZ showed she was the strongest climber of the day, breaking away and finishing five seconds ahead of her team mate Marta Cavalli, with Juliette Labous of Team DSM-Firmenich finishing third a further 16 seconds behind.

[Image Of Uttrup Ludwig Winning The Race Courtesy Of Getty Images]

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This week we have a great video from Peter Defty discussing the riders of the Tour de France and discussing what we can learn from the way they fuel and race:

About The Author
I am a DevOps Engineer, Endurance Athlete, Biomechanics Student and Author. We can all achieve amazing things, it's just a matter of trying, I want to change the world, one run at a time.