By John Considine
After yesterday's third stage in the Tour De France the fear and loathing started. If one was to look at the General Classification times then one might think that this could be a titanic contest for the next three weeks. The two riders that have shared the last six victories are tied at 8 hours 46 minutes and 55 seconds. But there are warning signs that the racing could become predictable. And many fear it.
In the immediate aftermath of the stage, as part of the Breakaway show, TNT Sport broadcast an excellent interview with the stage winner Tadej Pogacar (here). The interviewer was polite and the questions seemed innocent enough. To start Pogacar was smiling and enjoying the moment. Then the interviewer started the next sentence with the words "You are apparently very hungry ...". Almost immediately, Pogacar's expression changes. He effectively ignores the remaining words of the interviewer and replies "I'm not so hungry, I eat every 30 minutes ...". The remaining words of the interviewer were " ... you could have left the breakaway go but you wanted to win today". It is a familiar accusation. Pogacar takes most of the food at the table and leaves only crumbs for his rivals. Pogacar did provide some reply to that part of the implied question and then suggested that he needed to go warm down.
The folks in the Breakaway shows knew the significance of the interview. They too had voiced similar concerns. However, the ex-pro cyclists on the panel were having none of the suggestion that a competitor should not try to win as much as possible. However, the excellent presenter, Orla Chennaoui, played the devil's advocate. She wondered if the race would become boring. If the outcome becomes predictable then viewership is likely to decline.
Competitive balance fears after only three stages of a 21-stage race.
The organisers might have contributed to these worries by their decisions on the structure of the 21 stages. It is common for the early stages to faciliate the Yellow Jersey ending up on the back of a sprinter or a rider more suited to one-day classics. The decision to put a team time trial as stage 1 and to have a particular format in that TTT could be coming back to bite the organisers.
In the immediate aftermath of the stage, as part of the Breakaway show, TNT Sport broadcast an excellent interview with the stage winner Tadej Pogacar (here). The interviewer was polite and the questions seemed innocent enough. To start Pogacar was smiling and enjoying the moment. Then the interviewer started the next sentence with the words "You are apparently very hungry ...". Almost immediately, Pogacar's expression changes. He effectively ignores the remaining words of the interviewer and replies "I'm not so hungry, I eat every 30 minutes ...". The remaining words of the interviewer were " ... you could have left the breakaway go but you wanted to win today". It is a familiar accusation. Pogacar takes most of the food at the table and leaves only crumbs for his rivals. Pogacar did provide some reply to that part of the implied question and then suggested that he needed to go warm down.
The folks in the Breakaway shows knew the significance of the interview. They too had voiced similar concerns. However, the ex-pro cyclists on the panel were having none of the suggestion that a competitor should not try to win as much as possible. However, the excellent presenter, Orla Chennaoui, played the devil's advocate. She wondered if the race would become boring. If the outcome becomes predictable then viewership is likely to decline.
Competitive balance fears after only three stages of a 21-stage race.
The organisers might have contributed to these worries by their decisions on the structure of the 21 stages. It is common for the early stages to faciliate the Yellow Jersey ending up on the back of a sprinter or a rider more suited to one-day classics. The decision to put a team time trial as stage 1 and to have a particular format in that TTT could be coming back to bite the organisers.
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